| Type | Tampon |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | http://www.lil-letsgroup.com/ |
Lil-lets is a brand providing feminine hygiene products that operates principally in the UK, Ireland and South Africa Since 2000 the company has restructured through two management buyouts (MBO) to become a business crossing all sectors of the Feminine Hygiene market - tampons, pads, pantyliners and intimate care.
The company was founded in 1954 and launched by Southalls of Birmingham. They were based on a design created with Dr Judith Esser-Mittag, a female gynecologist and expand widthways for improved comfort and better protection. Initially two absorbencies were available, Regular and Super, for differing menstrual flows.
1958, Southalls was acquired by Smith & Nephew (S&N) and incorporated into their Sanitary Protection Division alongside Arthur Berton Ltd, another S&N acquisition. These acquisitions put S&N as UK market leaders in sanitary towels, with the Dr White's and Lilia brands and second in tampons with Lil-lets.
1994 Lil-lets applicator tampons are launched.
2000 A management buyout (MBO) by Accantia takes ownership of the Lil-lets brand.
2001 Lil-lets launched the Super plus Extra, a high absorbency product (classified as 5 droplets by AHPMA, compared to Regular at 2 droplets, Super at 3 and Super Plus at 4). This was a UK first, offering consumers with a heavy flow a specialist product.
2002 Lil-lets launch Mixed Packs, with a range of absorbencies in each pack, allowing consumers to buy one pack in order to use a different absorbency for the differing flow rates within a period (often lighter at the start and finish of the period). Solutions, a range of intimate care products is also launched, featuring wipes, a cleansing mousse and a heat soother patch to warm the tummy to help with period pain.
2005 saw Lil-lets launch pantyliners.
20th December 2006, the Lil-lets Group of companies is formed, itself an MBO from Accantia, creating a standalone Feminine Hygiene business.
2007 Lil-lets launches a range of Sanitary Pads, making Lil-lets the only brand to cross all sectors of the Feminine Hygiene market - tampons, pads, pantyliners and intimate care.
In 2008, Lil-lets launched a compact applicator range in direct competition to the market leader Tampax, followed in 2009 by a video advertising campaign that showed the key difference between the two brands. Lil-lets tampons expand widthways, with Tampax tampons expanding along their length.