Mumbai : Plush, India’s women’s wellness brand focused on comfort-led personal care, has announced the launch of ‘Map The Gap. PERIOD.’, a long-term initiative aimed at identifying and improving gaps in menstrual accessibility across public spaces in India. “Together for a period friendly world.” That’s this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day theme. But a period-friendly world can’t exist if women still panic when they unexpectedly get their period in public spaces.
Which is why as part of the initiative’s first on-ground partnership, Plush has collaborated with IntrCity SmartBus, India’s leading tech-enabled intercity bus platform, to introduce emergency period-care support for women travellers onboard buses. The partnership aims to make travel more comfortable and reassuring for women by providing immediate access to basic menstrual care support during their journeys. Built around a common lived experience – unexpectedly getting your period while travelling and having no easy access to pads – the collaboration hopes to encourage a more thoughtful, period-inclusive travel experience for women.
The initiative is based on a simple thought: women can unexpectedly get their period anywhere, so why are the spaces they use every day still not period-ready?
When menstrual hygiene access is missing in public spaces, women aren’t just dealing with discomfort and panic during period emergencies – they’re often forced to improvise, adjust, and simply “manage somehow.”
Through ‘Map The Gap. PERIOD.’, Plush aims to spotlight the lack of reliable menstrual support women continue to face across everyday public spaces including offices, cafés, malls, colleges, buses, public washrooms, and more to make a change.
The initiative invites women to actively participate by simply DMing Plush on Instagram with locations where period-care access is missing or inadequate. While Plush is already working towards identifying and improving such spaces, these responses will help the brand better understand real, everyday gaps women continue to experience and work towards making public environments more period-friendly through solutions such as:
● sanitary pad vending machines
● emergency period-care pouches
● on-ground accessibility partnerships
The initiative is designed to spark larger conversations around how normalized period inaccessibility has become while also taking tangible steps towards solving the issue.
Krisha Nair, Head of Partnerships, Plush, added:
“Periods are a completely normal part of life, but access to menstrual support in public spaces is still inconsistent and often overlooked. Women are expected to quietly ‘manage somehow’ during period emergencies, and over time that discomfort has become normalized.
Through our collaboration with IntrCity SmartBus, we aim to make travel-related emergencies less stressful for women by improving access to emergency menstrual support during journeys. This is not designed as a one-time awareness campaign, but a long-term effort to make public spaces more period-friendly, practical, and supportive.
With ‘Map The Gap. PERIOD.’, we want to start changing that not just by creating conversations, but by building real, accessible solutions in spaces women move through every day. This is not designed as a one-time awareness campaign, but as a long-term effort to make public environments more period-friendly, practical, and supportive.”
Priyangana Punjabi, Director-Business Excellence, IntrCity SmartBus, added, “At IntrCity SmartBus, we have consistently focused on reimagining the intercity travel experience through comfort, convenience, and thoughtful innovation. However, comfort in travel is not only about technology or infrastructure; it is also about understanding and responding to real, everyday passenger needs that are often overlooked. Period emergencies during journeys are one such experience that many women silently navigate without immediate access to support.
Through our partnership with Plush for ‘Map The Gap. PERIOD.’, we are taking a meaningful step towards making intercity travel more inclusive, thoughtful, and responsive for women passengers. By introducing emergency period-care support onboard, we hope to make journeys feel safer, more comfortable, and better equipped for the realities women experience while travelling.”
At its core, Map The Gap. PERIOD. aims to:
● drive conversations around menstrual accessibility in public spaces
● encourage women to collectively identify accessibility gaps
● reduce stigma around period support in public environments
● build long-term, real-world menstrual access infrastructure
At its core, the initiative reflects Plush’s continued effort to understand and improve the real, everyday experiences women navigate around periods, beyond their products.