Yahoo Movies EXCLUSIVE: Underwear Brand Oddobody Wants to Talk to Kids About Their Bodies
Oddobody’s latest creation involves children.
The New York-based women’s innerwear brand is launching a gender-neutral line of children’s tank tops and underwear, along with a manual for parents to talk to their children about their body parts.
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“We want to empower people with body literacy and how those conversations need to start young,” Abigail Gerow, Oddobody cofounder, said in an exclusive interview. “There’s a lack of information about how to talk to children about their bodies. There’s no tools for how to talk to your kids about their bodies. With the manual, [parents] are getting the tools to help kids navigate their bodies and the discovery of gender.”
The guide, called the Oddokids Manual, addresses things like how to talk to children — from toddlers to elementary school-aged kids — about sexuality, language to use in those discussions and how to create a safe space for learning and communicating. It also includes games, such as crossword puzzles, and paperdoll-like images with anatomically correct words that can be downloaded from Oddobody.com to help parents and caregivers address the topic.
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“It’s been amazing to see the rise in body positivity and with so many brands breaking down taboos, brands talking about things like female menstruation. But there isn’t really a brand that’s thinking about these topics for kids and that’s really where the conversation begins,” said Shira Wheeler, Oddobody’s other cofounder, explaining the need for the manual. “The way we think about our bodies has so much to do with those coming-of-age experiences we have as teenagers and the tools we get as kids.”
The manual, which is available for free on Oddobody’s website, was co-edited by author and psychotherapist Rachel Simon. Gerow said it was important to work with a variety of experts on the project, “because we want to make it clear that we’re not seen as the experts. We’re still learning and curious as well. The hope is that this sparks in other people [the desire] to start a conversation.”
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The Oddobody children’s collection, which launches Thursday is made from 100 percent organic Pima cotton and comes in child sizes age two through nine. The four-piece collection includes three types of underwear and a tank top in packs ranging in price from $18 to $32.
Gerow and Wheeler founded Oddobody in 2019. Both women were new moms and wanted to create a brand that focused on sustainability and female health.
“It’s a very eye-opening experience, learning how little you know about your body during pregnancy,” Gerow explained.
Add to that a general lack of information, multiple wives’ tales and a slew of out-right inaccuracies around female well-being, and Gerow and Wheeler said they wanted to start a company that focused on vaginal health. Hence, Oddobody launched with four resource manuals: anatomy and pleasure from a female perspective; vulva care; menstrual cycles, and the pelvic floor. The duo said the children’s manual — and the fact that the collection is unisex — was a natural progression for the brand.
“Launching a kids’ line was always on our radar,” Gerow said. “And with kids, it’s about body awareness and body literacy, which applies to both sexes.”
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Oddobody can be found on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Madewell, J. Crew, Urban Outfitter and select boutiques around the U.S., in addition to the brand’s e-commerce site. The founders said they will continue to focus on underwear and other “bra-type products” as they add to the assortment.
“We focus everything we do around body awareness,” Wheeler said. “When we launch a new product, we try to link it to the bigger promise of body literacy and awareness. It’s an extension of that.”
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