Innovating with Hemp with Val Emanuel and Rebecca Caputo of Rif Care
Val Emanuel and Rebecca Caputo, co-founders of Rif Care, share the story behind their brand, the first period care company to make products from hemp fiber and what it took to build that supply chain from scratch. Val and Rebecca talk about what conscious business really means in the feminine care space, where greenwashing is rampant and efficacy can't be sacrificed for sustainability's sake. They dig into the barriers they pushed through with scouring manufacturers, connecting dots across countries, and even how to deliver their first products themselves. We also zoom out on the broader women's health movement gaining momentum in CPG, and why they believe that when women are healthy, the planet is healthy. They wrap up by reflecting on the Naturally Network minority-owned fellowship and how the cohort they went through didn't just open doors, they became family.
Key Topics
Rif Care makes period care products out of organic cotton and hemp fiber - pads, period underwear, tampons, and thong panty liners
They were the first company to make period products out of hemp fiber, pioneering a supply chain that didn't exist when they started.
The hemp supply chain was built brick by brick, including connecting their manufacturer in one country with a hemp supplier in another just to get their first prototypes made.
Hemp proved to be an ideal material — abundant, fast-growing, and sourced from upcycled fiber, making their supply chain both resilient and sustainable.
Conscious business for Rif Care means efficacy first — a period product has to actually work and be made with the best materials possible.
The period care industry has a significant greenwashing problem, and Rif Care's commitment to transparency is a direct response to that.
Val and Rebecca see women's health as one of the most exciting and underserved frontiers in CPG — from PMS to menopause — and actively partner with and amplify other brands in the space.
Women still receive only 3% of venture funding, yet Val and Rebecca see enormous opportunity for investors, partners, and brand ambassadors in the women's health space.
Through the Naturally Network minority-owned fellowship, Rif Care learned how to build sales decks, talk to retailers, and develop distribution channels that helped them reach and maintain the number one spot at Erewhon.
Sound Bites
"We're going to walk the walk. We're going to talk the talk."
"There were people trying to make hemp feminine care for 10 years and we got a sample in like two weeks. It was completely a paper wall."
"I don't drive a truck, you know? We had to learn how to drive a U-Haul to pick up our products and deliver them to distributors."
"There's so many more opportunities for companies to fill that gap in women's health."
"If women are healthy, the planet is healthy."
"The people that we did the Naturally Network Fellowship with are still our best friends. We cry together, we laugh together, and we have kept in touch more than any other accelerator that all of us have ever been in."
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