‘You can’t empower people if you can’t reach them’: Inside Here We Flo’s partnership with Chelsea FC Women

The majority (90%) of people don’t believe periods are shown realistically in advertising or entertainment.  

It’s something Here We Flo wants to fight against with its new partnership with Chelsea FC Women, supported by its ‘We Don’t Bleed Blue. We Bleed. Period’ campaign.

The period care brand is Chelsea’s back-of-short partner for the 2025/26 season and kicked off the season by having the players walk out onto the pitch in shorts deliberately marked with (fake) period blood stains.  

When it comes to brand partnerships in women’s sport, there is often criticism that brands focus too much on “women’s issues” rather than the sport itself.  

However, Here We Flo’s co-founder and chief brand officer, Susan Allen Augustin, believes the brand can “do two things at once” by focusing on period stigma and how menstruation is represented in sport.  How period care disruptor Here We Flo created April’s most effective TV ad

“The whole point with the blood stain on the back of the shorts is pushing against the fact that there’s a regulation that if you get any blood on your shorts, you have to change them,” she explains.  

“But if you were to get a cut on your eyebrow from playing so hard and being so passionate and dedicated to the game, that’s something that would be celebrated.”  

Going with the tagline, ‘We Don’t Bleed Blue’ taps into multiple touchpoints for the two organisations. Periods are often represented in advertising with blue liquid rather than blood, and diehard Chelsea fans can be found saying they bleed blue. 

This synergy, and the fact Chelsea Women was the first WSL club to hire a menstrual cycle coach, made it an easy decision for Here We Flo.  

Deeper impact

Partnering with Chelsea isn’t the brand’s first foray into sport sponsorship – it partnered with England Netball earlier this year – but it is its most significant.  

Here We Flo recently raised £3m from investors, and part of the reason for raising funds was in support of its partnerships. “We had to fundraise to make it possible, but it just made such amazing sense,” says Allen Augustin, who says the brand always looks for long-term partners above short-term tactics.  

There’s a large “educational opportunity” for a brand like Here We Flo partnering with sports organisations.  

Research shows large numbers of girls drop out of sport around the time their periods start. By targeting young girls and their families through sports sponsorships, Allen Augustin hopes the brand can combat these statistics.Meet the period brand taking on the mainstream giants

“There’s so much that you get from being part of a team sport: skills that you learn, the confidence that you build, the friendships that you make, and the relationships that you develop. You’ll miss out on all of that just because you have your period and you don’t know how to manage it,” she says.  

It’s an exercise in growing brand awareness too. Here We Flo was founded in 2016 and has since become known for its punchy marketing, including its 2022 campaign ‘Period Dramas’ which was shortlisted as one of Marketing Week’s campaigns of the year. The brand wants to own the narrative around periods and blood, emphasising “it’s not a dirty word”.  

In terms of connecting with customers, “You can’t empower them, you can’t drive that conversation, if you can’t reach them. And so, awareness is obviously the greatest opportunity for us,” says Allen Augustin.  

Chelsea, reigning WSL champions, is looking to grow more in the US, and Here We Flo is stocked in some US retailers but also has its eyes on expansion there. “It made sense on every level,” she adds.  

You can’t empower them, you can’t drive that conversation, if you can’t reach them.

Susan Allen Augustin, Here We Flo

Brands are often criticised for shallow partnerships that fail to stretch beyond stunts and logos. “We wouldn’t ever want to do something that was just putting our logo on it,” says Allen Augustin. For a brand that always strives for impact in its marketing, collaborating with sport is no different.  

“There’s lots of ways you can spend money on marketing, but partnerships should really be more than that and have a deeper impact,” she adds.  

Working with Chelsea is an opportunity for the two organisations to come together to “grow the sport and grow our business”, but also to “grow the community and educate more people on periods and get rid of that shame and stigma”.

For anyone who dismisses periods in sport as “the women are bleeding, why do we have to talk about this?”, Allen Augustin says that’s “simplifying” the issue.  

There’s “real richness” in understanding how menstrual cycles impact performance, she says, which isn’t being communicated. By partnering with a team that’s won the biggest trophies in football, the brand hopes to draw the line between high performing women and “high performing period care”.