How I started in fashion: Ruby Raut, founder & CEO, WUKA

Ruby Raut is not your average fashion entrepreneur. Her journey into fashion was born from her desire to bring dignity to girls and women and to create a product that spoke to her passion for preserving the environment.

Hailing from Nepal, Raut was sent away from home once her periods started as she was considered ‘impure’. She was forced to use rags as menstrual protection, which, while reusable, were entirely unsuitable and unreliable.

She eventually moved to the UK to study Environmental Science, after which she established WUKA periodwear, funded by a Kickstarter campaign. Raut is a pioneer in period wear and it took a while for the market to understand where to place her products.

Now periodwear is mainstream and WUKA is one of the best-known brands in the space and is growing at pace. Raut’s vision is to create more than a brand, she wants to be part of a movement that does better for the community she serves.

Here, she tell us about her extraordinary journey.

Have you always had an interest in fashion? Why does it appeal to you and why did you want to work within it?

Honestly, no. I did not grow up dreaming about fashion.

I grew up in the mountains of Nepal, where we studied by oil lamp and walked kilometres just to fetch water. Fashion was not part of that world. What shaped me instead was injustice. When I had my first period at 12, I was sent away from home because I was considered impure. I used old sari rags as makeshift pads. They were reusable but uncomfortable, unreliable and something I felt ashamed of.

When I moved to the UK and later studied Environmental Science, I realised most disposable pads and tampons were made with plastic and were contributing to landfill. That was my lightbulb moment. So I didn’t enter fashion because I loved trends. I entered it because underwear sits closest to our bodies. I believe fashion is powerful when it restores dignity.

Tell us about your first job in the industry. What drew you to the role? What was the experience like?

My first “job” in the industry was not glamorous at all. It was me in my living room in 2017 with a second-hand sewing machine.

I had no background in fashion, branding or logistics. I just had a stubborn belief that there had to be a better solution. My husband and I researched fabrics. I taught myself to sew on YouTube. We built prototypes, tested them, reworked them over and over. We launched WUKA on Kickstarter with £7,000 in pre-orders. There was no safety net. I did not take a salary for the first three years of running the business. The experience was equal parts terrifying and empowering. Retail buyers did not know where to put us. There was no “period pants” category. We were not fashion, not lingerie, not hygiene. We had to build the door before we could walk through it. That early stage taught me resilience very quickly.

What were the most valuable skills or lessons you gained from that first experience?

Three things.

First, empathy is a business strategy. Everything started with listening. I surveyed hundreds of women about their frustrations with leaking, discomfort and shame. That insight shaped the product more than any trend forecast ever could.

Second, lean thinking matters. Build. Test. Learn. Repeat. We did not have money to waste, so we had to get close to our customers and iterate constantly.

Third, behaviour change is harder than product design. We were asking people to rethink something they had used for decades. That meant education, storytelling and patience. We were not just selling underwear. We were challenging stigma.

Tell us about your current role. How did you get here, and what do you most enjoy about it?

Today, I am CEO of WUKA, a B Corp certified, multi-million-pound period health brand that has helped over a million people switch to reusable products. But I do not feel like I “arrived.” I feel like I evolved into this role.

I often say I am not a CEO who became an activist. I am an activist who became a CEO.

My role now is part visionary, part campaigner, part operator. I oversee product innovation, retail growth, brand direction and long-term impact strategy. We pioneered multi-size period pants and fought successfully to remove VAT on period underwear because they were wrongly classified as luxury items. What I enjoy most is seeing a cultural shift happen in real time. Seeing period blood shown in advertising instead of blue liquid. Seeing girls in grassroots sports stay in the game because they feel protected and confident.

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice at the very start of your career, what would it be — and why?

I would tell her: you do not need permission.

For a long time, I waited to feel “qualified”. I did not study fashion. I was an immigrant woman of colour walking into investor rooms where no one looked like me. Less than 2% of UK venture funding goes to women.

I doubted myself often. But the truth is, lived experience is expertise. Growing up banished during my period was not something to hide. It was the reason I could build something meaningful.

I would tell my younger self that your difference is not your weakness. It is your edge. And also: protect your energy. Not every battle is yours to fight.

What does the next chapter of your own career look like, and how are you hoping to grow from here?

The next chapter is about depth, not just scale. WUKA has grown by 7000% in the last seven years.

We are expanding across product categories and retail and pushing for reusable solutions in schools and sports clubs. But personally, I want to grow as a leader. To build stronger systems. To mentor other women founders. To make sure impact and profitability are not seen as opposites. We are also stepping into a bolder cultural voice through our rebrand. We are not just a period product company. We are building a platform that connects women’s health, sustainability and systemic change.

The ambition is global, but the intention remains personal. No girl should miss school, sport or opportunity because of her period.

Has there been a person in the fashion or apparel industry that you have always admired and why?

If I am honest, I have not looked up to traditional fashion icons. I admire disruptors. People who use the product as a protest. I deeply admire female founders who build from lived experience rather than trend cycles. Women who create businesses not because the market is attractive, but because the problem is personal.

And I admire the everyday women who message us saying, “I will never go back to disposable pads.” Those are the women redefining the industry. Fashion, at its best, is not about how you look. It is about how you feel in your body.

And if we can help someone feel confident, leak-free and unashamed during their period, that is the kind of industry I am proud to be part of.