The women on a mission to redefine nude with their 'skin-toned plasters' - Skin Bandages

They are more than just ‘skin-toned plasters’ – Joanne Morales and Vivian Murad realised this when they decided to join forces a year ago and create ‘skin-toned plasters’ for people of colour, as demanded by their diverse customers.

Both the owners of their own individual ventures, Morales is the founder of Nünude, a UK-based lingerie and clothing brand that caters for different skin tones and body sizes.

Its launch campaign went viral in 2018 when its models posed in their nude lingerie outside a Victoria’s Secret store in London’s busy Oxford Street in protest for diversity in fashion.

Murad’s company ‘Skin Bandages’ is located in Sweden and has just recently opened a branch in South Africa. It creates adhesive bandages to match different skin tones, including darker shades of nude.

The two womens’ collaboration is a representation of ‘all people in marginalized groups to feel empowered and confident’.

Please Tell Us More About Your Brands

Morales: We were the first in the UK to do this. Nünude went viral with the launch campaign and petition to change the definition of the word ‘nude’ in the Oxford Dictionary.

This was a success that allowed us to continue our journey of skin tone products.

We have been praised in the press for paving the way of diversity here in the UK by ensuring diversity and representation has been kept at the core of everything that we do, our campaigns include women of all sizes, ethnicities abilities and disabilities.

As we continued to grow we continuously asked our customers the products they wanted. A year ago they asked for skin tone plasters, boob tape, nipple covers, and shapewear.

Vivian contacted me around this time and we began our journey together on our collab joint venture of bringing her plasters to the UK and developing further skin tone adhesives that Nünude customers had a demand for.

Murad: We wanted to see an update of the existing norms in the health care industry.

Adhesive bandages have traditionally come in several colours other than nude tones for PoC, which is a reoccurring phenomenon in many product categories across industries.

Our aim has been to spread our mission #redefiningnude through our products because representation has to include the most basic needs we have too.

To start with, it has an aesthetic element in products such as plasters. But it goes further than that. Representation also matters in defining self-worth.

As our relationship with Nünude flourished – it developed into a collaboration where we’ve joined forces to provide skin-toned adhesive products and lift each other in our respective markets.

Being Inspired To Create ‘skin-toned plasters’

Murad: Skin Bandages started up from a moment when I heard about a story in the Swedish radio, of a woman that walked into the pharmacy and questioned that the skin toned plasters were beige to suit a specific demographic.

In Sweden, we say hudfärgad which literally translates to skin-toned and refers to the beige/pinkish tone of nude, that traditionally hasn’t been inclusive of all skin tones.

When I investigated this further, I found that there was limited availability in other parts of the world, of skin-toned plasters amongst other products.

In Sweden and the majority parts of Europe, I couldn’t find any brands that offered this.

The lack of inclusivity and representation for POC has been something I’ve been affected by personally and through the stories of the people around me.

As I’ve always had an entrepreneurial drive and have worked a lot within the healthcare industry I decided to create a brand that should have been a given from the beginning of the beige plaster.

It was important to me from the start that the products had to be inclusive, celebrate diversity and that they were priced like any other branded high quality, fabric plaster.

I will always be on the mission of updating norms that only a few decided to create – to a state where normal includes us all.

women skin plasters 3(1) — Joanne Morales pictured with a group of Nünude models posing in the brands’ lingerie. One of the models (left) is wearing Skin Bandages ‘skin-toned plasters’. Image Copyright – Nünude.

Partnering On Launching The Plasters

Morales: Vivian approached me at the right time where we had a demand for those type of product from our customer base, we spoke on different ways we could collaborate and embarked on a new journey together.

We both truly click as entrepreneurs and really do have skill sets that complement each other massively.

We had to work very hard to find the right supplier that would have all the right certifications for the UK market which is stricter than most.

It took a very long time and a lot of investment to get everything we needed in place to have a successful Nunude X Skin Bandages UK launch.

The Impact You Are Both Having

Both: Well, the number of times we have gone viral through our creative campaigns can show how powerful we can be when we are passionate and empathetic with the issues we try to bring attention to.

Being women in an industry that is predominately male-dominated especially in the UK markets, has been a struggle however it has also made it even more rewarding.

We are constantly inspired to push harder to succeed further in what we do, and you know what? We have done really amazing, to have strong brands, in international markets, completely funded with organic marketing.

It’s a great way to show the correlation between representation and confidence.

Through Nünude we have strived to represent all people in marginalized groups to feel empowered and confident.

Self-love and self-worthiness are crucial for wellbeing, and representation can take you far.

Images Copyright – Nünude and Skin Bandages