This 35-year-old designed her Aire adult diapers for her grandmother who fell because of urinary incontinence

Three years ago, Nivedita Venkateish’s then 90-year-old grandmother had a bad fall. The fall and her grandma’s subsequent difficult recovery was what led Venkateish to launch her own brand of adult diapers, Aire, in June 2023.
It was at the peak of the pandemic and the elderly woman, who was already ill with COVID-19, was going to the toilet frequently because of urinary incontinence.
She was disoriented from COVID-19, and tripped and fell one night. When the family got to the elderly woman, they found her on the floor.
“She ended up being bedridden for a few months where she had to be given medication through an IV drip and needed oxygen cylinders. It was absolutely devastating,” said the 35-year-old Singaporean.
The situation might have been prevented had Venkateish’s grandmother worn adult diapers and did not need to move to and from the toilet. But it was something she adamantly refused due to the stigma.
After her fall, she relented but the diapers she wore were rough on her skin, uncomfortable and often caused rashes, especially in hot weather, Venkateish told CNA Women. Being severely diabetic, her rashes took longer to heal.
“The products were also not a good fit and would always bunch up at the back because Asian sizes were not catered to. She said they made her feel like she was wearing a paper bag,” Venkateish added.
NOBODY TALKS ABOUT ADULT INCONTINENCE
One can imagine that most 35-year-old millennials would never think of designing adult diapers. In fact, even Venkateish’s grandmother “found it quite amusing”.
But that is precisely why Venkateish felt compelled to do it.
Globally, it is estimated that over 400 million people experience urinary incontinence. In Singapore, 10 to 40 per cent of the population suffer from some form of urinary incontinence, according to the Society for Continence Singapore website.
“It’s not sexy. It’s not something that people want to talk about. But it is so needed. It really changes people’s ability to live their day-to-day,” she said.
“There is this perception that wearing adult diapers makes you helpless, like a child or baby,” she added.
“It has such a deep emotional and psychological impact. If you have urine incontinence or urine leakage, a lot of times, you end up isolating yourself from your family, people that you love and your community.”
Venkateish believes this is the result of a lack of awareness and stigmatisation.
“If you look at the West, people like Kris Jenner, Whoopi Goldberg have talked about having urine leakage or incontinence. But in Asia, we are lagging behind,” she said.
When it comes to adult diapers, Venkateish said there are not enough good options,
“Adult diapers are one of the fastest growing categories in disposable hygiene. At the same time, there is a lack of brand and product innovation in the space as compared to baby diapers or sanitary napkins,” said Venkateish, who started her career in multinationals such as Diageo, Unilever and Kraft Heinz.
“That was 2022. Elon Musk was sending rockets to the moon. We’re talking about the world ageing, but products for seniors are literally stuck in the past. Why are we designing products for seniors which are rough and uncomfortable?”  
DESIGNING DIAPERS FOR EVERYDAY WEAR
When Venkateish got laid off from Meta five weeks into the job during the tech winter of November 2022, she decided to combine her severance with her savings, which came up to a six-figure sum, to bootstrap Aire.
Aire means “keep guard” in Irish Gaelic, and Venkateish sees the brand as everyday wear for active seniors to continue pursuing their passions despite having urinary incontinence.
Aire diapers are intentionally designed as pull-up pants instead of tape diapers because Venkateish believes pull-up diapers would be more convenient and empowering for active seniors.
She collaborated with many manufacturers in China and went through multiple prototypes and consumer testing to design a product with high absorbency catering to Asian bodies. The product comes in smaller sizes, is more body hugging and narrower at the waist.
“The fabric feels cottony and soft, and is latex-, lotion- and fragrance-free to prevent rashes,” she said.
Venkateish also thought about absorbency. “A lot of products in the market just tell you how absorbent they are based on the number of drops they have – for example, six-drop absorbency or seven-drop absorbency. That can be confusing to consumers,” she said.
For this reason, she recently revamped Aire’s packaging to indicate clearly how much urine the diaper can hold – more than one litre, or three to four urine voids. The new packaging will be on shelves this month.
Though Aire users are predominantly seniors over the age of 65, some are in their thirties and forties, including postpartum women, and people with special needs, muscular disease and other illnesses.
A conversation with a woman with multiple sclerosis drove home the importance of clear messaging and reliability.
“She told me that five years ago, she went to work wearing an adult diaper and had an accident. It leaked into her chair and clothes. She had to go to the bathroom and dry her clothes under the hair dryer. She was utterly humiliated.
“Since then, she goes out wearing a sanitary pad inside an adult pull-up, then wears another pull-up diaper over it, wears jeans on top of that, and then sits in a wheelchair and puts her purse on her lap so that if anything happens, it won’t be that obvious.
“That made me realise how much responsibility you have with such products and how important it is to live up to your promise,” Venkateish said.
SENIORS ARE NOT STEREOTYPES
Since its launch in June 2023, Aire has sold tens of thousands of diapers, by Venkateish’s estimate. The brand is currently available at Fairprice, Prime Supermarket, Redmart, selected pharmacies and grocery stores, and on the brand’s website.  
In March this year, it received US$500,000 (S$655,700) in seed funding from a consumer venture capitalist. In May, she expanded her one-woman team to a team of four.
“One of the biggest challenges as a solo founder is having that sort of conviction to compete against MNCs with billions of dollars of topline sales,” she said.
In mid-September, Aire is preparing to launch a heavier-absorbency diaper designed to hold two litres of urine – up to six urine voids – for overnight use.
Her grandmother loves Aire diapers and naturally, does not wear any other brand. And after a long recovery, the 93-year-old has gone back to enjoying her hobbies and Sudoku, and reading the newspaper from cover to cover.
Watching seniors lead fulfilling lives is very inspiring, Venkateish said. “This is part of a broader movement to change how we see seniors as a whole.”
“One of the big challenges that seniors face is this feeling of ‘being invisible’ or ‘being a liability’. We need to start seeing seniors as people, instead of just stereotyping them as “seniors”. Age is not their defining factor. It’s their personality, their likes and dislikes that defines them,” she said.
“I’m part of a number of senior groups where seniors are showing me the ropes of ballroom dancing and organising weekly walks. Their interests span from memes to Korean soaps. Seniors on the forefront of using AI to improve their lives, and silver TikTokers are shaping fashion trends,” she added.
Even with incontinence, they can pursue their passion. But this starts with having an open conversation about the issue. “We need to create brands that talk to them and don’t make them feel that something’s wrong with them.”
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.