Box of 12 Kotex maxi pads

Box of 12 Kotex maxi pads, "Super Beltless Protection", Kimberly-Clark, USA, 1981-1983

Before self-adhesive menstrual pads appeared in 1969, pads were secured with belts. Comprised of elastic, these were worn around the waist with tabs or hooks at the front and back for attaching a sanitary towel between the legs. The garments all but disappeared when new 'beltless' pads Stayfree – which could be adhered directly to underwear – were launched. Originally invented as an incontinence product in the mid-1960s, self-adhesive pads took the menstrual product market by storm. Kotex was the first disposable menstrual pad commercially available in the US, launched in 1920. While this pack of maxi-pads dates from the early 1980s, they were still marketed as offering ‘beltless protection’.