Box containing Kotex Delux Belt

Box containing Kotex Delux Belt, with original price sticker ($2.09), Kimberly-Clark, USA, 1986

Belts like this were the precursor to self-adhesive menstrual pads which entered the market in the early 1970s. Comprised of elastic, the belts 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 and New Freedom – which could be adhered directly to underwear – were launched, but some consumers preferred to stick with what they knew as this example from 1986 demonstrates.