We’re excited to announce that GladRags has joined the partner program of Powell’s Books, one of the greatest independent booksellers around!

What does that mean to you?  For starters, have you noticed the new link in our sidebar to our GladRags Reading List?  Check it out to see a list of our recommended reads in a variety of topics — and be sure to check back frequently as we’ll be updating the list as we come across new books!  Also, expect to see links to related books at the bottom of upcoming blog posts.

And, when you make any purchase from Powells.com after clicking on a link from this page, we’ll receive a portion of the sale — so you can support GladRags and Powell’s!  You can also sell books you no longer need back to Powells.com for cash or store credit.

Do you have a great book you think we should review or recommend?  Please comment and let us know so we can share your suggestions with the rest of the GladRags community!

Last month we posted about participating in Bike Transportation Alliance’s Bike Commute Challenge.  Now we’re excited to share the amazing results of this month-long competition!

Number of participating workplaces:
1240

Number of riders:
11,118

Number of riders new to bike commuting:
2,693

Total number of miles biked:
1,244,718

That’s a lot of bike commuters and a lot of miles!  We had so much fun challenging ourselves to bike to work every single day (as a team, we logged 490 miles in September!) and checking our ranking on the BTA website — we even received a plaque for our 100% workplace participation rate!

You can read more about the Bike Commute Challenge — including the guy who biked over 1,800 miles in just 21 days! — at Bike Portland’s blog.  Thanks again to the Bike Transportation Alliance for organizing such an enjoyable competition and to all the other teams who participated!

Does our blog look a little funky?  We just launched our brand new website and some of our blog entries were affected by the switch.  While we work on restoring the format of GladRags Gab, be sure to check out all the awesome new features on GladRags.com and let us know what you think!

Here at GladRags we often listen to podcasts as we tirelessly work to provide you the best of service and support.  Some of our favorites come from the How Stuff Works family of podcasts.  They all have the impossible combination of expertise, wit, humor, and chemistry between the two podcasters.  A recent podcast on Stuff Mom Never Told You was titled “Is Menstruation the Last Taboo?”  Look them up on itunes or go to their website to listen. Needless to say, we found something missing from their podcast.  Because they always encourage feedback we sent them this letter:

Hi Cristen and Molly, First of all, we just want to say that we listen to your podcast all the time at work!  We love your fun and in-depth coverage of such a variety of topics — some of our favorites are “The Mysteries of Nancy Drew” and “Are Breast Implants Linked to Suicide.”

We are writing today in regards to your podcast titled “Is Menstruation the Last Taboo?”

We thought it was great and covered a lot of territory, but we were disappointed that you never mentioned alternative menstrual products in your discussion of becoming more comfortable with our menstrual cycles. Alternative menstrual products include things like menstrual cups (DivaCup, Keeper Cup, Moon Cup, etc), cloth pads, and sea sponge tampons. We work at GladRags (http://www.gladrags.com), a company which sells these types of products, so promoting positive attitudes toward menstruation is a subject near and dear to our hearts! Not many women know that there are alternatives to disposable products, but we believe that every woman should have all the information available so that she can make the best choice for her body.  The health benefits notwithstanding — reusables don’t contain bleach or other harmful chemicals and have never been linked to toxic shock syndrome — we find that most women gain a greater understanding of their bodies and a sense of comfort with their menstrual cycle.  In addition, the average woman uses 16,800 pads or tampons in her lifetime — imagine the environmental impact of all that waste! You mentioned that a lot of your fans are interested in hearing about the history of the tampon.  We hope that you will include reusable menstrual products in your podcast, as the tampon as we know it is a relatively recent invention compared to cloth pads and menstrual cups! We plan on sharing your podcast with our customers on our Facebook and blog (http://www.gladrags.com/blog).  Thanks for keeping us informed and entertained while we work! -Alex and Tracy, the girls from GladRags.com

Hopefully they will mention alternative menstrual products on the next podcast they record.  Even if they don’t, you should listen, because they are great!  Did you listen to this podcast?  What did you think?  What podcasts do you subscribe to?  We are always looking for more!

Team GladRags from left to right: Alex, Brenda, and Tracy

Here at GladRags, it’s important to us to be as sustainable as possible.  From the way we package our products to the way we get to the office, we try to make the best choice possible for the environment.  All three of us bike to work fairly routinely, but when we heard about the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s Bike Commute Challenge, we were excited to really put ourselves to the test! The challenge is “a friendly competition — workplace against workplace — to see who can bike to work more during the month of September. The workplaces with the highest percentage of commutes by bicycle during the month win!”  There are also weekly drawings for prizes and discounts for bike parts/accessories at local bicycle shops. The Bike Commute Challenge website is really fun and interactive.  Each day you work, you log your mileage on the calendar and your total miles, calories burned, pounds of CO2 saved, and participation rate are automatically calculated.  Check it out: as a team we’ve already cycled over 232 miles!

As of this posting, we’re #1 in our category (Business or Non-Profit with 2-4 employees) with a participation rate of 100%!  While there are no official prizes offered to winning teams by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance — other than glory, of course! — there are plenty of benefits from just participating (better health, a reduced carbon footprint, and the simple joy of just riding a bicycle, to name a few!).

One day last week we all needed to attend a meeting about three miles away, so we hopped on our bikes and headed downtown.  It was a beautiful day and so much fun to ride as a group, plus the midday exercise perked us up.  As soon as we made it back, we all logged on to add the trip to our mileage!

If you’re in Oregon and SW Washington, it’s not too late to join the competition!  You can still sign up and enter your commutes retroactively. The website is also available for bike commuters from outside the area to use, although you won’t be part of the official challenge.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on our progress and hope to see some of you at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s after party on October 8th!

Here at GladRags we love all things sustainable!  This includes bike commuting to work for all of us.  There are more benefits to biking than just sustainable living.  You feel good, spend less money, and get to enjoy the scenery of your town.  And now this!  There was a delightful little add-on to the stimulus bill:  The Bicycle Commuter Tax Provision – a $20 a month tax credit to employees for riding their bike to work!   We GladRags employees love it! See more information here.  The provision was heralded by Portland's very own bike commuting representative Earl Blumenauer.

If you ride to work a substantial amount of days, ask your employer to offer it!

Do you ride your bike to work or around town?  If not, what are your major barriers?  If you do, what do you think is the best part?

Hi!  My name is Tracy and I'm new here at GladRags — although you may recognize me from my brief moment of fame as one of last year's monthly friends.  I've been using reusable menstrual products for about two years and I'm so excited to join the GladRags team!

I grew up here in Portland and last year earned my BA in Social Science at Portland State University.  In the past I have worked in childcare and provided employment support for adults with developmental disabilities.  Outside of work, I enjoy knitting, spinning, eating delicious meals, reading, riding my bicycle, and spending time with family and friends.  I'm a Leo (Scorpio rising) and I share my home with two lovely housemates, two cats, one Australian Shepherd and a French Angora rabbit.

I'm looking forward to spreading the word about GladRags and making a positive impact on our feelings surrounding menstruation.  Thanks for reading and look for more blog posts from me soon!

GladRags now has a Facebook business page!  Click here to join our group and be our very special friend.  If you're a regular user of this amazing social networking site, you'll be able to easily catch up on our blog postings there, plus get alerts on your homepage when we have fresh news to share with you!

Hello–I'd like to interrupt this blog to introduce myself.  I'm Hilary, otherwise known as the Bunny with a Toolbelt, and I'll be sitting in on the GladRags Blog for the next few months.  Brenda wanted me to tell you a little bit about myself, so I'll start with a piece I made over a decade ago that fits right into the conversations here. I made this piece in 1987 when I found a call for entries for a show in New Orleans called "Feminine Products," which immediately triggered the idea for this piece, which I lovingly called the "Giant Tampon Punching Bag."  It came out of a monthly frustration at the high price of disposable menstrual pads and tampons.  The bag was the full size of a regulation punching bag, and hung from a large rope.  The boxing gloves were covered with images of dollar bills.  It was a simple, humorous idea, like much of my student work. The giant tampon is long gone, but my artwork carries on.  Most recently, I have been focusing on a line of wood animals and wedding cake toppers I sell on Etsy, a fabulous online marketplace for handmade goods.  You can see my shop by clicking here.  Here's an image of one of my favorite pieces, a red bird sitting on an elephant's back.  My sculptures are made entirely from reclaimed wood, gleaned from woodworkers' scrap bins or a local business in Portland called the ReBuilding Center, who is able to salvage up to 90% of a building before demolition and sell it back to the public at a great price, not to mention the benefits of saving it from the landfill. I love to write, and I feel strongly about the great products that GladRags makes, so I'll be checking in from time to time to let you in on what I'm thinking about.  Thanks for listening and I'll be back soon!

Hello, my name is Alex and I am new here at GladRags!  I thought I would share a little bit about myself.  I grew up in Muncie, Indiana.  In 2004 I moved to Portland, OR in order to attend Reed College, much like my friend and co-worker Elizabeth, and explore a different part of the county.  I graduated in the fall of 2008 with a B.A. in psychology.  Since then, I have worked with teenagers with Austism at an urban day camp.  My interests include reading, dancing, discovering Portland, biking, trivia, and snacks.  When I heard there was an opening at GladRags I was thrilled!  I am interested in learning more about how women make choices and talk about their own bodies.