Now… this isn’t intended to be any accusations of any brands doing the wrong thing. This is just observations on cups that have fairly unique design aspects that look quite similar to other cups with those same design aspects.
There may be a few reasons that cups may look similar or identical to another brand. These could be:
- Re-branding – Where a business may be buying cheap cups and reselling them under their new brand name (either as is, or by creating new packaging for them).
- Joint Manufacture – Where the manufacturer makes cups for more than one brand.
- Non-Exclusive manufacture – Where the manufacturer primarily makes the cups for one business, but also makes cups to sell themselves or to other businesses (maybe without the primary business knowing)
- Sharing/Selling Designs – Where one cup business has sold the rights to reproduce their cup design
- Copying/stealing designs – Where a business makes an exact copy or a slight variation of the cup, without the permission of the original business.
If you’re looking for a cup with particular features, you may find this information useful to see if there are other cups with those features. If you want to make sure you are getting a cup that is an “original” rather than a copy, look to see when the brand was established, and look to see how their overall website/business appearance is.
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Rebranding
While rebranding is only one reason cups may look similar, I wanted to address this issue, as it seems to be relevant in some cases, and I wanted to make consumers aware of this possibility.
You can buy a menstrual cup, in bulk, for as little as 50c to $1 per cup (including shipping!)
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Some seem to be offering to print logos and box designs for you:
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(note “silicone, Food grade or medical grade” – a bit of a worry)
Making it very cheap for someone to purchase these cups in bulk and resell them. Even if they get their own boxes printed – if they are reselling them at $20 or even $10 per cup, that still looks cheap to customers compared to some of the other brands, and gives them a HUGE profit.
Buying at wholesale pricing and reselling is common – and the large cup brands offer wholesale pricing to stockists. But there is a difference in buying at wholesale price and selling the item in its original packaging with its original name, or buying wholesale then implying that the product you are selling is your original creation by creating a new name and new packaging for it.
It does make it harder for consumers to know which cups are being manufactured by the company selling them, and which are just rebranded cheap cups.
Now that isn’t to say there is anything wrong with the cups themselves, the issue is that is it fair for someone to buy a cup for 50c and then sell it again for about $20 or $30, claiming that it is their own brand of cup that they have developed? It is misleading customers into paying more for the product, because they assume what they are getting is different from what they could get cheaper elsewhere.
It is going to be difficult to tell the difference between copies, rebranding and originals :( Some of the established cup companies have their branding on their cups, but some don’t. So while one way to tell if you are getting a cup that was specifically made for that company, is to look to see if it had branding on it – that won’t always work.
The other issue with rebranding of cheap cups is that some people rely on a cup looking “legitimate” by having nice boxed packaging and a website – where they may not have purchased a cup from AliExpress or other similar websites over concerns about the safety of those products. Rebranding can disguise the origins of a product and make it appear more “legitimate”. See also my Cheap Cups Safety & Ethics post.
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If you want to avoid purchasing a cup that may be a rebranding, then your best bet would be to select a cup that is unique in design and/or specifically not a design that is available as unbranded cups sold very cheaply on websites such as AliExpress or ebay. If a brand has the name or logo imprinted into the cup, and/or has been established for several years – that is also a fairly good sign that it is a unique or original design and not a rebranding.
Another thing to look out for is the use of pouches or packaging that look very similar. For example many cups are being sold with the same satin pouch:
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Femicup | Comfy Cup | Femalecup
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Unbranded | Eve Cup | Natural Mama | Aneer
..and dark pink pouches, some with ribbon drawstrings, some with cord drawstrings
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Aneer | Unbranded
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Pretty Woman | Unbranded | Cozy Cup
Some of the bulk cups don’t come with pouches or packaging, so resellers would have to (or could choose to) make their own pouches, so not having a pouch like these doesn’t mean it’s not a rebranding, but if it does have a pouch like this, and the same style of cup is available on AliExpress, then chances are very high that it is a rebranding.
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Similar looking brands
This is a list of cup brands that have specific similar features. This is not meant to imply that any of these brands are “Copies” or “Rebranding” – it is merely a comparison to highlight cups which appear to be the same shape and/or design.
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Short thin stems
Cups that feature short rounded “stick” stems, with rings around the base of the cup and rings around the “ridge” area:
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
- “Aneer” – [Cup sold with an Aneer box]
- Blossom Cup – [Blossom Cup listing]
- Charlene - [Charlene Listing]
- Cup’ax – [Cup’ax website]
- Dutchess Cup – [review with photos]
- Femma’s Cup – [“Femma’s” cup (with Aneer box)]
- Playtamx – [Playtamx listing]
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Short thick stems
Cups that feature grid-like grip lines around the base of the cup with shorter thick stems that have grip rings:
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
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Flat Tab stems
Cups with a tab stem that features 3 grip lines and have colours and overall look to the silicone that looks very similar to each other. Often with a slightly bent stem:
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
- ALX - [ALX Website]
- Aneer – [Aneer listing]
- Biointimo – [Biointimo listing]
- Continuon – [Continuon listing] (previously sold as “Cerene”)
- Eve Cup – [Eve Cup Website]
- iCare - [iCare listing]
- iClean – [iClean listing]
- Femcup - [Femcup site]
- La Luna – [LaLuna site]
- Luno – [Luno site]
- Melody Susie – [Melody Susie site]
- Well Done – [Well Done listing]
- Also countless Cheap Unnamed brands
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Cups that have a flat wide-tabbed stem, sometimes with low profile ridge (usually only on the small size) and sometimes without.
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
- ComfyCup – [ComfyCup listing]
- Crystal Cup – [Crystal cup listing]
- Daisy Cup – [Daisy cup Listing]
- Female Cup – [Femalecup Site]
- Femicup – [Femicup site]
- MiaLuna – [MiaLuna site]
- Natural mama – [Natural mama site]
- Pretty Woman – [Pretty Woman listing]
- Unnamed brands
Cups that have a spiral grip line on the stem, are both made in Italy, Both have the same measurements and are available in the same clear or pink colour. I have heard that this is the same cup, just given different names when being sold online or in stores.
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
- Lybera – [Lybera Site]
- Eco-Cup – [Eco-Cup Site]
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Cups that have a tab stem with a heart or moon shape on the end, usually where the heart is used for the small size, and moon for the large.
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
Cups that have a long “stick” stem with bumps on it (I have seen someone speculate that that Si-bell sold or licensed their design, so other companies may be allowed to make their own brand from it, or not – I don’t know).
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
- Si-bell – [Si-Bell site]
- Liberty Cup – [Liberty listing] – seems to have “Natu” on it
- Natu – [Natu listing] – has “Natu” embossed on it
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Cups that have a long “stick” stem with grip lines on it – The same design as above, but with different grip on the stem. (I have seen someone speculate that that Si-bell sold or licensed their design, so other companies may be allowed to make their own brand from it, or not – I don’t know).
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Brands of cup that appear to be this same design:
- Amulette – [Amulette site]
- Claricup – [Claricup listing] – but in blue
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