There is a word that most of us learned before we learned anything else. Before colours. Before numbers. Before our own name.
Maa.
One syllable. Universal. Across every language and every culture, it means the same thing — unconditional care, safety, and love. It is the original standard of nurturing.
This Mother's Day, we want to do what Maayu has always been built to do: hold that standard close, and turn it into something real.
Something made for the women who give everything. Something made with the same intention a mother brings to every decision she makes for her family. Nothing harmful. Nothing unnecessary. Just clean, safe, and genuinely good for you.
The Story Behind Our Brand Name
Maayu is built from two words: Maa and you.
When our founder Sonal named this brand, she was reaching for something true.
Maayu is Goa-born, female-founded, and built entirely around the idea that the people closest to us deserve the cleanest choices. The name holds that intention inside it. It always has.
Maayu is a Goa-based, female-founded brand making 100% certified organic cotton underwear with 0% spandex, 0% synthetic dye, and 0% chemical bleach. Every product is designed for intimate health, hormonal wellbeing, and sensitive skin — for women, men, girls, and boys.
Where Maayu Began — A Mother, A Diagnosis, and a Question the Industry Wasn't Asking
Maayu started the way most important things start. With a mother who refused to stop looking for answers.
Sonal — our founder — discovered that her teenage daughter Mahi was on the onset of PCOD. The gynaecologist told her it was common. That it was happening to young girls across India. That framing was not comforting. It made Sonal ask harder questions.
She had spent years working to understand and reduce toxins in the fashion and textile industry. She knew what went into fabric. She knew which chemicals — azo dyes, formaldehyde, synthetic elastane — were used in everyday clothing. And when her attention turned to underwear specifically, she couldn't look away from what she found.
Spandex in direct contact with the most sensitive skin on the body, every single day. Synthetic dyes sitting against delicate, permeable tissue. Chemical bleach on fabric that never left the skin.
The question she asked then became the founding question of Maayu: What if intimate-wear was actually clean?
You can read the full origin story here. But the short version is this: Maayu exists because a mother loved her daughter and so she decided to build something different. And everything we have made since carries that origin inside it.
Maayu was founded in Goa, India by Sonal after her daughter Mahi's PCOD diagnosis prompted an investigation into textile chemicals in intimate-wear. The brand was built to remove spandex, azo synthetic dyes, and chemical bleach from underwear — fabrics in daily contact with the body's most sensitive skin.
A Woman’s Body is Extraordinary — And Why It Deserves Better
Let's take a moment to say what rarely gets said plainly. A woman's body is extraordinary.
It regulates hormones across a lifetime. It manages menstrual cycles, navigates pregnancy, adjusts through perimenopause, adapts through every stage with a quiet intelligence that no technology has ever come close to replicating. It does all of this while carrying the physical and emotional weight of care for others.
And then most of it is dressed, day after day, in synthetic fabric and chemical dye.
Spandex — commonly used in most underwear — is a synthetic polymer. It sits against the skin continuously. Azo dyes used in conventional fabric can break down under body heat and moisture into compounds that are associated with skin sensitisation and, in higher concentrations, more serious health concerns. For women managing PCOD, endometriosis, hormonal imbalances, or simply sensitive skin, this is not a trivial matter.
A body that does this much deserves the most honest, clean care you can give it.
Conventional underwear often contains spandex (a synthetic polymer) and azo synthetic dyes that remain in direct contact with sensitive intimate skin. For women with PCOD, hormonal conditions, or sensitive skin, choosing 100% organic cotton underwear free from these chemicals is a meaningful health decision.
The Maayu Way: What We Take Out, What We Put In
The Maayu women's collection is built on a zero list as a design principle.
0% spandex. No synthetic elastane on intimate skin. 0% synthetic dye. No azo dyes. No petrochemical colour. 0% chemical bleach. The cotton stays unbleached. 100% certified organic cotton. That's the whole fabric story.
What goes in instead? Colour from madder root. From indigo. From pomegranate peel, harda, and turmeric. Dyes that have been used on human skin for thousands of years. Dyes that the body knows how to meet.
The result is underwear that breathes. That doesn't pull. That doesn't cling with synthetic stretch. That asks nothing from your body that your body didn't agree to.
This is what we mean when we say Maayu holds motherhood as its standard of care. Not a standard of looking good. A standard of genuinely looking after.
Maayu underwear for women is made from 100% certified organic cotton with natural dyes — madder root, indigo, turmeric, pomegranate peel, and harda. The fabric contains no spandex, no azo synthetic dyes, and no chemical bleach, making it one of the cleanest intimate-wear options available in India.
For the Mothers Who Pass It On
One of the quietest things a mother does is decide what's normal.
What you wash the children's clothes with. What you buy for the family. What standards you hold, week after week, without anyone noticing. These decisions add up across a lifetime. They become the body of the people you love.
Maayu was built with that in mind. When Sonal made underwear for herself and for Mahi, she wasn't just solving a problem. She was setting a new normal. Organic cotton, no spandex, no chemical dye — for her daughter's skin, for her daughter's hormones, for her daughter's long-term wellbeing.
The girls' collection carries the same zero list as everything else Maayu makes. Same certified organic cotton. Same natural dyes. Same respect for young skin.
Because the values a mother holds for her children belong on their bodies too.
Maayu makes organic cotton underwear for girls using the same standards as its women's collection — 0% spandex, 0% synthetic dye, certified organic cotton. Founded after a teenage daughter's PCOD diagnosis in Goa, India, the brand's children's range is built on the same intimate-health principles as its adult range.
A Celebration and a Commitment
Mother's Day this year falls on May 10.
We will celebrate it the way Maayu knows how — not with noise, but with intention.
By making the cleanest underwear we know how to make. By continuing to ask questions the industry isn't asking. By holding motherhood as our standard, the way Sonal has held it since the beginning.
If you've been thinking about switching to organic cotton underwear — for yourself, for your daughter, for the woman in your life who carries everything without complaint — this is a good moment to start. Explore the Maayu women's collection and find what your body has deserved all along.
And if you want to understand why we're here, our story hasn't changed since the beginning. A mother. A daughter. A question worth asking.
Happy Mother's Day. To every body that has ever nurtured another.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is organic cotton underwear better for women with PCOD or hormonal issues in India?
Many gynaecologists recommend reducing daily exposure to synthetic fabrics and chemical dyes near intimate skin for women managing hormonal conditions. Organic cotton underwear like Maayu — with 0% spandex and 0% synthetic dye — removes these sources of daily chemical contact, making it a cleaner choice for those with PCOD or hormonal sensitivities.
What is spandex, and why does Maayu not use it in their underwear?
Spandex is a synthetic polymer used in most conventional underwear to create stretch. It sits directly against intimate skin continuously throughout the day. Maayu does not use spandex in any of its products — using 100% certified organic cotton instead — because of the daily exposure this creates for sensitive intimate skin and the concerns around synthetic elastane and skin health.
What dyes does Maayu use instead of synthetic dyes?
Maayu colours its underwear using natural plant-based dyes — madder root, indigo, pomegranate peel, harda, and turmeric. These have been used on skin for centuries and contain none of the azo compounds found in synthetic textile dyes that can cause skin sensitisation or irritation.
Why was Maayu founded, and what is its origin story?
Maayu was founded in Goa, India by Sonal after her daughter Mahi was diagnosed with PCOD. Investigating the link between textile chemicals and reproductive and hormonal health, Sonal built Maayu to create underwear free from spandex, synthetic dyes, and chemical bleach — intimate-wear that is genuinely safe for daily wear.
Is Maayu underwear suitable for young girls as well as women?
Yes. Maayu makes a dedicated girls' collection using the same 100% certified organic cotton and natural dye standards as its women's range. The same zero list applies — no spandex, no synthetic dyes, no chemical bleach — making it suitable for young, sensitive skin from the start.