Andy Devaney
Modibodi has done something far more useful than slap a logo on a shirt and call it progress. Its latest collaboration with West Ham United Women gets to the heart of the modern game, giving Ffion Morgan, Kinga Szemik and Katie O’Hanlon room to speak openly about periods, pressure, online hate and the mental discipline required to compete at elite level.
Released to mark International Women’s Day, the new Ask Me Anything video is set in an east London coffee shop rather than a polished media set, which suits the tone. It feels grounded. Human. More to the point, it allows three Women’s Super League players to talk like footballers rather than corporate mannequins.
That alone gives the campaign a bit of weight.
A more honest picture of women’s football
The West Ham trio cover a broad sweep of subjects, from dealing with outside noise and handling pressure before a big game to offering advice for younger athletes trying to break through.
The most striking element, though, is the candour. This is not football wrapped in glossy language. It is football as it is lived. The players discuss the realities of managing periods on game day, dealing with online abuse and using mental drills to settle nerves before kick-off.
Those are not side issues. They are part of the job.
For all the growth in women’s football, too much of the conversation still hovers around attendances, investment and visibility, as though the sport’s entire future can be measured in spreadsheets and broadcast deals. Those things matter, of course, but they do not tell the whole story. The lived experience of players matters too, and that is where this Modibodi campaign finds its relevance.
Social media, scrutiny and the modern player
Morgan reflects on sharing her footballing journey on social media, while Szemik and O’Hanlon speak about their reluctance to be more open online because of the risk of abuse.
That tension will be familiar to any modern athlete. Social media offers access, reach and profile, but it also opens the door to relentless noise from people who have never trapped a football in the rain, let alone played under pressure. The expectation now is not just to perform but to present, engage and absorb criticism in public.
It is an exhausting arrangement.
What comes through strongly in the video is the need for players to manage far more than their form. They are navigating scrutiny, expectation and wellbeing in equal measure. In that sense, the campaign works because it does not overplay its hand. It simply lets the players describe the terrain.
Why the Modibodi partnership matters
This is where Modibodi’s role becomes more than decorative. The company is West Ham United Women’s Period-Proof Underwear Partner, in what was described as a first-of-its-kind partnership in WSL history.
That is significant on its own, but the next step gives it even greater visibility. In August, Modibodi becomes the first period-proof underwear brand to feature on-kit in women’s football, appearing on the back of the shorts of West Ham United Women throughout the Barclays Women’s Super League and domestic cup competitions.
That is not just a sponsorship quirk. It is a clear statement about what belongs in the conversation around performance, preparation and player support.
Periods in sport have long been treated like an awkward footnote, despite being a routine part of life for many athletes. The result has often been silence where support should be. Modibodi’s partnership with West Ham United Women cuts across that silence and does so in a way that feels practical rather than performative.
Playing fearless means removing barriers
The wider purpose behind the partnership is just as important as the visibility it creates. The co-branded work between Modibodi and West Ham has been built around the idea of helping players feel confident, normalising conversations around periods in sport and encouraging the one in two girls who avoid playing on their period to stay involved.
That is where this story stops being a branding exercise and starts becoming a participation issue.
If girls are stepping away from sport because they do not feel comfortable, supported or equipped to manage their period while playing, that is not a minor inconvenience. That is a structural barrier. It affects confidence, continuity and long-term involvement in physical activity.
Football has spent years trying to widen access. Efforts like this suggest that access is not just about pitches, pathways and coaching. It is also about whether players feel able to turn up and compete without unnecessary anxiety.
A product range shaped by players
Alongside the video, Modibodi and West Ham United have continued to build on the partnership through a limited-edition co-branded range released at the beginning of the season.
Developed in consultation with players from West Ham United Women, the collection comes in the Club’s Claret, Cerulean Blue and Black. That detail gives it a little more substance. It signals that the range was not simply designed around a colour chart and a marketing brief, but with input from the athletes expected to wear it.
The stated aim is to inspire confidence, normalise conversations around periods in sport and support girls and women in staying active. The range is available exclusively through Modibodi and official West Ham United retail channels.
There is a practical intelligence to that approach. This is not about inventing a problem to sell a solution. It is about recognising a problem that already exists and meeting it with something tangible.
A partnership with real sporting value
What lifts this above the usual sponsor-player content is that it reflects a genuine issue within women’s sport. There is no need to force emotion into it or puff it up with grand claims. The subject matter is already serious enough.
Modibodi’s partnership with West Ham United Women works because it meets the players where they actually are: preparing for games, coping with pressure, managing their bodies and navigating the public side of professional football.
That gives the campaign credibility. It acknowledges that elite performance does not happen in a vacuum and that confidence can be shaped as much by comfort and support as by coaching and conditioning.
In football terms, this is not noise from the sidelines. It is part of the wider support structure around the athlete.
The bigger picture for women’s football
Women’s football does not need more polished slogans. It needs more honesty, better support and fewer taboos dressed up as tradition. This campaign points in that direction.
By giving players space to talk plainly about pre-match anxiety, online hate and periods on game day, West Ham United Women and Modibodi have produced something that feels contemporary and credible. It understands that the sport’s growth is not just about crowds and coverage. It is also about making the game more livable for the people playing it.
That is a quieter kind of progress, perhaps, but often the more meaningful kind.
And in a sport that still has a habit of talking around important issues instead of through them, that is no small thing.
