Born in Montpellier, Haomah Sports is a brand founded by Maryam Bini, based on a simple observation: periods should never prevent a female athlete from pursuing her passion.
After two years of research and development, carried out between 2021 and 2023, the brand was launched with a clear ambition: to offer menstrual sportswear designed for athletic performance, enabling female athletes to move freely, without taboos or restrictions.
Shorts, leggings, swimsuits… Haomah Sports develops solutions tailored to the needs of female athletes across a range of disciplines, including individual sports, water sports, dance, gymnastics and team sports.
Through this partnership, Montpellier FC and Haomah Sports share the same conviction: periods should never be a barrier to taking part in sport. Both organisations are united by common values: access to sport for all, self-confidence, education and the freedom to participate without taboos.
Because a better understanding of the issues surrounding periods and sport is also a way to help change attitudes, we spoke to Maryam Bini, founder of Haomah Sports, to discuss her journey and the challenges female athletes still face today.
A conversation with Maryam Bini, founder of Haomah Sports
In 2026, is the subject of periods still taboo in elite sport? What have you observed through your work?
Yes. And the worst part is that we act as though it is no longer the case.
We talk about it in the media, publish studies and celebrate athletes who speak out. But in the changing rooms, nothing has really changed. Professional players still step onto the pitch with a knot in their stomach. They choose the darkest shorts and check them at half-time. Part of their mind is focused on something other than the match.
Elite sport measures everything: sleep, workload, heart rate. Yet one thing that affects every player, every month, remains off the radar. This silence comes at a cost, and that cost is paid in performance.
You say you want to go beyond simply providing menstrual protection. What does that mean in practice?
It all started with something my eldest daughter said.
She was a swimmer, had a competition coming up and got her period. She did not want to wear a tampon, so she had to withdraw. That evening, she looked at me and said: “Mum, why am I being punished for being able to give life, when boys never have to ask themselves these questions?”
I had no answer. So I set out to create one.
It took two years of research and development, from 2021 until our launch in 2023. Today, Haomah produces genuine sportswear, including shorts, leggings and swimsuits, with up to five hours of built-in menstrual protection. The fabrics are Italian and certified to OEKO-TEX and GOTS standards, and the products are designed in France. We do not sell period underwear. Haomah creates sportswear that allows female athletes to stop having to choose between competing and their bodies.
But the product is only half the battle. The other half is breaking the silence. Many girls give up sport during adolescence. Some stop because of their periods, and no one has ever told them they are allowed to talk about it. My daughter was fortunate enough to be able to speak up. I want every other girl to have that same opportunity.
What do you hope to learn from the Montpellier FC players through this partnership?
Everything they do not say in press conferences.
They are the most demanding testers in the world. They train every day, withstand physical challenges and sprint in the rain. If our product performs well for them, it will perform well for anyone. I want their honest feedback, with no filter, even when it is tough to hear.
And I want to hear their stories. How they manage their menstrual cycles throughout a season. What they have never dared to tell a coach. What they needed when they were 13. I would bet that many of them have, at some point, experienced the same sense of injustice as my daughter.
What attracted you to this partnership with Montpellier FC? What do you think of the club’s ambition to become a leading name in women’s football in France and Europe?
A little girl at a football academy will not necessarily listen to you. She will listen to her favourite player.
That is why this partnership matters so much. Montpellier FC’s players are role models. When one of them simply says, “I have my period, and I’m playing,” she does more for a 12-year-old girl than ten awareness campaigns ever could. She also helps a 35-year-old player who has never spoken about it to feel less alone or ashamed. That is at the heart of our commitment: empowering players to speak out and demystify the subject, for younger and older generations alike.
As for the club’s ambition, I fully share it. Becoming a leading European club is not just about results. It also means supporting players in every aspect of their performance.
Clubs that incorporate the menstrual cycle into their support and training programmes will have a head start. I want Montpellier to be the first.
And Haomah is a Montpellier-based brand. Taking on this challenge alongside our city’s club is an immense source of pride.
What cultural changes do you hope to help bring about in women’s football and sport more broadly over the coming years?
I want this interview to seem ridiculous five years from now.
I want the menstrual cycle to be discussed within a team’s support staff as naturally as sleep or recovery. I want sportswear designed around female athletes’ bodies, rather than adapted from a male model.
I want no player to lose even a fraction of her concentration because of a concern she does not dare to voice.
Above all, I want no girl ever to have to ask the question my daughter asked me. Every teenager who leaves the pitch because she feels ashamed represents a collective failure. The day a 13-year-old girl heads off to training without giving it a second thought, because she has heard her sporting idols talk openly about periods, we will have won.
What message would you like to share with all the female athletes reading this?
Your period is not a punishment. Do not let anyone, whether through their judgement or your own embarrassment, make you believe otherwise.
Talk about it. To your coach, your teammates and your support staff. You will discover that you were never alone. And if you are an established player, a mother or a coach, your voice matters twice as much: every word you say helps pave the way for someone younger.
One day, my daughter asked me why she was being punished. My answer is Haomah. Yours is to keep playing. Every day of the month.