The pStyle Interview

In order to build community and share awareness, I’ve been reaching out to the owners of different STP manufacturers to hear their stories. Krista Eickmann, founder and owner of pStyle, gave me some of her time recently to discuss the pStyle, STPs, social change, stigma, and her own experiences.

Who is pStyle for?

It’s really important to me to say that pStyle is for anyone who needs it! We are aware, through having been in business for twenty years, that it’s useful not only for the people that you might instantly think of—cis women—but also for trans people, some non-binary people, some intersex people, and some cis men. So that’s the gender dimension.

And then there’s the dimension of your access to toilets. That encompasses the people you’d commonly think of, like hikers, outdoors people who are able bodied—but we like to take it out to bigger perspectives. There’s a lot of occupations where it’s useful, sometimes life-saving, [to pee standing up]; there’s the disability aspect; there’s things most people have never thought of!

For example, a customer told us that they had multiple-chemical sensitivity and going into a public restroom meant not knowing what smells they’d encounter—they said they just pee by the side of the road with their pStyle. We had someone who had a fear of drains and a fear of loud noises--they used the pStyle in public restrooms, so the auto-flush toilets were less distressing. I would never say that I heard it all when it comes to why someone finds the pStyle useful! 

I review 15 devices on this site. What do you think makes pStyle stand out?

What makes pStyle stand out is ease of use while fully clothed, ease of cleaning, and easy of carrying—that’s in the category of functionality. It also has a wiping function, which many others don’t. 

Then there’s the inclusiveness  and USA manufacturing. We manufacture both the pStyles and pCases in Tennessee. We’re a queer business and we market the pStyle in a gender inclusive way. We donate to organizations working with women, LGBTQ+ people, unhoused people, and immigrants. Making an impact socially is part of what we’re interested in doing. 

You market pStyle as a Personal Urination Device, not a Female Urination Device. Can you talk about the distinction?

We made the phrase Personal Urination Device specifically in opposition to Female Urination Device. And that was and is the accepted term—because people are horrified if they don’t KNOW this is for [cis] women.

People believe that all cis men can stand and pee, which isn’t true. People believe that all cis women cannot stand and pee without a device, and that’s also not true. So they feel that using the word “female” explains it to people, which it doesn’t. We need to recognize that people know their own bodies. The cis men whom I’ve talked to on the phone buying pStyles KNOW they cannot stand to pee… and they do not want to buy something called a Female Urination Device.

What is a common misconception people have about your product?

That they’re gonna pee on themselves! It’s rare, but I think in people’s minds it feels very likely, which is not the reality. Other misconceptions? That it’s gonna be really gross, and “oh my God, what do I do with the pStyle after I pee, you want me to put it in a case, won’t that be gross???” And then after they use it they’re like, whatever. [Laughs] I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions: that it’s gonna be hard to deal with.

What challenges have you faced as a company?

I’d say just being small. And having certain convictions. That’s been challenging, but it’s also been really rewarding. We wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t rewarding.

We’ve done so many things that aren’t profitable. Like for example our skin tone pStyles are not profitable. We don’t sell a huge amount of all the colors, but I don’t care. It was important to us to offer at least five skin tones—so if I had to justify that to shareholders? They’d be like, “WHY?” [Laughs]

What is your story, and why did you found pStyle?

I got a menstrual cup, and it changed my life! It changed my relationship to my body in such a profound way. And it was through that that I came to the stand-to-pee device concept, and I was like, “Oh my God, this is a thing that’s even LESS popular than menstrual cups!” [Laughs] But I couldn’t stop obsessively thinking about it and talking about it. And I had to make it a well-known thing. It solves so many of my problems! I was like, “It’s gonna be like a toothbrush, ubiquitous.”

It struck a feminist nerve for me, like with the menstrual cups. People were afraid to talk about [periods], and women had so much shame! I feel it’s the same for peeing. Women especially have so much stress around peeing. There’s the urinary leash and all these ways women restrict what they’re doing because “how am I going to pee?” and no one really talks about that. But if we talk about it, then it doesn’t have the same power over us. And that’s why I can still be really passionate about pStyle, twenty years later.

When I went out into the world to try to sell it, especially to men, who were in charge of a lot of the places where you sell things, I realized that wow, it was not going to be easy. It’s largely been women and queer people who are our champions.

What’s next for pStyle? How do you want to expand, whom do you want to reach out to?

What we’re working on now is our packaging, making it easier to be on a shelf in a small store. And we wanna make a glow-in-the-dark pStyle! And we do have a bigger version in the works, which is important to us for inclusiveness. But also, it’s a reusable product, so we do need to keep reaching new people. And there’s so much we want to do, like collaborate with other small brands like Kula Cloth, Gnara, Symbiosis Gear… we’ll just do as many of those cool things as we can!

I asked Krista if she had any concluding thoughts to share about pStyle. 

Yes. I just want to emphasize that we believe in toilet dignity and toilet equity. It’s about respect.

You can get a pStyle and learn more on the pStyle website.

Krista states that in addition to the causes mentioned above, pStyle supports the Rich Earth Institute. Rich Earth Institute works toward sustainable farming and clean rivers, specifically through using urine as fertilizer. To learn how to safely use urine as a fertilizer, visit their site and check out this guide.