How Emerging Disinfectant Wipe Company, Wipeys, Attracts Conscious Consumers With Their Sustainable and Fashionable Approach to Cleaning
While the pandemic has introduced a newfound necessity for personal hygiene and sanitation, the disinfectant wipes we use to keep ourselves clean often end up permanently in a landfill. The name brand wipes are also made with chemicals that are harmful to both our skin and the environment.
Fortunately, Wipeys has created a clean and sustainable alternative to combat these issues.
Wipeys is a line of convenient wet wipes made with clean, natural ingredients that serve to fight off the germs that we face in our daily lives. “Obviously there are other wipes on the market and other brands out there,” said Kaitlin Moss, founder of Wipeys, “but I wanted to focus my initiative on being as clean as possible with no harmful chemicals in any of the products.”
While planning for her wedding in 2017, Kaitlin started to think about how dirty her phone was and how touching her face after using the phone potentially had negative effects on her skin. The company first introduced a simple wipe to clean your devices, but a surface wipe, face wipe and hand wipe quickly followed suit. Kaitlin’s interest in cosmetics and cleanliness led her to work towards creating a hygienic and satisfying skincare product. Wipeys makes a considerable effort to avoid parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, and other toxic ingredients in their products. By doing this, Wipeys not only creates a natural solution to the problem of toxic chemicals in sanitary products, but also allows for a product that refreshes and preserves skincare.
Over the last few years, Kaitlin did extensive research to learn about skincare formulas that do not contain harmful chemicals. “We want to better the wet wipe industry, and sustainability is always in the back of my mind,” Kaitlin noted in our interview. This intersection of skincare, safety and overall cleanliness is what Wipeys prides itself on.
Creating a sustainable, naturally-sourced product was a key factor in Kaitlin’s development of Wipeys. After further research into the sanitary wipe market, she learned that currently, there aren’t any non-toxic sanitary wipes out there. “I wanted to create this wipe where there was nothing quite like it in the cleaning and beauty world,” she said.
Evidently, Kaitlin’s priority of clean and natural beauty can be found within Wipeys’ products. From her own experiences in trying to maintain healthy skin, as well as her research into beauty products with clean ingredients, she saw that there was room for improvement within this industry to create a product that leaves users feeling satisfied with a natural clean.
For Kaitlin, her mission to start a small business went hand in hand with taking care of its environmental footprint. The wipes are made with spunlace fibers that are biodegradable; the ingredients are clean and natural. Additionally, the organic essential oils used to scent the wipes have both cleaning and skincare-oriented benefits for users. “It’s fun to take accountability from the start,” Kaitlin said. The company has moved towards reusable packaging and paper tape for their shipments, and Kaitlin said that she personally takes care of the recycling at her facilities as well.
Given the sanitizing properties provided by Wipeys, COVID-19 has brought forth a new importance to their products, but with it comes the difficulties of being a small business in a global pandemic. As our lives have significantly changed due to the pandemic, personal protective equipment and sanitizing products have become daily necessities to keep ourselves safe. The disinfectant property of Wipeys enables users to stay protected from the contagious virus in a way that is both revitalizing for our skin and protective of our planet.
Even in the time before the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaitlin recognized the importance of cleanliness and how there was a growing interest in staying sanitary while traveling. “I noticed this trend and thought that Wipeys should be the wipe that covers these needs.” However, she also wanted to change the way that this cleanliness was perceived. Citing the staunch smell of alcohol, the bulky packaging and the harmful chemicals found in many popular disinfectant wipes on the market, Kaitlin worked hard for her product to still hold the same value as a typical disinfectant wipe but make cleanliness “sexier!” There certainly is a distinguishable difference between Wipeys and the major disinfectant wipe brands. Their packaging is attractive and more portable, their ingredients are listed clearly on the Wipeys website and all of their products are FSC and Rainforest Alliance certified.
The company officially launched in March of 2020, and Kaitlin said that while it’s been a weird experience, Wipeys is doing a great job in adapting to the circumstances. Wipeys’ products are featured on Shopbop, a modern online retailer that is globally recognized. “Honestly, we lucked out with them,” Kaitlin admits. “But we were the perfect product for their store.” For being such a newly-founded company amid a pandemic, this success should be attributed to the hard work and innovation that are fundamental to Wipeys’ initiative. Aside from a few contractors and the support of her family and friends, Kaitlin is the sole employee of Wipeys. As a founder, “knowing every aspect of the business is important,” she said.
Since Wipeys is such a recent startup, Kaitlin said she has a lot to look forward to with growing the company. She hopes to build a larger team, grow Wipeys’ brand awareness and further improve their sustainability initiatives. “With the pandemic, people just knew that they needed wet wipes to protect themselves from the virus,” Kaitlin noted. “But beyond the pandemic, people are going to be more conscientious about cleanliness. I think we are a product that can come with our customers and continue to be a part of their lives, and I’m excited to keep building our brand.”
Wipeys are now sold in major retailers like Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Anthropologie, Intermix, and Bandier and remain a testament to how small businesses can grow exponentially as a result of a combination of determination and innovation.
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