Can a deodorant make your clothes last? Well SWIFF has the answer
Haven’t we all searched for that perfect eco-friendly deodorant that will keep bad smell away without harming our bodies or the environment? Many of us have searched without realising a good deodorant can take care of the clothes too. We got very interested in the products of the company SWIFF and had a quick chat with them to learn more.
Hello, what is SWIFF and when was it founded?
SWIFF was founded in 2021 by Dr. JJ and Susanna Richardson to improve people’s lives with the first long-lasting odor protection for clothes and everyday objects. The focus on an eco-friendly and hypoallergenic formulation was driven by Dr. Richardson’s own skin allergies to numerous soap additives, deodorants, and fragrances. With assistance from his wife, Susanna Chan Richardson, this work was taken out of the lab and transformed into an easy-to-use household product. They wished everyone had a better option to stop odors, rather than just masking smells with harmful chemicals, which drove a minimalist approach to use the fewest ingredients possible. With hard work and plenty of testing, they got it down to just two. Dr. Richardson tested it on his own shirts in the Tokyo heat and humidity, while Susanna tested it on her and their son's masks, all with great success. SWIFF finally means that people don’t have to slather odor-maskers, and other things on their skin in the hope to not smell.
Can you please tell us more about the purpose of the products and how you would say it goes hand in hand with a sustainable closet?
The purpose of this product is to reduce (and in many cases eliminate) the need for deodorants and fragrances. Also it grants the ability to keep wearing clothes after exercise so it potentially reduces the number of times clothing needs to be washed. Both of these points lead to a more sustainable lifestyle and of course a more sustainable wardrobe.
What ingredients are you using, how do they respect the environment and climate?
We have 2 chemicals other than water, and our ingredients are petrochemical free meaning we have a much lower carbon footprint than other odor-fighting technologies. One ingredient is a plant polyphenol (gallnut extract) that is extracted from plants and a sustainable commodity and has no negative environmental effects. The other is ionic silver (silver nitrate), which is natural, fairly abundant, but can pose a risk to aquaculture. However we use 10x less than what the US EPA classifies as having no negative environmental effects.
Can you tell us a little bit more about your sustainability profile?
We only launched roughly 2-3 months ago, and although we have sold hundreds of bottles we're still really a young company. We are testing bottles from recycled plastics or bioplastics (ours are recyclable), but we have not begun production with those as we have to do fairly long-term testing on them still. So our sustainability profile is pretty good. Our bottles are designed to use the least amount of plastic possible, we only use a mailer for them, no extra packaging, and we have a relatively small carbon footprint due to our operations, and simple natural ingredients.
Where is your company today?
Our company is new, but growing fairly rapidly and we already have customers in 10 countries and repeat buyers, and a wholesale client in North America. We are in talks with large textile companies but currently just direct to consumer and hoping to branch out to clothing companies. We started based on my research in the lab, and my wife helped design the product for commercial use, and the branding company she works for did all the brand work.
Do you sell these products in stores and on what markets?
We currently sell these primarily on our Shopify store but have a distributor in North America and are looking to get into retail stores and gyms in late 2022. As we're so young we have mainly been focusing on getting everything running smoothly, which it just has started to go smoothly. But we are in talks to expand reasonably and sustainably.
Who is your customer?
Everyone. Seriously. As I mentioned, we have costumers in 10 countries and they range from middle-eastern men in their 20s to single women in Europe to Grandmas in their 60s in the US. We designed SWIFF to be gender neutral as it truly benefits anyone and we have pro athletes and working moms buying it. People can love it for different reasons, but the key reason is to stop odors. Our clean ingredients means it has been a hit with natural beauty groups and that's partially how we found A Sustainable Closet.
