INDUSTRYNEWS
Maxim Hygiene Adds BPA-Free Applicator to Organic Tampons Maxim Hygiene, a maker of organic cotton-focused menstrual care products, is expanding its offerings. The New Yorkbased company has launched a collection of organic cotton tampons featuring BPA-free plastic applicators that are available as private brand SKUs. Just two weeks old, the tampons are available for retailers to distribute as a private brand in four SKUs — regular, super and super plus, as well as a multi-pack of all three absorbency levels. No retailer is using the product yet as a store brand, the company said.
Organic and natural period products have become a big growth area in the feminine hygiene category, with consumers increasingly seeking out options whose makers are transparent about what goes into them. Leading brands Always and Tampax rolled out their Pure products, which feature 100% organic cotton. The Tampax Pure applicator is made of 90% recycled materials. Additonally, Procter & Gamble last February acquired This is L, a maker of organic tampons. With these options becoming a growing presence, a private label competitor could help round out an own brand menstrual care lineup. Maxim said the BPA-free plastic applicator also is designed with pull-and-lock technology to combine a compact tampon size with the ease of insertion of a standard applicator.
Brandless Calls it Quits After two short years, Brandless has ended. The San Francisco-based e-commerce company, known for selling better-for-you products under its own Brandless label, announced on its website that it was “halting operations.” The announcement was more of a thank you to the customers that supported them during its run and to let them know orders would no longer be taken this week. “While the Brandless team set a new bar for the types of products consumers deserve and at prices they expect, the fiercely competitive direct-to-consumer market has proven unsustainable for our current business model,” a statement on the site said. Brandless was supported by SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund. The group reportedly has struggled with other investments, which include Uber and WeWork. Just last year, Brandless was exploring getting about 10,000 of its eco-friendly personal care, vitamins and health-focused foods onto brick-and-mortar shelves. The plan was to have products on shelves in 2020, as well as an expansion into CBD products. Instead, the direct-to-consumer company is being forced to layoff its more than 70 employees and shut down. www.storebrands.com
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February 2020
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Store Brands
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