Brands Briefing: Laundry-care brands bet on specialty detergents as their next big growth driver

This led to Safely’s palo santo and vanilla-scented Denim Wash and Denim Spray, which launched earlier this month at Bloomingdale’s.

Safely isn’t alone in looking at ways to shake up the laundry market with new product launches. As Alastair Dorward, CEO of Dropps, put it, specialty fabric care products and additives — Dropps recently launched a new odor eraser — are important to convincing customers to make an “incremental trade up.”

This can “bring growth and frankly some excitement back to possibly the sleepiest area of the store,”
Dorward, whose company primarily sells laundry and dishwasher pods, said. And that’s an important lever to pull in a category where people often stick with the same product and brand for decades.

Put together, these laundry launches provide a playbook for how brands in categories with similar dynamics can expand into new products to drive growth. Even larger conglomerates like P&G are getting into the trend with releases like the Unstoppables fragrance booster. Gain’s and Tide’s latest odor-based detergents were the top two non-food new product releases in 2023, according to Circana data, while the Downy Rinse & Refresh laundry rinse was in the top 10 spot. But indie and direct-to-consumer brands tend to be able to roll out cutting-edge research to market more quickly; Dropps, for its part, released its Odor Eraser this month online.

Researchers in the cleaning space say one of the reasons there are increasingly more additive and specialty products is because the science is getting better. The American Cleaning Institute told Modern Retail that companies are doing more research into enzymes, surfactants, polymers and color-safe brighteners, specifically. And on the demand side, some evidence indicates shoppers appear to be more interested in specialty items. Circana’s Home Care Evolution study from January 2025, for instance, found that sales for laundry care — a category that includes additives and odor care — were up 4.7% year-over-year. Sales for regular laundry detergent were up 2.6% compared to a year prior.

At Safely, Saliu told Modern Retail the next goal is to develop a specialty wash for white home linens like bedding. But it takes significant behind-the-scenes muscle for companies to get to the shelf. Denim Wash, for instance, took two and a half years of research. Saliu said the biggest challenge was ensuring that the product could eliminate stains and odors while still preserving the color and quality of the denim.

Then there was the question of where and how to position a specialty product. Saliu said Safely knew that customers buying its products at Target, Kroger or Whole Foods tend to skew higher income. From there, the brand landed at Bloomingdale’s, given its reach in premium denim sales, to test how the two would pair together. “We thought this could be a nice cross-integration between us,” Saliu said. “When you’re purchasing these heirloom pieces, it’s important you’re purchasing how to properly care for them.”

Kristin DiNicolantonio, senior director of stakeholder communications at the American Cleaning Institute, said the latest trend in laundry care is about caring for specific fabrics the right way.

“That might mean a delicate wash for cashmere, something tough enough for denim or a formula that’s gentle on sensitive skin,” she said. “People are expecting laundry care to be as personalized as their skin-care routines.”

Patrick Harewood, the head of research and development at Dropps, said the rise of specialty care and odor-eliminating products can be linked to the rise of athleisure. Harewood, who has more than 20 years of experience in R&D, said the existing crop of laundry care wasn’t as effective on these newer, synthetic fabrics that make up anywhere from 60-70% of clothing today, as pointed out by groups like the United Nations, Collective Fashion Justice and Uniform Market.

And, for their part, brands like Lululemon and Alo look to educate consumers on how to care for products with recommendations like separating laundry, washing inside out or washing in cold water — which may change how detergent or additives work on the fabric.

“That was a bit of a turning point where consumers just weren’t getting the same level of odor-eliminating performance and the same type of cleaning that they were used to with some of their cotton and natural fibers,” he said.

Against that backdrop, Harewood said smaller companies have been able to ratchet up the quality of their new products. “The startups in the space can innovate so much quicker because we’re willing to take the business opportunities, and we can be even more nimble with some of the supplier connections we have,” he said.

Dropps’s newest product, the Odor Eraser, is a powder-packed pod that is used as an additive to detergent. Harewood said his team uses an enzyme that essentially “goes in like scissors and cuts out the odor” from the underlying fabric. “It’s one of those ingredients that maybe a giant, huge company would take three years before they’re able to leverage and be able to get it in there,” he said. The product also has other proprietary ingredients, like a plant-based zinc odor neutralizing technology that addresses pet and food odors.

To ensure efficacy, Dropps rolled out multiple testing methods like a “digital nose” that measures the amount of malodor molecules coming off an object. It also used eDNA testing, which helps researchers essentially “see” the odor and be able to measure it.

What’s driving Dropps’s investment in a product like Odor Eraser, according to Dorward, is the fact that “the riches are in the niches” — or the ability to specialize in a new area that isn’t being served by larger counterparts. Dropps has more than 300,000 DTC customers plus a wholesale reach through Amazon, Target, Meijer and other grocery retailers.

Odor Eraser is one of several new products Dropps has had in the works to help it bolster its relevance in the cleaning space with its reliance on clean ingredients and positioning as an alternative to plastic packaging. Beyond addressing the rise of synthetic fabrics, Dropps also saw a window connected to the popularity of resale and getting odors out of thrifted items.

“We look for white space in these segments. And what jumped off the page for us was that the single biggest unmet need was odor removal,” he said.

Once tried and tested, the next step is communicating the product’s value to customers. So far, Odor Eraser is sold on Dropps’s website, as well as at several Wegmans retailers in the Washington, D.C. area. Next month, it will launch on Amazon and Walmart.com. The product comes in a compact purple container, meant to communicate that it’s “small and mighty,” and shows pictures of athleisure on the box itself. It also calls out “musty towels,” or “dank mildew.” And Odor Eraser is currently being marketed to retail buyers that come with a “get the funk out of here” magnet.

Dorward said it’s important to be “pretty graphic” about the kind of stink an additive can tackle to help hook customers.

“From a branding point of view, you need to really understand the underlying areas of greatest pain points,” Dorward said. “And when you’re able to bring performance superiority in a convenient manner, then there’s a premium that can be commanded, and therefore, there’s a trade-up.” –Melissa Daniels

Faherty is bringing secondhand clothes in stores as it looks to grow its resale business

Clothing brand Faherty is expanding its resale program.

The secondhand program, which is powered by Archive and called Second Wave, launched in 2023 with peer-to-peer resale. It then began offering brand-owned resale, including excess stock and returns, and after that, customer mail-ins. On Monday, Faherty introduced trade-in services in 10 stores as part of a pilot program to increase its resale audience and inventory as it works toward making Second Wave profitable. 

Under the new trade-in program, customers can bring their gently-used Faherty pieces to the register. For every piece that’s accepted, customers get $15 to spend at the brand. Pieces in poor condition will get recycled through Tersus, a re-commerce and recycling program.

For Faherty, “expanding into stores makes resale even more accessible, while keeping more quality pieces in circulation,” Emily Gittins, CEO of Archive, told Modern Retail. “With each new channel, customers have another way to engage with Second Wave, and together, they make the circular model even stronger.”

Faherty will run the program through the end of 2025, then re-evaluate where to expand to next. “We’ll probably build out a schedule starting early next year to roll out [this program] to the rest of our stores,” Lisa Diegel, the brand’s director of sustainability, said in an interview. The first day the initiative went live, “We had a couple of stores already reach out,” Diegel said.

Second Wave is part of Faherty’s larger sustainability push, which involves using 100% lower-impact materials by 2030 — it’s now at 80% — and maintaining its status as a B Corp. The brand is also working on traceability within its supply chain. 

But secondhand has proven lucrative for Faherty, too. According to Diegel, Second Wave was responsible for $1.2 million in gross merchandise volume during its second year. It’s on track for 40% year-over-year growth by the end of 2025. Faherty calculated that 26% of Second Wave customers are new to Faherty, and many go on to buy from Faherty’s main line. 

“It’s really interesting how one [channel] is driving the other,” Diegel said. –Julia Waldow

Figs’ Emmy moment

The popularity of HBO Max’s new show, “The Pitt”, which follows health care workers during a single, grueling 15-hour shift at an emergency room, has been a boon for scrubs brand Figs. “The Pitt” won big during the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, where the series won for Outstanding Drama Series, while two of its actors also took home top honors — Noah Wyle for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Katherine LaNasa for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

For the ceremony, Figs provided Wyle with a custom-made tuxedo; the brand joked on its Instagram that this would be “the first (and probably only) Figs tuxedo walks the red carpet;” Wyle also name-checked the brand when asked on the red carpet who he was wearing.

In turn, Figs got a boost in Google searches; in an email, Figs CEO and co-founder Trina Spear said that the company has partnered with “The Pitt” in multiple ways this year; the brand provided scrubs for the cast to wear while filming the show. Figs also spearheaded a trip to Capitol Hill with Wyle in June advocating for health care professionals.

“The response [to the tuxedo] has been incredible,” Spear said. “What’s most meaningful is seeing how the moment resonated with the healthcare community themselves – they felt seen and celebrated on television’s biggest night, sparking conversations that will extend far beyond the Emmys.”

Spotlighting health care workers has been a big focus for Figs this year. Today the company also launched its final installment of “Where do you wear Figs?” the final installment of its year-long campaign highlighting health care workers around the world, including in the U.S., U.K., Japan and Mexico.

It’s an important way for Figs to stay ahead of the competition as new scrubs brands enter the market: by staying hyper-focused on emphasizing how well it knows its core consumer. During its second-quarter earnings, Figs said that net revenues were up 5.8% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in orders from new and existing customers. — Anna Hensel

What we’re reading

• Glossier will have a new CEO next month: Colin Walsh, the former CEO of Specialty Beauty at Unilever. Walsh takes over for Kyle Leahy, who is leaving the company after a three-year run as CEO. 
• RH took a worse-than-expected hit from tariffs during its second quarter, as reported on Friday. 
• In other shopper outlook news, consumer sentiment levels have fallen to their lowest levels since May.

What we’ve covered

• A look at how bigger brands like Crocs and Pacsun are now embracing TikTok Shop, two years after its launch. 
• Canadian luggage brand Monos is opening its first stores in the U.S. after doing more than $150 million in revenue last year. 
• How TikTok-viral gum brand Underbrush fights knockoffs.