Kin Kin Naturals Cleaning Products
IT TAKES PASSION, KNOWLEDGE AND A WHOLE LOT OF COURAGE TO WALK AWAY FROM A HUGE CORPORATION TO BUILD A FAMILY BRAND COMPETING HEAD TO HEAD FOR THE SAME MARKET.
Husband and wife team, Felix and Sandy, had the guts to do just that. Felix walked away from his job as a global formulator for OMO and the family took a leap to launch the local rooted, 100% natural household cleaning brand – Kin Kin Naturals.
“I used to work as a global formulator for OMO – yes, that’s with the nasties, but also with the technical expertise on how to make cleaning products that actually work” Felix told us.
So what was it that inspired the movement from OMO to developing their own natural cleaning products?
It was a green change: alluring rainforest, lush rolling hills, adventurous walking trails, pristine Lake Cootharaba, the famous Great Sandy National Park and a local community full of creatives. These were all the things that came with a move to Kin Kin, a serene countryside town in the Noosa Hinterland, Queensland.
After the move, Felix began to develop the Kin Kin Naturals range, using his technical skills and only natural ingredients to make products that where close to the heart.
It wasn’t long until the family business came across their biggest struggle – keeping up with demand. Right from the start, they received an abundance of support. Australians embraced the Kin Kin Naturals cleaning products.
Implementing strong business strategies and keeping their product range small, Felix and Sandy are able to consistently provide their high quality natural dishwashing liquid, dishwasher powder, laundry liquid, laundry soaker and wool and delicates wash to the Australian market.
Felix decides what ingredients are used, based on whether he’s happy to ingest them and put them on his children’s skin. For instance, the products contain no SLS, LAS, alcohol ethoxylate, phosphate and only a fraction of the sodium (‘salt’) level of other brands.
Instead of using nasties, they opt for simple, often food-grade, natural ingredients. These include coconut soap, bicarb soda, oxygenated soda, citrate and essential oils.
“IT’S A BIT OF AN ART TO MAKE A FULLY FUNCTIONAL CLEANING PRODUCT; IT’S ABOUT FORMULATING
CAREFULLY TO OBTAIN THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN
THE TYPES OF INGREDIENTS.” FELIX SAYS.
After Felix makes the product batches, Sandy then fills the bottles all from their little factory that’s a 200m stroll from their family home.
Everyday Felix bounces out of bed motivated to not only provide for his family, but also determined to make other peoples’ lives and our planet a bit healthier,
not worse.
PHOTO: Felix, Sandy and their two children, Marijn and Pippa living the green life.
“It was quite liberating to quit life in the big industry and set up our own little business, with complete freedom to choose our ingredients rather than the ingredients being determined just by cost.” Felix told us.
With such quality, natural products, many Kin Kin Naturals customers call, email and even send postcards to congratulate Felix and Sandy and thank them for their amazing products.
“We often hear from people with a skin condition, that they no longer have to use gloves when doing the dishes after switching to Kin Kin Naturals… that puts a smile on my face every time.” Felix says.
By switching to the natural products, Kin Kin Naturals customers have prevented about 40,000kg of ingredients classified as ‘very toxic to aquatic organisms’ to be used and disposed so far.
