Posted on May 01 2023
We are kicking off AAPI month with a special female founder interview with Angie Tran, Co-Founder of Kind Laundry.
1. Tell us about yourself.
My name is Angie and I am one of the co-founders of Kind Laundry along with my partner in life (husband). We both love animals, exploring nature and trying to become more mindful and thoughtful of our daily purchases and its impact on the planet.
2. What inspired you to start Kind Laundry?
We wanted to create something that aligned with our values and that we could create something that was bigger than ourselves. When we looked at the different categories in consumer goods, there were so many better for you and the planet alternatives such as in the food and beverage space, household cleaning products, in beauty...but not that many choices for laundry care. Worst, the majority of the shelf space is dominated by a handful of brands from large CPG companies who have not innovated in decades and they still come in single-use plastic jugs.
3. How does Kind Laundry's non-toxic and eco-friendly approach to laundry detergent differ from other laundry detergent brands?
First, our products do not come in heavy duty single-use plastic jugs because it's liquidless format. Liquid based detergent is mostly water and it also contains unnecessary ingredients such as UV brightener, dyes, suds etc. to make your clothes look, smell and feel like it's cleaner but it's actually not. Kind Laundry only contains ingredients (surfactants) that actually helps clean your clothes and we share every single one of them. That means its ultra-concentrated so you get the same, if not, cleaning power but without the mess and questionable ingredients.
4. It's not easy to disrupt a traditional and outdated category. Can you share any challenges you faced while building Kind Laundry and how you overcame them?
The biggest challenge was the education part and convincing customers to switch over to a completely new format that they are not familiar. People have been using powder, liquid and pod detergents for decades so wrapping their head around a liquidless sheet format that fully dissolves and performs just as well, can look too good to be true. So what we did was did live videos of us cleaning and washing specific stains and shared information about the laundry detergent industry. As people gave our products a try, they shared it with those around them and that is how we slowly grew....word of mouth referral, which is the strongest type of referral because that means people genuinely love the product enough to tell their friend and family about us.
5. It's AAPI month, how are you celebrating and or honoring it?
We have been participating and joining a lot of Asian Business Associations in our local community the past few months and have quite a few events lined up leading up to AAPI month. Both mine and my co-founders parents immigrated from Asia, as with many other entrepreneurs we met through the Asian Business Associations and many of them have built thriving businesses today, so it's been nice to connect, support and collaborate with other like-minded individuals that also come from the same background.
6. Who is your ally?
My partner in life and in business (the other co-founder of Kind Laundry), Bernard Law.
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