Kudos

Our biggest move yet…. Kudos is launching in Target later this month! This is honestly a dream come true and I could not be more excited. ?? ???? From a very young age, I’ve always loved consumer products. My favorite store as a kid was a local pharmacy very close to my house. (We actually didn’t have a nearby Target until I was in high school). My mom used to give me $5 and I could buy whatever I wanted while she was shopping. I always loved walking up and down the aisles looking and analyzing all the products and keeping an eye out for new products on the shelf. I always said someday I was going to design a product that could be sold on retail shelves. I remember asking my Indian immigrant engineer dad, what do I need to study in college to be able to make consumer products. He told me there was only one way - study engineering. I come from a family of all engineers so we can safely say he wasn’t biased at all;) I went to MIT where I majored in mechanical engineering. After college I landed my dream job working at one of the best CPG companies in the world - P&G! During my time there, I learned how world class brands are designed and built. It is also where I learnt just how much plastic goes into consumer absorbents (whether that be diaper, sanitary pads, tampons, etc. - anything with an absorbing layer).?Diapers are actually the third largest consumer item in landfills today. This was the motivation behind Kudos - could we build a diaper that performs as well, if not better, than the big established brands, but with less plastic. People are always surprised to learn that with almost every disposable diaper, even the majority of the ecofriendly ones, almost all of the materials in the diaper are polypropylene and polyethylene (plastic). With Kudos, there is zero plastic touching your baby’s bottom since Kudos is lined with 100% cotton (and they actually work!). Fast forward to today, I could not be more excited that we are launching in Target. Target is my happy place (and I think a lot of parents agree). It is where me and my two-year old daughter, Avni, spend every Saturday morning! I get my coffee and she gets to choose one snack and then we do all of our weekly shopping together. We will be launching later this month, so please keep an eye out for Kudos at your local target. The biggest ask as a new brand entering into retail, if you see Kudos, please considering buying - that is the #1 way you can support us ??

POV: You want to get plastic out of the disposable diaper. But you end up having to change an entire industry to do it. This is my Kudos story. And for Earth Day, I’m sharing more of it to help more entrepreneurs. I’ve come to realize so many of us have to transform their supply chain in order to create a more sustainable product. Maybe some of you will relate to this story. For Kudos, replacing plastic diaper liners with 100% cotton was a huge goal. I had to be stubborn as a toddler to build my first Kudos prototype. That’s because in the US, diapers and wipes don’t need to list ingredients on packaging. For our unregulated industry, sourcing safer materials wasn’t always a priority. So my team and I had to make it one. Here are 4 lessons I learned while building my first diaper. Hope you can take something from it! 1 - Let one Stubborn vision be your guide. Stubborn with a capital S. Once you have your vision set, let it guide your decision making and ability to say no. Does this option mean plastic will still touch baby’s skin? We’ll move on. 2 - Don’t outsource your key disruption factor. What do I mean by this? Work as closely with suppliers as you can and source your own materials – at least at the beginning. As an engineer and scientist, I knew using clean U.S. cotton would be a huge differentiator for Kudos. Most diaper companies outsource all materials decision making to the manufacturers. I say, if you know what you want, you’ve got to hand-pick it yourself. 3 - Convince suppliers with consumer facts. Do consumer research to show suppliers the business opportunity of switching to sustainable materials. I even spoke at technical industry events to build trust and help spread awareness of shifting consumer demand preferences. 4 - Do open-source your successes. Don’t be afraid to be the rising tide that lifts all boats. We want there to be less plastic on shelves, and we believe that helping create more plant-based ingredients for the industry as a whole will ensure more sustainable products go to market faster. Kudos to you, sustainable entrepreneurs, for benefiting Earth every single one of your working hours.? My ask of you now? Share an #IndustryChanging story with me below or through a repost. Could be your biggest hurdle, a challenge you faced, or big wins. It’ll give me (and all of us) inspiration to keep going!