Two “Rebellious” WomEntrepreneurs Think “Outside the Cleaning Bottle”
A mission to revolutionize the household cleaning industry by doing the right thing
MILWAUKEE (JANUARY 18, 2018) – In a category long dominated by large corporate entities, Rebel Green, a Certified Women and family owned household cleaning brand from the shores of Lake Michigan, is steadily gaining shelf space at your grocery store. You’ll spot the rebellious green girl disrupting grocery aisles right alongside the key players in the industry at such retailers as Safeway/Albertsons, Whole Foods Markets, Meijer, Target.com, Amazon and natural co-ops just to name a few.
Upping the household cleaning game with natural and organic product offerings, the company purchases carbon credits for select products making them carbon neutral to make up for environmental impacts of manufacturing. Money goes to help families in developing countries are suffering tremendously from air pollution. Rebel Green enlists customers on their mission to give back to those less fortunate all while being rebellious with disruptive packaging and affordable pricing that’s right in line with conventional ones.
Company founders Ali Florsheim and Melina Marcus got their start cleaning fruits and vegetables, literally, with their first product, “Rebel Green Fruit and Veggie Clean” produce wash. Soon customers and buyers were asking them for products to clean everything else in their home. Inspired by customer demand and combined with Florsheim and Marcus’ own quest for “better for you yet highly effective” cleaning products as both have families who have allergies and eczema, they extended the line and Rebel Green’s natural household cleaners were born. Free of common irritants found in conventional household cleaners and even in some natural ones like synthetic fragrances, sulfates and dyes, Rebel Green has organic product offerings and use only essential oils to scent their products. They hope to convince more people to make the switch to natural with packaging that’s compelling. “Natural products need great packaging if people are going to buy them,” Florsheim said. “We want to grab that conventional buyer.”
The pair believes in “truth in pretty packaging”, the importance of label transparency as the customer has a right to know what’s in the products they’re buying. The strategy worked for their bestselling Fruit and Veggie Clean and gained a brand following with compelling, transparent packaging and natural ingredients.
Rebel Green involves the customer in its corporate responsibility mission right at the point of purchase (shelf tags detailing charitable efforts with QR codes customers can scan) so the customer knows what the company stands for and trust they’ll extend these values into the making of their products. Rebel Green supports Clean Air Clean Water Clean Food with strategic partnerships with organizations like Feed America and Water.org.
At Rebel Green (rebelgreen.com) we strive to be stewards of our environment. We want to do things differently by creating a culture of giving back: to our customers, to our environment and to those less fortunate simply by doing the right thing.
“As parents we know it’s something we have to teach our kids but we have to teach by example. When kids see their parents making ethical choices to consider the environment and give back, we’re building ideals for the next generation, says Melina Marcus
And this year, Rebel Green added tree-free toilet paper made of bamboo. “We were the quintessential natural and organic shoppers but we didn’t really realize the importance of switching our paper products to tree free. It was hard to buy into recyclable toilet paper as it’s rough and made of recyclable paper. We found out that 24,000 trees a year are cut down for toilet paper alone and knew we had to do better. Bamboo which is known for its softness in textiles from bed sheets to towels was the answer. Bamboo toilet paper gave us the softness we’re used to. We could live the dream and save the trees!