The trait we love most at supergoods is curiosity. Lately, I’ve been trying to articulate what this newsletter actually is. And I think I’ve nailed it:

Our job is to close the gap between ‘curious’ but ‘cbf’.

All those little things you notice, the ones that spark a question but never get a second thought. We notice them, explore further and then bring you a neat little bundle of ideas once a week.

Today’s article is a shining example. The story of Touchland, the ‘Apple of hand sanitisers’ and how they used good design to differentiate into a billion dollar biz. I’m calling it…

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An absurd idea.

It sounds almost absurd in hindsight. Hand sanitiser as a fashion statement? But the founder Andrea Lisbona wasn't thinking small. She wanted to create "the Apple, Nespresso or Dyson of hand sanitisers" - bringing their focus on sleek design and premium user experience to one of the most commoditised products on earth (and this was PRE pandemic).

The breakthrough wasn't about making sanitiser prettier. Touchland's flagship Power Mist was a complete reimagining of what the product could be. Gone was the clunky pump bottle that looked like it belonged in a hospital. In its place: a sleek, flat device that could pass for a high-end tech gadget.

They focused on experience: a fine mist instead of sticky gels. A formula that hydrates your skin instead of drying it out. And importantly: beautiful fragrances that made you feel like a model not a surgeon.

This is where design really makes an impact - as a comprehensive product philosophy with an ambitious ideology. Touchland wanted to shift even the most mundane daily ritual to become a moment of joy. All through thoughtful design.

Messaging alignment: flipping the ‘fear’ script

At the time, every other brand shouted about their ability to KILL 99.99999% OF GERMS and played on consumer anxiety. Touchland took the opposite approach, it wasn’t about what you were avoiding, but what you were experiencing.

The positioning fundamentally sat in ‘beauty’, not ‘sanitisation’. And the messaging followed. It was an accessory you’d be proud to pull out in public - a moment of self care in your day and a philosophy of “experience over fear”.

This shift in narrative saw the product concept go from hospital-room-necessity to something you might actually collect.

Strategic placement is everything.

Touchland launched DTC but quickly found their way into retail. In 2019, it landed on the shelves at Sephora, Ulta, Urban Outfitters and Bloomingdales - the last place you would expect to find hand sanitiser. Sure, they could have chased down grocery and put it next to Lysol, but what would that say about the brand?

They used retail to hammer home their message: we are a beauty brand, not sanitation.

The beautiful thing about this strategy is that it doesn’t just position the brand perfectly, but it allows for a premium pricing strategy (and much better margins).

Side note: they were blessed with timing here.

Just as Touchland was building momentum through beauty subscription boxes and influencer seeding, the world changed overnight. March 2020 arrived, and suddenly everyone needed hand sanitiser. But unlike the panic-buying frenzy that lifted all boats temporarily, Touchland's design-driven approach had staying power.

While other brands saw demand crash after the initial COVID surge, Touchland kept growing. By 2021, they'd expanded to over 2,500 U.S. stores. By 2023, they were selling a unit every 5.5 seconds.

The social story - celebs and collabs

Touchland understood something that legacy CPG brands consistently miss: in the age of social media, the product is only half the story. The other half is how it makes people feel when they use it - and crucially, how it looks when they share it.

Their sleek bottles and bright colours were built for Instagram stories and TikTok videos. The satisfying spritz became its own aesthetic moment. Celebrity sightings of everyone from Kris Jenner to North West using Touchland weren't paid partnerships - they were genuine adoptions by tastemakers who saw the product as an extension of their personal style.

The brand leaned hard into this cultural momentum with a steady stream of limited editions and collaborations. Disney holders, Hello Kitty partnerships even a Crocs clip-on - each drop was an event. A reason to collect, share, and flex online.

This strategy blurred the line between sanitiser and merchandise, turning functional purchases into cultural statements.

The billion dollar valuation

By 2025, Touchland had achieved something remarkable in the CPG world: they were both cool and profitable. With $130M in net sales and roughly 42% EBITDA margins, they'd cracked the holy grail of consumer goods - premium pricing with mass appeal.

The ultimate validation came in May 2025 when Church & Dwight, the consumer goods giant behind Arm & Hammer and Hero Cosmetics, acquired Touchland for $700M upfront with potential earn-outs bringing the total to $880M.

Think about that for a moment. A hand sanitiser brand (a product category most executives would consider bottom-barrel margin territory) commanded a near-billion-dollar valuation. Touchland had become the #2 sanitiser brand in America, second only to Purell, while building a loyal Gen Z and Millennial base that legacy brands couldn't touch.

A blueprint for commodity transformation

Touchland's success reveals a playbook that could work across dozens of overlooked categories:

1. Start with the most boring, commoditised product you can find. The more utilitarian and design-neglected, the better the opportunity.
   

2. Reimagine the entire experience, not just the packaging. Form factor, formula, fragrance. Every touchpoint matters.
   

3. Sell the feeling, not the function. Move customers from fear-based purchasing to joy-based collecting.
   

4. Use culture as distribution. TikTok trends, celebrity adoption and limited drops can be more powerful than traditional advertising.
   

5. Price for aspiration, not competition. Get people to pay premium prices and feel good about it.

Touchland proved that even the dullest categories can be cracked open with the right combination of design thinking, cultural awareness, and strategic courage.

The next billion-dollar brand won't invent a new category. It'll reinvent an old one, transforming a daily chore into an object of desire. Touchland showed us the way. Who's next?

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