A new Chicago startup, launched earlier this month, wants to help you stay clean, and cleaner than what you’re probably used to.
Scrub30, founded by Matt Mroczek, is a gender-neutral bath product subscription service that sends customers shower gels, shampoos and body scrubbers every 30 days.
“That way you’re always clean and are cleaning yourself with a clean product,” Mroczek said.
Scrub30 offers three versions of its subscription box, ranging from about $8-21. The most basic package for $8.49 per month includes one shower gel and one body scrubber. Body gels, packaged in 2.5 fluid ounce bottles, come in several scents, including "cherry blossom," "Lakeview Breeze" and "Midnight Berry."
Mroczek said he came up with the concept for Scrub30 after taking a look at his own shower routine and realizing he had been using the same body scrubber, also known as a loofah, for a while.
“I looked at it one day and was like, ‘Man, how old is this thing?’” Mroczek said. “And I knew if I couldn’t answer that, then it had to be time to go.”
After that, Mroczek began doing research on body scrubbers and found that most dermatologists recommend replacing them every 30 days to avoid bacteria growth, prompting Mroczek to launch Scrub30 and include body scrubbers in every package. The startup’s body scrubbers are manufactured in China, Mroczek said, while the bath products are made in California.
The startup also has a philanthropic initiative behind its business model. Every month, the company donates their products and 10 percent of their profits to a charity. For the month of October, Scrub30 is donating to San-Francisco-based Lava Mae, which repurposes old city buses into portable showers and toilets for homeless people.
Mroczek is betting that Scrub30’s philanthropic angle will help lure more customers, who will then ditch making trips to their local drugstore (or Sephora) to buy shampoos and soaps. Additionally, Scrub30 is hopping on a trend of subscription-based boxes, like Birchbox or Stitch Fix, which have been steadily gaining popularity among millennial consumers who seemingly want everything delivered to their door. Mroczek didn’t disclose how many subscribers Scrub30 currently has.
“Our primary mission is to keep people clean and make the world a better place,” Mroczek said.
The startup’s team of four currently operates out of mHUB, Chicago’s manufacturing and product development incubator. Scrub30 has mainly been bootstrapped by Mroczek, but the startup has one undisclosed investor. Mroczek said he will be launching an official funding round for about $45,000-85,000 within the next month.
