It was the summer of 2017 and Kaitlin Moss began noticing how often people took their phones out in the bathroom.
“I started becoming with how obsessed with how dirty my phone was,” she said.
That obsession grew as her wedding day approached and she became hyperaware of her skin. As she is acne-prone, Moss said she kept her phone at a distance to avoid getting more bacteria on her face.
With a passion for entrepreneurship that spanned back to her childhood, she sought a fix for the germy problem. She turned her focus to the travel industry.
Over the next two years, the Denver resident began developing a line of nontoxic wipes for all travel needs.
“You can go on a plane, wipe down surfaces, devices, clean your hands and then refresh your face,” she said.
Moss received her first batch of Wipeys at the end of February, and then Covid-19 hit in the U.S.
“Obviously I didn’t predict this, but the timing is very strange,” she said.
By the end of April, Wipeys was sold out of its initial batch of products. But, due to the pandemic and the global need for hygiene products, Moss said she was unable to restock Wipeys.
“There was definitely a lull and we began to set up preorders,” she said. “It was a waiting game, but we ramped up our operations and hit the ground running when we had inventory.”
Moss said she was using her own personal stock to fulfill orders, even taking from family and friends to keep up with demand. With a background in event planning and this being her first foray into the startup world, Moss said she took an important lesson out of the delay.
“It’s something that is out of your control and there was nothing that I could do about it, as bad as I wanted to,” she said.
By the end of July, the company had restocked and began fulfilling its preorders. Moss is now gearing up for the holiday season, as she says Wipeys are an ideal travel companion, even if you’re traveling just by car.
Ultimately, she thinks Wipeys will fill a need long after the coronavirus pandemic is gone. She said people have developed a special awareness about germ passage and personal hygiene that has changed the way they act.
“I definitely think that this [habit] will never go away, because of how easily germs can spread and how easily this all spread,” she said. “People and consumers will keep that in the back of their mind.”
A box of 20 Wipeys retails for $24 on the company’s website and can also be found at a handful of small boutiques in the Denver area.
