As a club hockey player at the University of Maryland, Stephen Steinberg had one big problem: After each skate, he had to store his smelly hockey gear in a tiny dorm room for two.
Febreeze and Lysol proved useless against the unrivaled odor that has driven hockey moms crazy for all eternity.
Although not a chemistry major, Steinberg scoured publicly available research to concoct his own special brew called Vapor Fresh Cleaning Spray, a chemical-free equipment spray that he says can erase any odor.
Roughly a decade later, that product has grown into an entire line of green cleaning products tailored for active lifestyles called Vapor Fresh, which are part of Steinberg’s D.C.-based company Raw Athletics.
“The original vision of the company was to bridge the gap between the green and natural space and athletics because the healthier you are, the better you perform,” Steinberg said. “We are an overall brand of cleaning products strong enough to eliminate odor and sweat, but safe enough to fit into a healthy lifestyle.”
In college, he largely maintained the company as a side project, winning several business competitions in the University of Maryland’s entrepreneurship program and selling the spray to some college sports teams.
Based on client requests, Steinberg took his initial cleaning spray and developed a powder laundry detergent. Next came shoe powder, gym wipes and boxing equipment.
After putting the products on Amazon, Raw Athletics’ first major direct-to-consumer play, it was clear the company’s eco-friendly approach was in high demand.
“Today we have a total of seven products,” Steinberg said. “A cleaning and deodorizing spray for sports equipment; laundry detergents free and clear of fragrances, dyes and brighteners; disinfecting gym wipes based on citric acid instead of quaternary ammonium compounds; shoe powder free of talc and artificial fragrances; and some moisture- and odor-control products for the boxing industry without the use of artificial fragrances.”
Disinfecting wipes for exercise equipment have quickly become one of the company’s top-selling products and are used in gyms in eight states. Currently, Raw Athletics is rolling out new laundry pods to further its offerings in the $20 billion laundry detergent industry, which Steinberg says presents a unique opportunity.
“Typically, the hotter the water is the cleaner your clothes will get. That leaves people in the awkward position of choosing between getting very clean clothes and energy conservation,” he said. “Our detergent uses a cutting edge cold water enzyme blend that allows people to wash their clothes just as effectively in cold water as they would with warm or hot water, helping them cut their energy costs by 90 percent.”
All Vapor Fresh laundry detergents are free of additives that can irritate skin or alter the surface of your activewear, which can cause clothing to lose its wicking capabilities or hold onto lingering odors.
Tide and a small handful of other brands dominate the U.S. market for laundry detergent, but Steinberg believes the industry is ripe for disruption. While liquid detergents are still the largest segment, pods are the fastest-growing and should overtake liquid in the next few years.
“Right now, people have to choose between an effective laundry detergent and a green laundry detergent,” he said. “By reformulating our sport-specific formulation into a pod for everyday use, people don’t have to make that trade-off anymore.”
