Five Products: When World’s Collude. The Changing Face of Cleaning
While we weren't looking, cleaning products have had a makeover. The ‘skinification’ of trigger sprays and laundry aids is now well underway as consumers approach cleaning as an opportunity for mindfulness in this age of overstimulation. It’s a fascinating shift, and one that is discussed in a special episode of the product experience podcast Impact Makers.
Cleaning’s new playbook has shifted from clinical cues and chemical compositions to pastel shades and alluring scents – and TikTok is mad for it. As Ammarah Issufo, who heads up Unilever’s social operations for home care in South Africa, told us – cleaning has had a glow up – with products that are not just effective, but culturally resonant.
The disruptors aren't just competing on ‘cleans better’ anymore, they're rewriting what a cleaning product can mean to someone's life.
Here are five products and brands that are leading the cleaning category into this new era.
1. HomeCourt Cleaning Range (U.S)
Founded by Courteney Cox, this upmarket range of vegan dish soaps, surface cleaners, and hand washes are positioned as ‘beauty products for the home,’ available in fragrance-led variants such as Cece, Neroli Leaf, Cipres Mint, and Steeped Rose. Designed with premium scents, aesthetic packaging, and design-led storytelling, the line disrupts by repositioning cleaning as a premium, sensorial lifestyle ritual rather than a purely functional task - a shift where cleaning products can now sit comfortably alongside skincare and home décor.
2. Purdy & Figg x William Morris Love Your Home Collection (UK)
A recent collaboration between Purdy & Figg and the William Morris brand highlights a different form of disruption, one centered around turning cleaning into a multi-sensory experience. The limited-edition ‘Love Your Home’ collection features richly layered fragrances like Rose & Violet, Patchouli & Cedarwood, and Bay & Berry, paired with visually striking packaging inspired by Morris’s iconic designs. Rather than positioning cleaning as a chore to be minimised, the collection embraces sensory maximalism, where scent, design, and ritual become central to the experience. This approach reimagines cleaning as something enjoyable and expressive, rather than purely functional.
3. Kinfill Refillable Cleaning Range (NL)
Dutch brand Kinfill introduced a refillable cleaning system designed to eliminate single-use plastic from everyday household routines. The range includes a Glass Cleaner, Multi-Surface Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner and Floor Cleaner, each supplied as concentrated formulas packaged in small glass vials that are diluted at home using a reusable Italian glass spray bottle. Available in fragrances such as Lavender, Pine Husk and Cucumis, the system replaces bulky liquid bottles with compact concentrates.
4. Handy Andy Multi-Purpose Cream (S.A):
Handy Andy Multi-Purpose Cream offers a compelling example of disruption driven not by innovation from the brand itself, but by how consumers have adapted the product over time. Originally designed for tough household grime, the cream is now widely used in South Africa for unexpected purposes - whether it’s cleaning white sneakers or removing scuff marks on school shoes. In some cases, consumers have even applied it to their skin, despite clear warnings against this. This showcases consumer divergence in action, where a product’s cultural meaning and usage expand beyond its intended role. Handy Andy’s disruption lies in its deep trust and versatility, proving that consumer behaviour can reshape a product’s identity.
5. Brave Planet Eco-Friendly Cleaner Sheets (U.S):
Brave Planet’s Eco-Friendly All-Purpose Cleaner Sheets represent one of the most unconventional format shifts in the category. Instead of liquid sprays, the ultra-concentrated sheets dissolve completely in water to create a multi-surface cleaner featuring a lemon scent. The disruption here is twofold. First, the format eliminates single-use plastic bottles and reduces shipping weight, addressing sustainability concerns. Second, the “add water and dissolve” process has become highly shareable online, gaining traction among eco-conscious communities and social media cleaning trends.
What these five products reveal is a deeper shift, one where cleaning is moving away from a functional chore to an emotional, and identity-linked activity. Consumers are no longer satisfied with products that simply do the job. They want transparency, formats that fit their lifestyles, sensory moments that make routines more enjoyable, and brands that understand how cleaning actually fits into their lives. For cleaning brands, this creates an urgent question: Are you still designing for dirt removal alone or for the human experience around it?
Most brands are now realizing that disruption doesn’t always require a breakthrough chemical formula. Sometimes it comes from rethinking something much simpler like how a product feels in the hand, how it looks on a countertop, how it fits into a daily ritual, or even how consumers choose to use it beyond its intended purpose. Cleaning may be universal, but expectations around it are changing fast. And the brands that respond to this shift early will be the ones that redefine what “clean” means in the years ahead.
If you’re looking for ways to disrupt the cleaning category - whether through formulation, format, fragrance or behaviour - get in touch. We’d love to help you design products that don’t just sit on the shelf but genuinely shake things up.