Mom’s Choice Awards is excited to announce another post in our interview series where we chat with the inventors, designers, publishers, and others behind some of our favorite family-friendly products.
Hello, Mom’s Choice readers! Thank you for joining us, we hope this finds you well. For this interview, we were excited to get the opportunity to speak with Colin Cordner, owner of Jackson Reece and its Mom’s Choice Award-winning product, Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes! Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes are baby wipes that are described as being “The Most eco-friendly wipes on the planet.” Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes are created by using 99% naturally derived ingredients from plant and vegetable extracts that are also environmentally friendly and reduce plastic pollution. Keep reading to find out more about these amazing and eco-friendly wipes and their company’s owner, Colin Cordner!
MCA: Hi Colin, congratulations on your Mom’s Choice Award! We here at MCA love environmentally friendly products that are also family-friendly, and it’s safe to say we were very excited when we found out about Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes! I’d first like to ask you a little bit about your background, can you tell us about yourself?
Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes.
Colin: I spent my childhood devouring encyclopedia’s, watching nature programs on TV, and exploring the great outdoors — dreaming of traveling the world one day for myself. But as I got older and saw more and more of the world, I realized that something was wrong. Our planet is in trouble, and we are the cause. After becoming a father, it really hit home that we have a responsibility to take care of our planet for the younger generations following in our footsteps. My wife Janet and I quit our jobs to set up Jackson Reece: a company named after our two sons that developed the world’s first biodegradable baby wipe.
MCA: There is absolutely a huge need for biodegradable products, thank you for creating a company that produces exactly that! You say after you became a father the responsibility you felt to our planet and the younger generations following lead you and your wife to create Jackson Reece, tell us more about that creation!
Colin: Our story begins back in 1999 when our beautiful son Jackson was born. We were so excited with our healthy bouncing baby, but at eight months Jackson developed baby eczema. We discovered that the alcohol present in many baby wipes compounded the condition, which just didn’t seem right. Our first thought was “there has to be a natural wipe available that doesn’t contain these types of chemicals?” We explored all the leading wipes and found none that offered an alcohol-free, natural herbal alternative.
We had no choice but to return to cotton wool and water, which was neither effective nor practical. Jackson’s severe blistering and bleeding from nappy rash got much worse and his eczema became even more inflamed as a result of the abrasive chemicals found in baby soap.
As parents, we felt we had no choice but to explore developing our own wipe that would protect and soothe our baby boy’s delicate skin. After years of exhaustive research and steadfast determination, we successfully designed our own unique cleansing wipes that contain naturally occurring ingredients. Coinciding with the birth of our second son in 2003, Reece, the concept for Jackson Reece Wipes was born.
MCA: Besides the need for biodegradable products baby products, what other needs were you trying to fill when you created the Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes?
Colin: We initially were trying to protect and prevent our son Jackson from the harsh chemicals used in (at the time) all baby products, with the next step being able to offer parents a solution to help protect their kids from chemical-based products that not only harm delicate little skin but also our planet. For years we have been innovating the baby wipe market with products infused with natural ingredients to help and not hinder our little ones. We believe we were the first company to not only think of our children when developing our products but the environment too by sourcing a 100% biodegradable and compostable super soft cloth that will help save our oceans and landfill from unwanted plastic.
We have spent the last few years searching far and wide for another way to improve our already eco products and after long last, we have found it! We can now proudly say that not only is our cloth environmentally friendly but our packaging too, which is 100% recyclable right down to the label! By making these ethical changes to our products we now offer parents a chance to help their little ones today and their future by avoiding loading our landfills and oceans with more plastic waste.
MCA: Tell us about the research that went behind Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes unique features!
Colin: When my wife and I first started researching the causes of baby eczema and how to prevent it we found that everyday products we all use contain harsh chemicals that can irritate us, adults, never mind a baby’s delicate skin. We found it hard to believe that everyone was so unaware of what was actually in the products we use, that we felt it was time to delve deeper and speak with some professionals. After contacting numerous universities and chemists to gain their insights, we asked every question possible to get a better understanding as to why these ingredients would be used in the first place. Once we found out why they were used our next question was, what alternatives can be used to create a natural chemical-free solution? We felt compelled to save not only our little one from aching eczema but help other parents too that felt lost and helpless. We worked with one chemist in particular who had a wealth of knowledge in this field and together we tried and tested different formulations until it was just right.
MCA: How does Jackson Reece compare to other baby wipe companies? How damaging are these other, non eco-friendly companies to the environment?
A baby using Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes.
Colin: As a small family business we pour our heart and soul into the products we create all a while keeping our high standard of ethics for nature and our environment in mind. We sourced the highest quality of ingredients and materials to ensure parents receive the best product possible. We refuse to compromise our products by using cheap materials such as polyester or low-quality ingredients. 95% of baby wipes brands use a single-use plastic/polyester material that not only harms our environment but can also be aggressive on the skin. When creating our products we made two lists, one for attributes we wanted to meet and the second list of harmful/banned ingredients and materials that we refuse to use.
With many of the leading brands still choosing to use single-use plastics for not only their packaging but also their cloth material, the fight against polluting our oceans and filling our landfills to full capacity are more a reality today than ever. These big brands have so much sway with manufacturers and parents that we had hoped by now they would join us in making little changes to make a big difference in our children’s future.
MCA: Can you expand on the importance of eco-friendly products and why it was so important for your wipes to be made from natural ingredients?
Colin: Plastic-waste is one of the leading causes of pollution in our world today. With the average family using up to 156 packets of baby wipes a year, it’s more important than ever to switch to eco-friendly alternatives and do all we can to keep our seas plastic-free. There are so many different factors adding to our planet’s climate change and by making even slight improvements on how we live and by making ethical purchases we can all help towards a more sustainable future. We want to help parents make the right choice for our future and the only way to do this is by giving them the right opinions but with so many brands still choosing to produce environmentally damaging products this dilutes the eco-friendly selections available to them.
We see so many issues today for the damage that has already been done to our planet, such as, forest fires, droughts, impact on wildlife and the list goes on… If we don’t make a difference soon to how we care for our environment, our children will be fighting an unwinnable fight in the future.
MCA: What is next for Jackson Reece and Kinder By Nature?
Colin: Our desire to innovate our range is a continuous adventure for us, we strive to one day not have the want or need for plastic packaging and again find/create those alternatives for a more sustainable path. We have spoken with other persons that share our enthusiasm and passion for environmentally friendly alternatives and together we hope to expand and develop the next cutting-edge eco packaging. With some companies the effort to improve their environmental efforts is absent but with us, we have the want, passion, and drive to push for a more sustainable future but technology is just not where we want it to be to achieve our goals, however, we will keep pushing through the restraints we face to ensure our planet has a fighting chance in the future.
Again with other products we develop, such as our natural baby toiletries range we ensure that these too meet our environmental ethos by using 100% recyclable packaging. Even with our packaging already being environmentally friendly we still believe it’s not enough and has been researching new options to reduce recyclable material and prevent wastage and improve our carbon footprint. We have endless goals and targets for our range which makes us a better company because we will never be happy with the current standard available and will continue to strive for ground-breaking technology that will help us all make this world a better and cleaner place.
MCA: That all sounds very exciting, please keep us in the loop!
You can learn more about Colin Cordner and his award-winning book, Kinder By Nature Plant Based Baby Wipes by visiting his MCA Shop pages.
