Food Trends Impacting the Cleaning Industry

Before the clean eating movement, food production was motivated by what created the best flavor. And more often than not, that was achieved by using artificial flavors and colors. Now, as we see consumers favoring brands that are natural and organic over conventional, million dollar brands are left playing catch up. Big food is realizing that they need to offer more organic options to compete in the same space.

This movement has trickled into the cleaning product industry too. This effect began with food (with consumers voicing concern about what they're putting in their bodies), to cosmetics (what's being put on the body) to cleaning products (what's around the body). It's had enough of an effect that Clorox removed its brand name altogether in favor of a new brand, Greenworks.

There's an increasingly amount of food motifs emerging in cosmetics and cleaning products. Culinary flavors like thyme with fig leaf and lemon ginger are being applied to household items like dishwasher detergent pods and floor cleaner. The USDA certified organic certification is even being sported on non-edible items like laundry detergent!

Packaging design of conventional cleaning products has traditionally been loud and colorful, accented by visual elements like bursts and gradients which reinforce how well they clean.

In contrast, natural product design often features white or transparent structures and simple color palettes.

At Expo East, we discovered a lot of new cleaning products that are challenging the category in different ways - be it by reinforcing efficacy, leaning on nature's beauty or making brand promises.These trends in cleaning products are not only challenging the category, but changing the conversation entirely.