Tru Earth’s plastic-free laundry strips have catapulted from a local Kickstarter idea to a nine-figure brand in five years. Here’s how smart product design, direct-to-consumer focus, and a legion of eco-ambassadors turned a tidy concept into a global movement.

Product + Purpose: A Strip That Solves Two Headaches at Once

• The pain point: hauling heavy detergent jugs and tossing them into landfill.

• The fix: paper-thin “Eco-Strips” that dissolve in seconds. One strip equals one load, no mess, almost no packaging.

Tru Earth backs the eco claim with hard numbers. Their 2024 impact report shows a 160 percent revenue jump and 100 million dollars in U.S. sales while eliminating tons of plastic waste. They are also a Certified B Corp, that label means an independent body audits their social and environmental practices, not just their profits.

Direct-to-Consumer First, Retail Second

DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) simply means selling from your own website instead of relying on stores. By starting on Shopify, Tru Earth kept margins high and learned what messages converted before cutting wholesale deals.

• Subscription option — a two-month refill ships automatically at a discount. That recurring model now drives almost half of their online revenue.

• AOV (Average Order Value) is boosted with add-ons like stain removers at checkout, nudging customers to spend more per visit.

Once the online funnel was profitable, they entered 9,000+ North American stores and opened a European office, protecting price integrity by using unique SKUs for each retailer.

Community-Driven Content

Tru Earth’s ambassador program turns enthusiastic customers into micro-influencers who create unboxing photos and “laundry-strip magic” TikToks. Because the brand rewards them with points and free product, not big cash payouts, each piece of UGC (user-generated content) costs peanuts while slashing CAC (customer acquisition cost).

Why it works: People trust real customers more than polished ads, and Tru Earth gets an endless stream of fresh creative for its paid campaigns.

Paid Media That Starts With the Problem

Their top-performing video ad shows a bulky detergent jug melting into a postcard-size strip. This “problem-agitate-solve” formula hooks scrollers immediately:

1. Problem: heavy plastic jugs.

2. Agitate: images of cluttered laundry rooms and ocean-plastic stats.

3. Solve: a feather-light strip that disappears in water.

Because the footage looks like something a friend filmed, ad costs (CPMs) run about 23 percent below the CPG average, keeping ROAS (return on ad spend) healthy.

PR and Purpose-Led Stunts

During Earth Month 2025 they installed a 15-foot “Tower of Reality” made from discarded detergent bottles in a U.S. mall, then handed out 50 percent-off coupons for their strips. The visual hook earned national press and a flood of user selfies, free reach a banner ad could only dream of.

Takeaways for Rising Brands

1. Design a product that solves a practical and emotional pain. Laundry strips feel good and do good.

2. Own your customer data first. Nail your DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) economics before courting retail buyers.

3. Let customers do the talking. UGC (User-Generated-Content) lowers ad costs and lifts trust.

4. Make purpose tangible. Show the pile of plastic you’re removing, not just a leaf logo.

5. Measure one heroic outcome. It focuses teams and stories alike.

Tru Earth proves you can scale fast without trashing the planet, or your margins. If your Vancouver startup is ready to write a similar growth story, Foreword Marketing is here to help craft the strategy and the narrative.