50 years of Earthwise

We can’t let this year draw completely to a close without celebrating a special milestone: Earthwise has been pioneering eco-friendly cleaning now for 50 years! While you may know that the Earthwise range is created for all the needs of your family, did you know it has a family history of its own?

Our story originally began back in 1967, in a small garden shed in Orini in the Waikato, when Tom Robinson, the founding father of Earthwise, set out to create products that were better for people and kinder to our world. Tom had always had an appreciation for the simple, more natural things in life and after growing up with a grandmother skilled in the finer arts of essential oils and natural remedies, he set up a business creating plant-based fertilisers.

Despite it being a time when Kiwis were actively embracing chemical-laden imported products with little awareness of their potential harm, people slowly began to see the benefits of organic, natural alternatives and demand grew; soon Tom had added household and farm cleaners, personal care products and animal health products to his range.

Earning himself the nickname of the original ‘yes man’, word soon got around and Tom would often be asked if he could create something, to which he would always answer “of course I can” – figuring out the ‘how’ afterwards. It was a family affair and Tom’s sons, Kayol and Jeremy, would help their Dad with the meticulous formulating and testing of their products. This artisan’s care remains a cornerstone of the Earthwise brand, as do many of the original and trusted products which have been further refined and perfected over the decades.

Also key to the Earthwise brand is the focus on family first and the belief that your family’s health is important. Although Tom sadly passed away back in 2011, his legacy lives on at Earthwise, and his son Jeremy (as well as the now much bigger Earthwise team) still work to deliver on Tom’s original legacy.

Fast forward to 2017 and Earthwise is excelling as a proudly Kiwi-owned and operated health and wellbeing company, in a way that we have no doubt Tom would be proud of. Not only does being awarded the Deloitte Fast 50 in 2013, which celebrates New Zealand’s fastest growing companies, reinforce the way that families are embracing the brand and our products into their homes – our recent win of the 2017 Canstar Blue Award for Laundry Liquid further supports our position as one of New Zealand’s most loved and trusted brands.

From the early days, right through to today, Earthwise has crafted plant-based, environmentally gentler products that work – and that are within the reach of the average household shopper, so that every family has natural alternatives to help clean up life’s little (and not so little) messes.