How Wild is making personal care more sustainable

Since launching in 2019, Wild has taken over our social feeds and shaken up traditional perceptions of natural deodorants. We look at how the brand is using design and creativity to reshape what we expect from our toiletries

There’s been a huge boom in demand for products that are kind to both our bodies and the planet in recent years. The vegan cosmetic industry is expected to be worth a whopping $21.4 billion by 2027, according to a recent report by Marketglass, while refillable packaging services such as Loop are fast becoming the poster children for zero-waste packaging.

Personal care products are some of the biggest offenders in the ongoing fight against single-use plastic. In the UK, it’s estimated that over 250 million deodorants are bought every year, with the average lifespan of a plastic deodorant pack lasting over 400 years after use. This was the statistic that childhood friends Freddy Ward and Charlie Bowes-Lyon set out to change when they founded Wild in 2019.

Both of the founders had held directorial roles in the marketing space previously, with Ward working as director of marketing at another direct-to-consumer success story, HelloFresh. The aim with Wild was create a sustainable refill deodorant that was also vegan-friendly, cruelty-free, dermatologically tested and free from the harsh chemicals we’ve become accustomed to seeing on the ingredients list of most deodorant brands.