Household Wipes:Looking For The Next Clean Sweep

Five years ago, the household wipes market seemed unstoppable. Procter & Gamble continued to expand its Swiffer cleaning brand with new product introductions, creating new categories for cleaning seemingly overnight. At the same time, sales of all-purpose cleaning wipes continued to soar as niche products like toilet cleaning wipes, glass cleaning wipes and stainless steel cleaning cloths rolled out, meeting consumers’ insatiable need for products designed to make their lives easier.

In just a handful of years, the market for household cleaning wipes zoomed from nearly nothing to more than $1 billion and everyone was looking for a piece of this action. New spunlace lines ramped up in the U.S. and beyond and it seemed converters of wipes were popping up out of nowhere. Wipes not only created a new opportunity for household cleaning companies looking for new ways to boost profits, they gave nonwovens a front-row seat in the lives of consumers.