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Innovation has been at the heart of everything Easydry does since it was first established and continues to be what helps the company to grow in international markets
Anne Butterly came up with the idea of inventing an eco-friendly disposable towel while living in a flat with six other girls in Dublin in 2003. Fed up with the piles of soggy, stained towels they left after they had coloured their hair, she went looking for an alternative and couldn’t find one.
“I spent three years on research and development [R&D],” she says. “I knew I needed to create the right material – one that was robust and soft to skin and hair. In the process, I created and patented two types of technology [WaterWeave and Ultra Anti Tear Technology] to ensure the towel worked in the way it needed to but still retained its eco-credentials.”
Made from 100% wood fibre, the Easydry towel is 100% biodegradable and compostable after use. Each time an Easydry towel is used instead of laundering a cotton towel, 5 litres of water are saved.
Butterly could see the global potential for the product from the very early days of the business. Within the first year, sales were achieved in Ireland and the UK.
“Winning Innovation of the Year at the HJ’s British Hairdressing Business Awards in 2009 brought us a huge amount of attention,” she says. “We were then asked to bring our product to Australia and New Zealand. The drought in Australia meant the market was open to eco-friendly concepts. Since then we have achieved sales in countries such as the Middle
East and South
Africa where water savings and hygiene are highly valued.”
Excluding the business in Australia, 87% of Easydry’s customers are based outside Ireland. It is selling into over 20 countries, including most European countries, Canada and the US.
Extending the product range has been an important aspect of the company’s growth. Having started with a white disposable hair towel for hairdressers, Butterly soon introduced a black version of this product. “Listening to my target markets, I soon understood that one size did not fit all, so I went on to launch different sizes of towel to suit different businesses.”
Easydry has brought out a range of products for the beauty sector, such as bath towels, body wraps and even small towels for manicures and pedicures. Most recently it introduced a range of products for the sports and leisure sector. This includes a ‘cardio twin pack’ – one towel to wipe machines after use and a separate one as a personal sweat absorber.
After 18 months of R&D, plans are now in place to launch an innovative range of eco-friendly products into the hair sector in the next 12 months.
“I created and patented two types of technology to ensure the towel worked in the way it needed to but still retained its eco-credentials”