How Single Use Ain’t Sexy ‘hustled its way’ into a partnership with The Iconic

A few years ago, Josh Howard was looking around his house when he thought to himself “oh my god, there is so much plastic crap”.

He wanted to reduce this wastage in his own life, and help people do the same in their own households, too.

So Howard came up with the idea to condense a bottle of liquid soap into a dissolvable tablet that can be used in reusable glass bottles, he tells SmartCompany Plus.

It’s a product that helps in two significant ways, Howard explains.

First, people are saving single use plastic bottles from landfill by using reusable glass bottles, and second, the customer’s carbon footprint is reduced as Single Use Ain’t Sexy isn’t shipping any water.

Now, just a few months after celebrating the business’ two year birthday, Howard says he and his four person team have set a “very, very audacious goal” of being used in every single fitness studio, hospitality venue, and corporate office across the country.

And Howard believes Single Use Ain’t Sexy’s recent partnership with The Iconic is one giant leap in the right direction.

Key takeaways

1. It takes a village to build a business.

2. Diversified sale avenues create stronger revenue streams.

3. Sometimes one LinkedIn DM is all it takes.

Strategic partnerships

Prior to Single Use Ain’t Sexy, Howard co-founded Extra, a curated marketplace connecting brands with hospitality spaces, and worked as the Head of Global Growth for media business Unlocked.

Despite going out on his own to build Single Use Ain’t Sexy, he still understood that he couldn’t do it completely alone.

“You basically have to build your business through partnerships and collaborations,” he explains.

So that’s exactly what he’s done.

The business went from being Howard on his own to a four-person team based in various locations around the world, thanks to an equity crowdfunding campaign that saw $600,000 raised in two days.

“Obviously that gave us some of the capital we needed to keep growing in the business environment,” Howard said.

This growth saw Single Use Ain’t Sexy move from selling direct-to-consumer only on its own website, to being stocked online at retail marketplace The Iconic.

Howard and the team also recently launched a subscription service, allowing customers to receive repeat packages delivered to their door on a two- or four-month basis at a discounted rate.

At the time of speaking, Single Use Ain’t Sexy had 400 subscribers to the service, and a “big priority” moving forward is to convert its 7000-strong customer base too.

The tablets that form Single Use Ain’t Sexy’s soap. Source: supplied.

While it’s an ideal situation to continue getting return consumers, Single Use Ain’t Sexy is also focused on using the subscription model to foster B2B wholesale partnerships with hospitality venues, corporate offices, co-working spaces, fitness studios and more.

“It’s a model that makes sense for them, because they’ve got a lot of people pumping through soap all the time,” he explained, listing DoorDash, AirBnB, CorePlus and other “really bring brands” as those already in its subscriber ranks.

What’s in it for them?

Single Use Ain’t Sexy is still a young brand, and Howard knows that comes with challenges — especially when approaching marketplace Goliaths like The Iconic.

“I think the biggest challenge whenever you approach any partner that’s much bigger than you is getting them to take you seriously and to want to do business with you,” he explains.

“It’s about trying to get them at the right moment.

“Position things so that they know what’s in it for them: why should they have you on their platform when every brand in Australia probably wants to be on them? And then it’s also about finding the right person or right internal stakeholder that can give you the initial green light.”

For Howard, the right moment and the right person was Joshua Noonan, the general manager of sports, beauty and home at The Iconic.

“I DM’d him on LinkedIn and I was like ‘Hey, this is us. I really want to team up together. Can you shoot me your email and I’ll send you some more information?’,” Howard reflected.

“It kind of just went from there.”

With the official launch taking place on April 22 — Earth Day — Howard says it was indicative of The Iconic’s commitment to having more “sustainable, eco-friendly and local brands on its platform”.

And considering the 17 million monthly visitors to The Iconic site, the partnership presents a significant opportunity for Single Use Aren’t Sexy too.

“The idea that an organisation like that — which I think is just completely at the forefront of e-commerce and the consumer landscape in Australia — would select us to go on their store is really exciting,” he comments.

“It also means that we can obviously access a lot more people than we could have otherwise if we were just selling through our website,” noting that the monthly site visitors Single Use Ain’t Sexy receives is “definitely not 17 million”.

Howard views the partnership with The Iconic and his company’s other wholesale partnerships as the best way forward to “grow the business and scale our impact”.

As with the other brand names Single Use Ain’t Sexy counts in its stockist or customer ranks, Howard says there hasn’t been a “formulaic way to secure those partners at all”, counting cold emails, walking straight into their offices, and the infamous LinkedIn DM among his attempts.

Ultimately, “you’ve just got to hustle your way into these opportunities”, Howard says.

“And quite often you’re creating these opportunities out of thin air.”