Innovation means new.

Good innovation means there is a before and an after.

Great innovation means there is a before and an after for millions of people.

Well, remember those annoying child safety locks on laundry detergent?

They are a huge and silent issue for all dexterity impaired people around the world. A source of struggle on an everyday product because they simply can’t open them.

The ECOCLIC® box solves this for hundreds of millions of people.

To be fair, it solves the safety lock problem for all adults.

Finally creating child safe packaging that is accessible for all.

Kids are curious. We all know that.

But the real thing that makes safety locks a problem is that kids are determined.

For a safety lock to be kid validated, it needs to resist kid tampering for over 10 minutes. That’s a long time to resist little humans who decidedly think outside the box when they want to get in one.

So much of a problem that by preventing children from getting in, current solutions prevent anybody with dexterity impairments from getting in as well. People with disabilities, elderly people… That’s more than a billion people worldwide.

We decided to tackle this issue, and to make it even more of a challenge, we decided to take this opportunity to shift from plastic to cardboard. A way more fragile material.

Weaker material, determined adversary and potentially huge impact for over a billion people: we needed a great idea.

This isn’t about a digital revolution. It’s not about a new material.

This all comes down to taking a step back and simply observing nature.

We want to keep all kids out of our boxes, but to let all adults in.

Especially the dexterity impaired.

And for that, we needed to find what makes an adult different from a child,

so that we could leverage it for our new locking system.

It all came down to one obvious but overlooked fact: hand size.

Adults have bigger hands than kids.

So, we created a locking system that uses hand size as a key.

August 2018 – Initial project start

2018 to 2019 – Prototyping iteration alongside group testing with target audience and stress testing with groups of children

August 2019 – Concept idea and 12 related patents submitted and approved by Intellectual Property Office

January 2022 – AISE Test Protocol for Child-Impeding Closures and obtaining of

Certified child Impeding Closure certificate

May 2022 – Product launched across a wide range of European markets and P&G fabric care brands.

We created the ECOCLIC®.

A simple & straightforward cardboard locking mechanism that can only be opened by adult sized hands. Accessible to all adults, vastly reduced impact on the planet, it fits as easily in the cupboard as it does in our consumers lives.

To achieve this, we leveraged hand span combined to a two-part locking system. Only by using the thumb and ring finger at the same time can someone open the box. And that is done through two simple cardboard flaps.

It may sound simple now, but it’s actually the result of over 200 prototypes and 12 patents.

But this wasn’t enough. We needed to prevent children from prying the box open with other means. For this second part of the brief, we introduced a patented cardboard reinforcement system that made our new box just as resistant as the existing plastic ones, but much better for the planet.

It may be cardboard. It may seem simple. But today it’s the only box in market that ticks the 3 boxes of kid-proof, sustainable and accessible to all.

Our goal was to reduce inequalities for as many people with dexterity issues as possible, and we did so with a bang.

This innovation launched on leading brands such as Ariel, Lenor, Dash and Fairy, finally making an inaccessible product accessible for more than 750 million people, and this is just the first step.

Consumer reactions mirrored those we had during prototype developments. People were amazed, grateful and most of all relieved that a daily moment of stress could simply be forgotten now.

“A richly deserved THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Finally laundry tabs box that can be opened by elderly people with arthritic fingers.”

Mary, suffers from arthritis

“Many thanks! Just a small thing but a life saver for me.”

Michael, suffers from arthritis

“It’s incredible how easy it is!”

Misbah, suffers from Parkinson’s

Dexterity issues are so much more prevalent than we perceive, with as much as 1 in 7 people concerned. Physical disabilities, illnesses, age… Everybody will be faced with this at one point in their life.

This can become so much of an issue that users start experiencing distress simply thinking about doing their laundry and having to tackle the plastic locking systems.

“When I see nitty-gritty stuff I get nervous and my tremor increases”

Misbah, suffers from Parkinson’s

“I would normally hold the pack away from myself in case of any sharp edges to make sure it doesn’t scratch me.”

Jo, suffers from sight related issues

“My partner always opens the pack and leaves it open for me.”

Caroline, suffers from thumb related issues

“I have always had trouble opening the plastic box with great difficulty and usually finished up using scissors.”

Margaret, suffers from arthritis