The Scrubba story Ash climbing Mr Kilimanjaro

MT KILIMANJARO

The mountain that inspired the Scrubba wash bag
The Inspiration

The idea for the Scrubba wash bag was conceived in 2010 when founder Ash Newland took a 4-month break from his job as a patent attorney in Australia and decided to travel to Africa to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with a mate.  "During the planning stages for the trip, we realised that with all our cold weather and camping gear, we would only be able to pack a few changes of casual clothes.  This led to the issue of how we would wash our clothes every couple of days.  After mulling over this issue for a few weeks, I was led to the idea of washboards - they have been around for centuries, and they work very efficiently.

The Scrubba's Ash Newland in Africa with the Scrubba Wash Bag
The first Scrubba wash bag

A couple of crude prototypes were constructed just days before leaving Australia and Ash Newland spent each night after work in the week leading up to the trip drafting the provisional patent application.

"As we didn't have a chance to try the Scrubba wash bag prototypes before the trip, the first use was in the small town of Moshi in Tanzania, and we were astounded by how effective it was".  

The concept had been validated, but the product was still far from hitting the market.

The Scrubba Wash Bags creator Ash Newland in Africa
The Scrubba Wash Bags creator Ash Newland in Africa Summit
The world's smallest washing machine

The route to market

Following the success of the Scrubba wash bag prototype over the course of the 4-month trip, the prototype and intellectual property were further developed to license the technology.  

This approach changed in late 2011 when Ash Newland quit his job with a large patent attorney firm to focus on bringing the Scrubba wash bag to market.  

Testimonials

"While we received positive feedback from potential licensees in Europe, we realised that we needed to prove the market for the Scrubba wash bag".  The company Calibre8 Pty Ltd was incorporated to put this into action.

Ash Newland
A first major step

The first significant step to making the Scrubba wash bag a commercial reality was in January 2012 when the concept for the Scrubba wash bag was launched on the crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo by Calibre8.

 While funds of USD2,500 were sought to assist with tooling, almost USD 22,525 was received in pre-orders.  

The Scrubba crowdfunding campaign indiegogo

Testimonials

"We were blown away by this level of support for our product, but this was quickly followed when we realised the enormity of manufacturing and fulfilling this amount of orders. This was accompanied by many sleepless nights as manufacturing and fulfilment issues arose and were overcome".  

Ash Newland
The Scrubba wash bag being used in the snow nepal ice by a female
Now available anywhere...

Fast-forward to the present, Calibre8 has expanded its warehousing to several countries to provide fast shipping options across the globe.  The Scrubba wash bag models have also developed with usability and durability as the key focus areas.  "Our distribution and retailer network is also continually increasing, and the Scrubba wash bag is appearing on retailers' shelves worldwide".

Women camping and holding the scrubba wash bag with clothes in the bush
The Scrubba worldwide

While initially designed with backpackers in mind, the Scrubba wash bag has also become the best way to clean clothes for people on vacation, business travellers, students living in dorm rooms or small apartments, campers, hunters, cyclists, kayakers or people going cruises. Whether it is so you can pack light, avoid hotel laundry costs, avoid searching for Laundromats, avoid potential hygiene issues washing in a sink, use less water or have the freedom to wash clothes wherever you want, there is an aspect of the Scrubba wash bag that will appear to all travellers. 

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