As soon as we came across Tankis on Instagram, we knew we had to include their awesome natural, NZ made deodorant in our pre packed hospital bags. They ticked all the boxes for us, including being available in a stick! (We stock their full range of stick deodorants for both ladies and gents on our online store). Their fun names and Kiwi-ness are another reason we love them too! We caught up with Alyssa to find out some more about this up and coming New Zealand business. Check out what she had to say below........
We'd love to hear how Tankis came about, when was it established and how did it evolve into the business it is today?
You know we never imagined ourselves starting up a business in the natural products market as we both really had no passion or understanding to begin with, but one day it sort of just clicked when Ethan saw our little boy Clark trying to lick up some spilt juice on our coffee table right after Ethan had just cleaned it down with glass cleaner. We knew that something was wrong in this picture.
It became a popular topic at home, talking about the use of chemicals and how bad they can be in the household, especially around our wee one and we started doing things like watching Netflix documentaries and using more eco-friendly, natural cleaning products. Pretty soon we were trying to find everything and anything that was a more natural alternative but there was that one product that we had trouble finding and that was deodorant.
The first thing was trying to find a product that we’d like and we found a couple of New Zealand companies who made a natural deodorant but it was just so expensive and Ethan just didn't like having to scoop the stuff out of a jar and rub under his pits so we thought hang on, why don’t we just give it a go ourselves and that’s how the magic happened.
We spent months finding the right ingredients to use to get this stuff to really work and then we finally had a product that we could be proud of and that didn’t cost the earth, meaning it was in a lot more people's price range, compared to most natural products.
The next thing was the branding, we thought about a minimalist style, tree hugging brand, but that just wasn’t us and we didn’t think it could become a scalable business with such a niche focus so we decided to really Kiwi-Fi it. Get some cool names, bold packaging and really clear pictures of what goes into the products.
Ethan’s dad was a legendary rugby league player and coach, but more importantly, just a great father and really straight up kind of old-school NZ character and we thought his name TANK could deliver our brand and our mission his uniqueness and mana. Of course, TANK is a really blokey name so Christie who is one of TANKS other daughters, suggested the name TANKIS pronounced (Tank-kis) as that was what she used to call him and, yeah that’s how TANKIS came about.
We launched in March and the rest is history.
Tell us a little bit about the team that runs Tankis.
We’re a two person team and we take care of everything from marketing, to product development and branding to working with our amazing retailers and trying to make sure every single TANKIS customer has a genuine customer service experience. Our products are real, so we keep it real too.
What gets you and your team out of bed in the morning and gives you the drive to keep Tankis ticking?
I think the drive is probably two-fold. We want to be doing this full-time one day and creating for ourselves a fantastic lifestyle business so we can spend more time doing what we love and being together as family more, but we also want to boost the awareness to Kiwi’s that chemicals just aren't that cool and people need to understand whatever we put onto our bodies, is just as dangerous as what we put into it.
Many of these hidden chemicals usually don’t give us serious reactions, disease or illness straight away, which makes it so hard for researchers to give us clear information on the long-term side effects to what we use every day. I mean we all know now not to sniff petrol at the pumps, it’s just common sense, but do we all know that most cosmetic products create synthetic preservatives derived from petrochemicals? We ultimately want to just spread the word, educate and do some good and that’s it. At least if we have the knowledge or keep the conversation going, people will make better choices for themselves and their families.
Are there any exciting things coming up for Tankis that you can share with us?
Yes, so glad you asked that. We have just opened up pre-orders for our brand new line of natural lip balm, which are absolutely incredible and have no nasty chemicals or fake stuff. Check them out here. We’re also working on a face mask product too, which uses the power of different types of clays and charcoals to really give your face a great detox and pull all of those nasty chemicals to the surface and out of your face.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
A lot of people may be struggling to go more natural and use fewer chemicals but often the biggest road-block is being a little bit worried that your household might not support you. If this is the case, make them commit to you that they will all sit down and watch The Human Experiment on Netflix and you shouldn’t have any issues. Also just because a product says it is natural, doesn’t mean that it is. Always read the labels. Peace!
-Alyssa, TANKIS