From Frat-Bathroom Banter To Shelf Staple: How A College Conversation Built A Top Wipes Brand

Goodwipes, founded after two students bonded over baby wipes, now sells in major U.S. chains and has a limited-edition tie-up with Liquid Death.

Sam Nebel and his co-founder, Charlie Siciak, turned a frank dormitory discussion into a consumer brand that helped expand a category now worth more than $1 billion. Thirteen years after the pair first began handing out baby wipes at college tailgates, their company, Goodwipes, appears on shelves at Walmart, Target and Kroger and has launched playful product crossovers this summer — including a Peach-flavored collaboration with Olipop and a short-run offering with Liquid Death inspired by the beverage maker's sCREAM Soda.

The business began, Nebel says, not in a boardroom but in a fraternity house restroom at Florida State University, where the two undergraduates discovered a shared habit and a market gap. They started quietly handing packs to classmates, swapping stories and quickly finding that many peers preferred wipes to toilet paper. That informal network of users, combined with a willingness to peddle the product at parties and sporting events, helped the founders test demand long before they built a formal company.

As the product evolved, the partners focused on three consumer complaints they'd seen up close: irritation for people with sensitive skin, uncertainty about whether wipes really flush, and a need for a design that felt less juvenile. Nebel describes the result as a more refined alternative to baby wipes — one meant to be sold alongside everyday household goods, not hidden in a medicine cabinet. He declined to offer sales figures but said the brand has concentrated on repeat purchases and broad retail presence rather than one-off novelty buys.

Growth was incremental. The founders spent years repeating the same pitch to buyers and showing in-person at trade shows before landing broader distribution. They used online marketplaces early on to gain visibility, then leaned into in-store placements once regional chains began to reorder. "It took patience and a lot of conversations with buyers who initially didn't take wipes seriously," Nebel told me, describing a steady, relationship-driven path to national accounts. Retail analysts say that approach is common in consumer-packaged goods; one industry consultant, Maya Ortiz of Retail Insights Group, called Goodwipes a case study in persistence, noting that niche categories often expand when a small number of committed shoppers become regular customers — roughly one in three, she estimates, depending on the aisle.

The brand's tone has been an ingredient in its success. Marketing leans on humor but aims to avoid being crude, mixing candid language with friendly design so shoppers don't feel embarrassed at checkout. That voice has allowed the company to experiment with limited drops, like the Liquid Death partnership, which the founders say helps introduce the product to younger, culture-focused buyers without changing the core offer. Nebel framed these moves as creative experiments by a compact team — designed to generate buzz and test new audiences.

Looking ahead, the company plans to keep pushing distribution, product tweaks and occasional pop-culture pairings while answering questions about sustainability and plumbing safety that often follow conversations about flushable wipes. Whether customers discovered Goodwipes in a frat house or a grocery aisle, the founders say their priority remains the same: make something people want to buy again.