Housekeeping Chic

It was old Ben Franklin who said, "In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes." Of course, had Mr. Franklin been more familiar with the domestic arts, he might also have included the need to clean house among life's certainties.

"Nesting" is a $450 billion industry in America, and today's domestic divas have embraced the idea that traditional cleaning products are simply not good enough to maintain their remodeled kitchens and pamper their designer duds. After all, once you've shelled out big bucks for the bone china, an $8 green-tea patchouli dishwashing soap can seem almost like a bargain.

The demand for high-end home care products has produced a crop of new "designer" cleaning lines. And while the retail landscape features a paucity of new product trends, home care looks to be a lucrative shot in the arm to gift stores, especially those carrying personal care items.

The domestic consumer environment changed dramatically in 1996, when, according to Barron's, spending on home furnishings overtook that on apparel. Since then, Giorgio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Donna Karan have expanded into home lines. It was only logical that personal care would follow suit.

This new product category, shaped by lifestyle trends such as "natural living," aromatherapy, and a craving for nostalgia and ritual, is already proving profitable for a bevy of behemoths. Currently, the windows of Restoration Hardware in Manhattan display the Good Home Company's laundry fragrances. Meanwhile, Nordstrom sells Caldrea dish soap at its cosmetic counters. Others in the category include Neiman Marcus, Williams-Sonoma, and the Terence Conran Shop.

Monica Nassif, president of Caldrea, a Minneapolis-based line of spa-scented home care products, describes home care as "a highly consumable category." "Our sell-through is much higher than with some personal care items," says Nassif. "You always have to clean. You're always washing dishes, clothes, and so forth, so these items offer your store a beautiful repeat business."

Nassif finds that customers are quick to develop brand loyalty to her line. "Once you move to Aveda, for example, you never go back, and it's the same we're finding with Caldrea," she notes.

Another appealing aspect to this category is that the products' polished packaging and attractive presence make them function almost like decorative accessories in the home. The new designer lines infuse formerly mundane objects with designer glamour, much the same way that purse designer Kate Spade rehabbed the notion of the handbag into something to covet.

Jill Gerard is marketing manager at The Thymes in Minneapolis, which launched the Mandarin Coriander home care line in March 2001. She sees home care products as adding punch to interiors. "If you have guests coming over, you're not tucking the dish soap bottle under the sink," she says, "because it's aesthetically pleasing to see it sitting on your kitchen sink."

Alternatively, the Leave It To Beaver look of some of the products might transport consumers to a calm haven of nostalgia that makes forgetting modern difficulties possible, if only for a while.

Mary Lake Thompson, designer and owner of an Oroville, California, line bearing her name, noticed for the first time at this summer's gift shows that her product repeatedly drew that reaction from buyers. "We kept hearing, 'This look takes me back to a place I want to be, somewhere that's simple and nice and safe.' "

Driven by the needs of modern women, these products also fuse function with fun, injecting a little pleasure into a dull routine. Women still do the majority of dusting, mopping, and washing, but today they are cleaning less — 27 hours a week, down from 40 hours in 1965, according to The 2000 Yankelovich Monitor. And being the daughters of working mothers themselves, they're more likely to be in the dark about cleaning methods.

Dale Burg, co-author of Mary Ellen's Guide to Good Enough Housekeeping, says that part of the impetus behind writing the book was calls from people who never learned how to clean. Meanwhile, the 884-page bestseller Home Comforts does for cleaning what The Joy of Cooking did for cuisine.

These home care products also appeal to the ecologically minded because their natural ingredients clean without harsh chemicals or abrasives, and ingredients such as lavender have antiseptic and anti-microbial properties. Meanwhile, the aromatherapy aspect of the products can make chores more agreeable while individualizing a home. Customers already accustomed to home fragrancing can go one step further with these products, creating a new "clean" scent in their homes.

Nassif explains that while many customers fall in love with one scent and clean the entire house with it, others use different scents for different rooms. And the soothing properties of aromatherapy can make a boring task relaxing, says Mary Lake Thompson.

Once they are familiar with it, consumers respond well to the home care category. But most need to be visually introduced to it. Many retailers use antique props such as ironing boards to do this. Meanwhile, "Domestic Goddess" product from La Doux in Clearwater, Florida, sells best when grouped in a vignette, according to the company's executive director Leslie E. Tannehill. She says the line of brooms, dustpans, and shoes adorned with rhinestones, ribbons, feathers, and flowers draws the curious when placed in windows.

Gerard of The Thymes feels that retailers and customers benefit from a home care section adjacent to a personal care area. "Many [retailers] create a display of home care products close to their Thymes product shelves so that the consumer recognition is still there with our brand recognition," she comments.

Regardless of how they're displayed, these products speak to consumers who feel that it's okay to see cleaning as an enjoyable escape from everyday realities. As Nassif wryly notes, "When you're really crazy-busy, if your floor is clean, somehow all seems right with the world."