About Us

What inspired Be Better Goods

As a household with "sensitive skin" and a newborn, we stopped to ask ourselves: why do we allow companies to use toxic ingredients in their products and then label us as having "sensitive skin." This kickstarted our journey to be better about the products we bring into our home and expose to our family. 

Unfortunately, we found that consumers have a false choice: our grocers' shelves may be full of colorful labels from different "brands," but the reality is that the aisles are owned by a handful of mega corporations. This is why our only real choice for household cleaning products are thick plastic bottles filled with toxic petrochemicals. 

Be Better Goods was created to offer customers a new choice in household cleaning. One that prioritizes your health, your home, and the planet. 

 

Who are we?

We (Gabby & Matthew) are a family-owned, community-centric business based in Akron, Ohio. Since graduating from the Ohio State University, we amassed almost two decades of experience with cleaning products: 

Gabby is an Environment, Health, and Safety Manager with firsthand experience navigating the regulatory requirements and health hazards of common household cleaners. In industry, household cleaners come with safety data sheets to protect workers. At home, most cleaners don't list their ingredients on the label. 

Matthew is a Chemical Engineer and former Business Development Manager in the Institutional & Industrial Cleaning industry. This experience exposed the toxic state of our household cleaners: from the petrochemicals that are causing cancer and asthma to the monopoly powers that inhibit access to safe products. 

 

What guides us?

We fully expect Be Better Goods to change over time, but the following tenets will always guide us: 

1. It’s about being better than effective.
   Effective cleaning is the new minimum, we should expect more from cleaning products. All ingredients are safe for you, your home, and the planet. 
   
   
2. Being better is a relentless and imperfect pursuit. 
   Decisions are made in the real world not a perfect future state. The goal is to stay agile, embrace curiosity, and act when better options are available. 
   
   
3. Informed customers make better choices.
   Knowledge is power; hence why cleaning products aren't required to list their ingredients. Transparency is the first step to empowering customers to make small yet impactful changes.