By the point he was 17 years outdated, Reuben Bathroom claimed to have collected seven figures by investing into crypto. Not solely that, he’d additionally turn out to be an angel investor within the crypto and tech sectors, and was one of many first few polytechnic college students to hitch Protege Ventures, Southeast Asia’s first and Singapore’s solely student-run enterprise fund, as a enterprise capital analyst.
Regardless of his achievements, Reuben has all the time felt inferior to these round him, and this was as a result of his eczema. Sadly, his situation led him to expertise fixed bullying in class, getting recognized with extreme melancholy and growing suicidal tendencies.
As if that was not sufficient, Reuben was additionally hospitalised in 2017 for a extreme an infection and needed to be discharged from his obligatory navy service after eight months as a result of his situation. However irrespective of how arduous he tried, nothing might do away with his itch.
“I’ve had the issue of scratching at evening unconsciously since younger, so I’ve experimented with sporting gloves since secondary faculty, handcuffing my fingers to the mattress with restraints, placing bandages over my nails, however nothing actually got here near stopping the scratching injury,” he lamented.
Out of desperation, Reuben tried stitching anti-scratch mittens to considered one of his lengthy sleeve shirts, and to his nice shock, it labored! This led him launch Eczema Mitten in early 2023, providing cotton sleeves designed to behave as a bodily barrier between fingernails and pores and skin, serving to to scale back scratching injury.
Making a foolproof resolution
Reuben claims to have invested about S$10,000 to kickstart the enterprise, and it took him a number of prototypes earlier than perfecting Eczema Mitten’s remaining design.
The very first prototype of the eczema mitten Reuben made was hand-sewn by him, the place he connected cotton material to the ends of a long-sleeved shirt—a course of that took a number of hours. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a very foolproof resolution.
“The stitches saved breaking, my fingernails nonetheless managed to interrupt by means of them, and one layer was too skinny,” he shared. Undeterred, Rueben continued to experiment with various kinds of silk for the mittens and varied materials resembling cotton, tencel, and modal for the sleeves.
As for the way lengthy it took? Reuben stated he slept with the mittens for weeks earlier than selecting the ultimate materials, designed particularly for heavy scratchers like himself. He found that artificial silk and a selected kind of cotton, which he didn’t disclose, labored finest for the mittens and sleeves, respectively.
Though he was assured within the product, the software program engineering main had completely no expertise in advertising and marketing and had no concept the right way to attain his target market.
His first try was by means of Fb and Instagram commercials, however that wasn’t a worthwhile resolution for Eczema Mitten. Therefore, regardless of his introverted nature, Reuben determined to step out of his consolation zone and create content material on TikTok and Instagram.
Nevertheless it took some time for Reuben to seek out his rhythm, and he admitted feeling unsure if the enterprise would work. “For those who have a look at my first (speaking) movies on TikTok in 2023, my presentation expertise weren’t nice; thus, I didn’t get many views,” he shared.
As soon as he discovered a approach for him to share his story whereas making use of the apps’ algorithms by sharing images and creating video compilations of his eczema experiences and “worst days,” his enterprise grew to become viral—a few of them even garnered tens of millions of views. “Even my neighbours had been congratulating me,” Reuben added with fun.
Worth that outweighs prices?
Eczema Mitten broke even simply months after going viral, and since then, Reuben shared that it has continued to be “steadily worthwhile” inside the area of interest market.
The enterprise has additionally developed from a one-man present to a working with a manufacturing unit to fabricate its merchandise.
Nevertheless, when looking Eczema Mitten’s web site, I couldn’t assist however discover {that a} pair of cotton mittens prices S$100, and the value doubles should you select the premium tencel model.
The steep worth level might elevate eyebrows, and Reuben is properly conscious of this. Nonetheless, he maintains that the product’s worth outweighs its price to shoppers.
“When you think about the price of medical remedies, the emotional toll of waking up with painful wounds each morning, our mittens are literally an economical funding that considerably improves high quality of life,” he stated, including that the mittens are sturdy sufficient that clients solely repurchase after a 12 months.
However like several retail model, there’ll all the time be clients who might not get the outcomes they hope for. Therefore, Eczema Mitten has applied a money-back coverage that enables clients to attempt their mittens for as much as seven days. If they aren’t happy, the enterprise will refund 100% of the value and delivery charges.
There’s additionally a priority that copycats may patent his concept, however Reuben isn’t nervous about that simply but. In spite of everything, he has tried all of them, and firmly believes that his story and merchandise put him forward of his opponents.
That stated, he expressed a transparent intention to repeatedly innovate his merchandise, and if there’s something patentable, he would strongly think about it sooner or later.
-//-
Over time, Eczema Mitten has scored collaborations with varied manufacturers, together with skincare giants QV and Cetaphil in 2024. As a part of the partnership, free cream samples had been distributed to his clients in Singapore.
Reuben was additionally invited as a collaborator and speaker at QV’s Naked It All occasion that 12 months. These partnerships have helped increase model visibility and credibility, however Reuben additionally credit Eczema Mitten’s rising traction to the rise in consciousness and media protection of individuals affected by eczema and different pores and skin situations.
Whereas he acknowledged that right now, most individuals choose him based mostly on his character slightly than his look, he believes there’s nonetheless extra that may be accomplished to help others dealing with related challenges.
“[This] is why I actively share my story on social media and even have an eczema help group for everybody who desires to hitch (even when they’re not clients), [where] group members share suggestions [with one another].”
Via these efforts, Reuben has additionally garnered clients from overseas, increasing Eczema Mitten’s attain past Singapore.
For Eczema Mitten, Reuben goals to proceed bettering his merchandise by manufacturing them with medical-grade supplies and exploring totally different options to make them more practical. He additionally expressed his ambition to promote the mittens on the Nationwide Skincare Centre (NSC) pharmacy, though he had already tried to record them on the market final 12 months.
“Nevertheless, the suggestions we’ve gotten is [that] it was too ‘new’ on the time,” defined Reuben. Nonetheless, he stays optimistic that, if all goes in line with plan, Eczema Mitten will ultimately make its approach onto pharmacy cabinets.
- Study extra about Eczema Mitten right here.
- Learn extra articles we now have written on Singaporean companies right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Eczema Mitten
Keep forward of the curve with NextBusiness 24. Discover extra tales, subscribe to our publication, and be part of our rising group at nextbusiness24.com
