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When Anastasia Allison almost lost her life spinning across a highway into the path of an oncoming semi-truck in 2017, the last thing she thought was that such a moment would ultimately become the catalyst for inventing reusable toilet paper.
“I definitely wasn’t thinking about toilet paper,” Allison recalls, “I was probably thinking something along the lines of, ‘Oh, &$#@!, or, ‘I hope I gave the cats enough food.’”
In the summer of 2015, disgusted by the amount of toilet paper she saw discarded in the wilderness, Allison started using a small scrap of microfiber as a pee-cloth. Using a pee-cloth is a common practice for hikers and backpackers in order to maintain good hygiene in the backcountry without having to pack in/out excess amounts of toilet paper. On a backpacking trip in Wyoming, Allison was taking photographs of her blue pee cloth to be funny, when she was struck by an idea, “I looked at my sad scrap of a pee cloth and I just had this thought that I wished it could look cooler… I wish it was a real piece of gear.”
Allison did some basic research when she got home but she admits, “I was scared. I saw a lot of dollar signs and I saw a lot of unknowns and I pretty much convinced myself that it was a ridiculous idea and that I’d probably fail. I didn’t even know how to sew, so it seemed pretty silly at the time.” It wasn’t until Allison’s near-fatal car accident that the idea of the pee-cloth re-surfaced. Except this time, it was different. Unshackled by fears or a lack of sewing ability, Allison pursued the idea with reckless abandon and a mission to empower women in the backcountry and make a massive impact on Leave Not Trace practices in the environment.
The end product? Say hello to Kula Cloth. The first of its kind – an intentionally and obsessively designed antimicrobial pee cloth for women. The Kula Cloth is simple, yet brilliant in its design. Thoughtful features like reflective thread (for finding the Kula at night with a headlamp) and a double-snap (for privacy and cleanliness), solve all of the problems of traditional pee cloth options.
“My research has shown that women have been peeing for a really long time, and that they will continue to pee. A product like Kula Cloth – something that makes our experience in the backcountry more enjoyable – is something that was long overdue.” In less than 4 months, Kula has been shipped to all but three states in the USA, and all over the world, including: Africa, Greenland, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Australia, the UK, and Canada.
Kula Cloth’s new designs feature one-of-a-kind prints by mountain artists Nikki Frumkin and Claire Giordano, whose art has been featured by major retailers like REI and in magazines like Alpinist. “Women deserve something intentional and something beautiful. Kula Cloth is all about questioning the status quo. Can toilet paper be art? Is protecting the environment and creating a community of empowered women a beautiful thing? I think that’s art beyond anything that anybody could ever paint or draw.”
Kula Cloth is the first of its kind: an intentionally and obsessively designed pee cloth for adventurous women and girls. Kula Cloth was founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Anastasia Allison (violinist for The Musical Mountaineers). In just a few short months, Kula has been shipped all over the world and has been featured on King5 New Day, Q13 Fox, in Backpacker Magazine, the She Explores Podcast, the ByLand Podcast and the Washington Trails Association Magazine.
Release ID: 462307