麻豆影院

Sarah Kauss鈥� 厂鈥檞别濒濒 water bottles have style.

With about 200 billion plastic water bottles consumed and trashed in landfills worldwide each year, there鈥檚 ample opportunity 鈥� and growing competition 鈥� to provide reusable alternatives. Sarah Kauss (Acct鈥�97) embraced the challenge and has shown that her company, , can elevate the ordinary in an appealing way.

鈥淚鈥檓 trying to make the most fashionable water bottle,鈥� she says.

In just five years, 厂鈥檞别濒濒 has struck gold with a sleek, chic line of more than 100 bottle designs, selling more than four million units since 2010. Last year the New York-based firm generated more than $10 million in revenues.

鈥淓very one of our sales channels are exploding in demand,鈥� says Kauss, 40, who attended Harvard Business School after CU.

When she launched 厂鈥檞别濒濒 in 2010, Kauss avoided the sporty or functional looks of bottles made by other companies in favor of self-consciously stylish bottles. She started with an old-fashioned milk bottle design in Ocean Blue.

The stainless steel 厂鈥檞别濒濒 bottles are priced at $25-$45, depending on size, and consumers use them for more than water, Kauss says. Some people store wine for picnics, others use them to keep their children鈥檚 hot chocolate warm. Even the 9 ounce bottle, originally made for children, is gaining popularity because it fits inside a woman鈥檚 clutch.

鈥湷р�檞别濒濒 merges style and function with environmental and social consciousness,鈥� says Kauss. 鈥淲e base our designs the same way the fashion industry works, looking at seasonal Pantones and prints and applying them to our bottles.鈥�

The approach has struck a chord with fashionable people and retailers. 厂鈥檞别濒濒 bottles have appeared in two Guy Pearce movies and on Ellen DeGeneres鈥� talk show. Facebook ordered 500 bottles for employees and clients. Starbucks, Nordstrom, J. Crew, Whole Foods and Neiman Marcus all sell 厂鈥檞别濒濒 bottles.

Kauss came to entrepreneurship well prepared, with business school training and experience working with entrepreneurs as an Ernst & Young accountant in Los Angeles. A few years after business school, a job took her to New York City, where the abundant resources made starting a company seem feasible to her.

She settled on a water bottle company after attending a panel talk about the global water crisis.

鈥淚 had carried the idea for 厂鈥檞别濒濒 internally for some time,鈥� says Kauss, whose environmentally conscious attitude dates to her CU-麻豆影院 days, when she usually carried a giant reusable cup or bottle around campus and into the mountains. 鈥淥nce I learned of the scale of the water crisis, I was inspired to create a product that could give back to these communities around the world that did not have access to clean drinking water, while eliminating the need for plastic bottles.鈥�

Within a year of 厂鈥檞别濒濒鈥檚 first sale, the world 鈥� and Oprah 鈥� took notice. O, the Oprah Magazine featured 厂鈥檞别濒濒 bottles in its 2011 鈥淥 List鈥� of summer products. Soon afterward Kauss landed her first big clients, Crate & Barrel and J. Crew. By 2012, 厂鈥檞别濒濒 had about 300 accounts, including Starbucks. Sales boomed further after Kauss appeared in a 2014 Fortune magazine article.

Today she presides over a company with more than 40 employees and ambitious plans to introduce new products and enter new markets, especially in Asia. Canada and Brazil are already hot markets.

Commercial success has allowed Kauss to expand her commitment to environmental and humanitarian causes. This year, 厂鈥檞别濒濒 donated $100,000 to UNICEF鈥檚 efforts to provide children with clean drinking water, and proceeds from some 厂鈥檞别濒濒 bottles support the planting of trees in American forests.

鈥淚鈥檓 not a tree-hugger, but am an environmentalist,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he message for me is trying to replace plastic in an elegant way.鈥�

Photography 漏 Patrick James Miller via 厂鈥檞别濒濒 (Sara Kauss); Glenn Asakawa (water bottle)