We love that babies are at the heart of what brought our co-founders together. What could be more fitting than that?!
One day during daycare dropoff, founder and CEO Addie Gundry was chatting with another parent who knew about her vision to build a better diaper changing table. That parent recommended she meet another mom, Brittany Hizer, who worked in product design and was looking to take her career in a direction that fulfilled her passion but allowed for less time commuting and more time at home with her son.
Addie and Brittany immediately connected over what became an inspiring five-hour coffee meeting, where Addie shared her ideas to completely reinvent the changing table. Brittany was bought in, having also experienced horrific diaper changing options when out in public with her son. And with Brittany’s past experience designing premium health and wellness products, Addie knew she would be the perfect partner to work with to prototype, source, manufacture, and bring Pluie to market. Prior to Pluie, she designed treadmills, cross-trainers, and exercise bikes for Life Fitness as well as fishing boats as the president of Crestliner.
Together, they brought a changing table to market that was cleaner, safer, more convenient, and more comfortable than anything else available. Pluie’s signature differences and first-to-market features include:
- A patented UV-C light technology behind a child-safe barrier known to kill 99.9% of germs including influenza, e.coli, and coronavirus that sanitizes the surface in less than 60 seconds after every single use
- Plush foam cushion that is water-resistant and leak-proof
- Retractable, sturdy safety strap that remains in the ‘clean zone’ when not in use
- Multipurpose handles that serve as diaper bag or purse hooks and easy opening and closing of the table
The result is a beautiful, sleek, comfortable, technologically cutting-edge changing table that is transforming how we think about public restrooms and parenting on the go. The design is so innovative and disruptive that TIME named it a Best Invention of 2021 for changing the way we live and Fast Company named it a 2021 World Changing Idea. Watch Pluie in use here!
Achieving this level of design and functionality is the result of years of corporate experience in product development, operations, and business management, as well as attention to details. Many new business startups today focus on software, and you don’t often hear of a company focused on a B2B product. Designing a product like Pluie was a great fit for Brittany, with her decades of experience launching innovative commercial fitness and fishing products and being a new mom herself.
“I’m confident that Pluie is in a prime position to be a major disruptor in this industry, which has been a relatively stagnant space for decades,” said Brittany. “Many aspects of public restrooms have been elevated to make them cleaner and more convenient, and now it’s time to bring that innovation to changing tables to better serve families on the go.”
After years of ideation, prototyping, testing and design iterations, Pluie is now improving life for parents and caretakers in all kinds of public settings.
Pluie is committed to Changing the Table™ by making sure all parents and caregivers on the go have a clean, safe and comfortable option in every public restroom.
Stay up-to-date on all of our latest news by following along with us @hello_pluie.
