About Us
The SWABBO Footwasher is a product you can’t believe wasn’t invented earlier.
I’ve always loved the beach. It refreshes the soul and invigorates the spirit. A large part of my life has been spent surfing, windsurfing and ocean swimming and I love to use the regenerative power of the ocean for relaxation and refocusing. But the downside of these otherwise enjoyable activities is having sand – the scourge of beach goers – where it’s not wanted. In the car, following me home, ending up all through the house and furniture and even in my bed. My long-suffering partner didn’t like it either.
One summer I had a bit of time on my hands and I set out to remedy what I realised was probably a simple but widespread problem. I searched the internet and found nothing truly effective and portable. I realised that there had to be a simple solution to this problem, and I eventually hit upon the idea of combining water and brushes in a single, compact, portable container.
I searched the internet and found nothing truly effective and portable. I realised that there had to be a simple solution to this problem.
The very first SWABBO was the end result of much basement tinkering and experimenting with a variety of brushes, bristles and water depths. Eventually I presented a sad, but functional prototype to a highly sceptical family. The first Swabbo was born.
Enter my co-inventor John, one of my best mates from high school. John spent more than 25 years working all over the world as a diplomat for the New Zealand Government but had recently left the service. I shared my vision to have SWABBO manufactured to provide a simple and effective solution to countless beach goers, and asked for his help.
To my eternal gratitude John was looking for a new challenge and agreed to give up his role as an international man of mystery to partner with me in this adventure. On top of his vast international experience John comes from a very creative and artistic family and one of the first things he did was design the distinctive SWABBO logo incorporating elements of John’s Maori heritage by using the unique “koru” style lettering. In addition to helping me design and perfect the Swabbo, John’s on-the-ground contacts, linguistic and diplomatic skills, and bottomless good humour have helped enormously in securing a quality, reliable and effective supply chain for our 100% recyclable product.
The SWABBO Footwasher is perfect for any situation for where the outdoors meets the indoors. Perfect for yourself or as a great gift to all those loved ones who want to get outdoors but don’t want to bring the outdoors in.
Paul Brown