A Box of Kleenex Isn't a Single Piece of Plastic
Most people, when they think about plastic-free living, think about bottles, bags, and straws. A box of tissues doesn't obviously register as a problem. It's paper, after all. But a standard tissue box contains a plastic film window, a plastic opening tab, and in most cases the tissues themselves contain polyester fibres. None of it is recyclable once used.
When we started mapping the disposable products in the average bathroom, tissues appeared consistently in the top five by volume. And when we dug into why no one had created a successful modern reusable tissue, the answer became the design brief.
The Problem with Traditional Handkerchiefs
Cloth handkerchiefs were standard practice for centuries. The reason they fell out of favour wasn't just disposable tissue marketing — it was a genuine usability problem. When you use a cloth handkerchief and fold it away in your pocket, the clean and used sides are mixed together. When you reach for it again, you're handling the same cloth that already contains what you just blew into it.
That experience, repeated several times a day during a bad cold, is genuinely unpleasant. We understood why disposable tissues won. The question was whether that specific problem — clean/used contamination — could be solved with design.
The Case Was the Product
We quickly realised that the cloth itself was not the innovation — soft cotton has been used for handkerchiefs forever. The case was the product. Specifically, a case that physically separated clean tissues from used ones, was small enough to carry everywhere, and was made from a material that would not become a bacteria host itself.
We tested several materials for the case before landing on silicone: food-grade, non-porous, flexible, and easy to clean. The two-chamber design — clean on one side, used on the other — sounds simple, but getting the dimensions, the opening mechanism, and the sealing right took multiple prototype iterations.
The Fabric Decision
OEKO-TEX certified organic cotton jersey was chosen for the cloths for several reasons. The OEKO-TEX certification was non-negotiable for us — a product being held against people's faces, including children's faces, needed to be free from harmful chemical residues. Organic cotton eliminated the pesticide residue question. Jersey knit gave the softness we needed without relying on added lotion or chemicals.
We also tested bamboo fabric and microfibre. Bamboo scored well on softness but the chemical processing involved in bamboo-to-viscose conversion was something we were not comfortable with for a product in direct skin contact. Microfibre was effective but synthetic — not aligned with what LastTissue is supposed to represent.
Who It's For
The people who respond most immediately to LastTissue are those who are already reducing single-use waste and saw tissues as the remaining item on their bathroom list. But increasingly, we hear from people with sensitive skin — particularly around the nose during winter — who find that disposable tissues, even premium ones, cause irritation that cotton does not. And parents, who want the assurance of OEKO-TEX certified fabric for their children.
If you are considering the switch, the complete guide to reusable tissues has everything you need. Or go straight to LastTissue.