The Designer Moms Behind New Brand Bite-Me Bug Free Fend Off Insects With Natural Ingredients And Cool, Kid-Friendly Style

Burnt out after over 15 years in the fashion business, Lisa Jean Walsh, formerly creative design director for accessories at Kohl’s, left the intensity of New York a year and a half ago for a slower pace of life in Charleston. Her new hometown didn’t have feverish job deadlines, but had an intense population of mosquitos and no-see-ums that posed a different set of problems.

“Both of my sons are allergic to bugs. We bought organic bug sprays, and it seemed like nothing was working on them,” says Walsh, mom to 3-year-old Ty and 1-year-old Hunter. “We will wake up, and the boys will be completely eaten alive. The bites are painful and very itchy. They go from just a little bite with a red area to the size of a plum to big blisters.”

While confronting ongoing mosquito and no-see-um struggles, Walsh found herself at a wedding chatting with longtime friend and fellow parent Kate Gordon, a footwear designer with posts at Steve Madden, Nine West Group and Aska on her resume, who’d left New York to settle elsewhere as well (in her case, Los Angeles), about the intractable issue of the insects she faced. It turned out Gordon was dealing a similar issue while vacationing at her family home in Upstate New York, where she conducted regular tick checks on her 4-year-old son Graham.

The pair decided to put their heads together to tackle the impertinent pests through natural means and their keen sense of style. After all, Gordon and Walsh had been schooled in fashion, perhaps not the best industry in which to learn about bugs, but it provided them a unique perspective on conceiving an insect repellent that stands out. Following around nine months of product development, the brand Bite-me Bug Free was born with a pop-art sensibility and DEET-free products.

“Everything is coming from big pharmaceutical companies that don’t really feel trustworthy. We wanted something that was not only fun and our kids gravitated to—that’s why we went with pop art, fun packaging—but also because it’s started by two moms that really understand what their kids need, it has a more personal feeling,” says Gordon. “We don’t want to put [synthetic] chemicals on our bodies, and we don’t want to put them on our children. That really resonates.”

“We wanted something that was not only fun and our kids gravitated to—that’s why we went with pop art, fun packaging—but also because it’s started by two moms that really understand what their kids need, it has a more personal feeling.”

Gordon and Walsh report the reason the natural insect remedies they’d been trying to shield their kids from bugs weren’t effective is that they’re diluted. They estimate the remedies’ formulas are 90% to 95% water. For Bite-me Bug Free’s Play + Repel Bug Repellent, they went in the opposite direction with a concentrated combination of neem, lemon eucalyptus, castor and catnip oils. On the pricey end of the bug repellent market, the product is $19 for a 4-oz. size and $12 for a 2-oz. size. Bite-me Bug Free produces merchandise in batches of 500 to 1,000 units.

“We don’t use any cheap fillers. If you look at somebody like Honest Co. or Babyganics, their active ingredients are a very small percentage of what’s in the bottle. Ours is a little bit more expensive because its blended with wildcrafted ingredients, and there’s a higher percentage of them,” says Gordon, noting, “We’re really looking at moms that spend the money on beauty products and organic produce. She’s willing to spend a little bit more for a product if it’s really great.”

When it launched in November last year, Bite-me Bug Free introduced Sparkle + Repel Bug Repellent along with Play + Repel Bug Repellent. Sparkle + Repel Bug Repellent features lavender, peppermint and rose geranium essential oils, and contains mica to deliver glimmer. “We wanted to create something that kids wanted. My stepdaughter was 12 when we started, and she just thought it was the coolest thing,” says Gordon. “We don’t want to fight with our children to have to put it on. They like to put it on.”

Since its launch, Bite-me Bug Free has expanded its assortment with soothing and baby versions of its repellent, and a conditioner, leave-in conditioner and body wash intended to fend off lice and ticks. The haircare products lead to Bite-me Bug Free being less seasonal than it would be if it was completely reliant on traditional bug repellents. Going forward, the brand is considering releasing sunscreen with bug-repelling qualities. Gordon says, “Our products are going to be very pure and repel bugs. We have to make sure those two things are covered no matter what we do.”

“We don’t want to put [synthetic] chemicals on our bodies, and we don’t want to put them on our children. That really resonates.”

Because Bite-me Bug Free’s formulas are pure, Gordon and Walsh explain they don’t kill bugs. They emphasize customers have to be educated on expectations and application. “They don’t poison your body or bugs. They repel them. Natural products need to be used frequently, and it’s a natural product,” says Gordon. “We came up with a slogan, ‘Don’t be shy, reapply.’ We are starting to weave that into our promotion and marketing because people need to know it’s like an SPF. You can’t just spray it on in the morning and think it’s going to be fine all day long.”

To get their message across, Gordon and Walsh are pursuing independent retailers that have close relationships with their customers to kick off Bite-me Bug Free’s distribution. They initially sought stores in the Southeast and, then, headed North. The West Coast is an upcoming target. For Bite-me Bug Free’s first year on the market, Gordon’s and Walsh’s goals is to hit 25 doors, and the brand has almost reached that milestone. It fits an eclectic mix of stores from clothing destinations to high-end pharmacies and beauty shops to gift boutiques. Camps are factoring into Bite-me Bug Free’s spread, too.

Eventually, Walsh and Gordon envision Bite-me Bug Free landing at major retailers. “We love our products and want to get them out to more people,” says Gordon. However, she and Walsh aren’t in a rush. Walsh says, “Before you go from zero to 100, a natural progression and growing organically is OK. Being a small business for a little while helps you really understand consumer needs before things go crazy. Of course, we want to be able to protect everybody.”