I’m proud to say that I was an early adopter of Steph Hon’s Cadence personal care capsules and they continue to be a staple of my toiletry packing when it comes to daily activities, short weekend trips, and even extended 2-week vacations. Cadence is the full package because it’s a mission-driven brand that delivers on its tenets of sustainability, quality, and functionality. The product is nearly indestructible and could technically survive being run over by a car.
The product’s proprietary design includes multiple sizes of leak-proof capsules that connect via magnets to keep you organized. Each of the capsules has an easy-to-swap label that can be customized. Cadence recently rolled out larger capsule sizes to accommodate bigger items and longer trips.
I personally own 12 of the “original” capsules in the sand color and have also gifted sets of 6 in the past.
Here are the larger (and even smaller) options, which are referred to as the “flex system.”
About Cadence
Cadence delivers on their sustainability mission across 3 dimensions, without sacrificing functionality and design aesthetics.
Their solution limits consumer demand for one-time use, travel-sized containers
The capsules are comprised of recycled plastics that are collected from beaches across the world via their partner, Envision Plastics. They’re also reusing their own scrap material in the manufacturing process to limit waste
Their packaging is fully recyclable and some is even compostable - this includes the cardboard, boxes, and shipping labels
One other element that I love is that the capsules are dishwasher safe, which means you can easily place them on your top rack without having to worry about scraping out old product or cross-contamination.
About the Founder
Steph Hon is the founder and CEO of Cadence and a Forbes 30 under 30 winner. You can hear more about her background and what inspired her to build Cadence on the podcast Second Life - it’s an excellent listen. Steph initially went to school for liberal arts and dance, then found herself working as a video editor in documentary filmmaking related to rock climbing. The idea for Cadence was solidified on a West Virginia climbing trip when she discovered that she wasn’t the only one who wanted to maintain her 10-step skincare routine while on the road.
She has built the business to intentionally be women-led and has focused on scaling in a way that doesn’t sacrifice mission, quality, and customer experience. When I read interviews about her, I deeply appreciate the fact that she is passionate about delivering “perfect” products to the market. Before the company launched, two years were spent on the R&D process and over 200 prototypes were made.
One Final Personal Note
About a year after I purchased my first set of capsules, I noticed that one of them started leaking. I reached out to their customer service team who then profusely apologized, replaced the item for free and gave me some extra capsules, and also sent me a label to return the leaking capsule so they could study exactly what went wrong in the manufacturing process. The dedication to problem solving and customer experience is unparalleled.
Feel free to use this link to get $15 off of your first order.
x jz
Images | 1 - 2 | photos by @b.g.mckay, styling by me | 3 - 6 | Cadence