Australian wellness brand KIC, founded by Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw, is entering an exciting new chapter, launching into the hydration wellness category with the announcement of KIC Hydration.
KIC Hydration, formulated specifically around the everyday needs of women, is launching direct-to-consumer on October 12th, followed by a national retail rollout across more than 480 Priceline Pharmacy stores and at The Memo throughout October.
The launch marks a major new growth category for KIC as the business expands further beyond digital wellness and into physical consumer products.
The Australian electrolytes drink market is on track to reach 1.8 billion USD by 2034, growing at 8.4% a year*, and whilst hydration has quickly become a mainstream wellness ritual, KIC believes much of the category has historically been developed around sport, endurance and high-sweat performance, rather than the everyday needs of women.
"A lot of the electrolyte products in the market are really suited for athletes, and male athletes at that. Women have been drinking them anyway, assuming they have considered our bodies, but they haven't, and our needs are different," said KIC co-founder, Steph Claire Smith.
"The hydration category is growing, but we couldn't find a product that had actually been formulated with the everyday woman as the starting point."
"We’re both in our thirties now, juggling what feels like a hundred things at once, and when we find something that genuinely supports how we feel or that helps us in our wellness journeys, naturally we want to work out how to share it with our community. It’s what we've always done through KIC, there’s no gatekeeping," said Smith.
Image: KIC Hydration
Rather than creating another hydration product built primarily for high-intensity performance, KIC deliberately flipped the traditional formulation, putting potassium at the centre.
KIC Hydration: Everyday contains twice as much potassium as sodium, with 500mg potassium citrate and 250mg sodium per serve, alongside calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6 and PHGG prebiotic fibre.
"The category legacy has been built on performance, endurance and sport," said co-founder, Laura Henshaw.
"If you ask most people to picture an electrolyte drink, they probably imagine a fluorescent salt bomb because that’s what we’ve been taught hydration looks like."
"But most of us aren’t losing a litre of sweat an hour, and we’re already consuming enough sodium through our diets. And so, with everything we do at KIC, we made the everyday woman the default instead. To support what women’s bodies actually need."
Alongside the Everyday range, KIC will launch KICBump Hydration, a dedicated formulation developed for pregnancy and postpartum, extending the same women-first philosophy into maternal wellbeing.
"Hydration is one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving spaces in wellness, but rapid category growth doesn’t necessarily mean every consumer is being well served," added KIC CEO and shareholder, Janey Martino.
"We believe there is an opportunity to help shape what the next generation of hydration looks like, moving it beyond something associated predominantly with sport and performance and making it a credible everyday wellness ritual for women."
"For KIC, this isn’t about chasing a trend. Hydration is a strategic new category for the business and an important part of our next phase of growth."
KIC Hydration launches on October 12th via kicwellness.com, with national retail availability across Priceline Pharmacy and The Memo from late October.
*Fortune Business Insights
Image credit: Supplied/KIC
