New Business Hopes To Clean Karma and Clothes

You might have been shopping in a local grocery store recently, such as The Green Grocer in Portsmouth or Tom's Market in Tiverton, and stopped when you came across an image of the happy Buddha. 

"People were telling me I was crazy and that people would be offended by the Buddha," said inventor and Tiverton resident Brian F. Furze. 

"Since I've launched the product, I've had no issues of people not liking the Buddha. I keep evolving the package, too." 

Furze, who has more than 30 years of experience working with industrial chemicals, launched his product, Karma Clean, last July after four years of research and development. 

"I was trying to develop a brand that was more than cleaning clothes," Furze said. "It's a lifestyle. It's about creating good karma. It's about what goes into the water. It's about treating water as beneficial as possible."

He says he chose the Buddha brand image due to the "higher purpose" the product serves. 

"I do yoga and the concept of Zen Buddhism about always doing good for the earth, I thought it (the Buddha) would be a good vehicle for the product's purpose. It serves a higher purpose." 

His cleaning product is now sold in a number of markets, including The Green Grocer and Clements' Market, Portsmouth; Tom's Market in Tiverton and Warren; Whole Foods, Waterman Street, Providence; and Whole Foods in Bellingham, MA, and Hingham, MA. 

What is Karma Clean? 

What makes Karma Clean different than other laundry detergents is its main and only, all natural ingredient - soap nuts. 

Inside the laundry packets are all-natural soap nuts, a dried fruit found in the trees of India and Nepal. Furze talks more about soap nuts in the video above. 

"When I looked at the components in most cleaning detergents. They are predominately toxic," Furze said.

The Karma Clean soap nut packet, which contains the nuts during laundering, is made of a patent-pending, bio-degradable film made of corn. The packet is 100 percent biodegradable, according to the company website. 

Karma Clean can also be used for other purposes than just cleaning clothes. "It's not only a laundry detergent, but a shampoo, a body washing and dish liquid," Furze said. 

For more information on Karma Clean, visit the company website here.