A group of Dallas-based female entrepreneurs asked themselves one simple question: “What if an air purifier was beautiful?” Their answer? Let’s do it.

Air and water purifiers occupy many homes, but their confusing setups and unappealing designs often dissuade would-be users from embracing the machines.

So, a group of local healthy-living women decided to work together to change that—launching The Pure Company. The brand was created with the goal to place more value on a healthy and beautiful home through the use of air and water purification products.

The startup was originally founded in Feb. 2017, and recently released a new line of products last month as part of Aerus Holding, LLC. 

The new line of products include a carbon filter water decanter and two advanced-technology, innovative air purifiers. The air purifiers include a built-in aromatherapy feature that gives you the option to safely and naturally scent the air with The Pure Company’s own line of 100 percent pure essential oils. The air purifiers are available in two different sizes, with the more compact version designed to be taken on-the-go.

The Pure Company’s Portable Air Purifier created specifically for travel. [Photo: Courtesy TPC]

And, when typically picturing cleaning the air, fashion wouldn’t first come to mind. But The Pure Company says it’s the creator of the first portable air purifiers, which can be customized and styled with product wraps to either blend in with décor or become statement pieces on their own.

The Air Purifiers have product wraps so customers can choose their own style. [Photo: Courtesy TPC]

The women at The Pure Company want their customers to know that function and beauty can coexist, so they aim to make every product pleasing and functional to go in any room. Despite being a relatively new company, they’ve recently been named as a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 Innovation Award Honoree for their Portable Air Purifier.

The Pure Company’s initial product lineup includes:

• Large Room Air Purifier with natural aromatherapy 
• Portable Air Purifier with natural aromatherapy 
• Aromatherapy Diffuser 
• Carbon Filter Water Decanter
• Custom 100% Pure Essential Oil Blends
• 100% Pure Essential Oils

The Pure Company Large Room Air Purifier. [Photo: Courtesy TPC]

The Pure Company Carbon Filter Water Decanter. [Photo: Courtesy TPC]

The Pure Company Aromatherapy Diffuser. [Photo: Courtesy TPC]

The Pure Company president, Cortney Carroll, has been in the filtration and healthy home industry for almost two decades before she realized she didn’t even use the products she was producing—that’s when she decided to make a change.

So, Dallas Innovates spoke with Carroll to hear her startup story, where the company’s going from here, and how she’s responding to the fast success.

Why did you decide to start The Pure Company? 

We actually had a moment as a group of women within the industry where we asked ourselves: ‘Why don’t we create a line of products that are just as beautiful as they are powerful?’ and ‘Why don’t we make them easy to use?’ And perhaps most importantly, ‘Why don’t we design our products to specifically help with the problems that women tell us they’re facing in their homes?’

We knew there was a huge opportunity (and need) for a different kind of company to shake up what had become a pretty stale industry by creating high tech products with a simple, intuitive and beautiful design that appealed to an audience that had been mostly ignored in the space—women.

So, we brought the idea to the chairman of Aerus, and we were so fortunate that he truly believed in what we wanted to do. And just like that, The Pure Company was born.

What was your inspiration to branch out past functionality for air and water purifiers?

Our inspiration for The Pure Company—from the initial company idea to product design and functionality to marketing—was to provide women with amazing products that address the issues and needs they are facing in their homes. For far too long, our industry had ignored the group of customers who are our biggest purchasers and consumers of purification products in the home. And although the leading products certainly operated well, the industry hadn’t been considering how women wanted products to look or to function. 

[Photo: Courtesy TPC]

So, we set out on a mission to discover exactly what problems women were experiencing in their homes, and to use those insights to create products women would be proud to display, use and tell their friends about. We brought together a team of female experts in industrial design, interior design and engineering, and then spent thousands of hours talking to hundreds of women to find out what mattered most to them in their homes.

What are some of your goals for the company in the future? How have you grown during your first year as a business? 

We’re hoping to change the way people think about air and water purification in their homes by providing healthy living products that people are excited and proud to use. We’re looking to give women products that have yet to exist in this space—thoughtfully crafted and artfully designed purification solutions, created by women for women. 

We spent our first year as a business conducting focus groups and spending quality time with women around the country to get valuable insights about what issues they were facing in their homes, and working with our team to determine how we could develop products to help solve those in a beautiful, innovative way. We’re now working to spread the word about The Pure Company and share our products with consumers throughout the U.S. 

We’re now working to spread the word about The Pure Company and share our products with consumers throughout the U.S. We’re so excited to have each of those consumers join our journey, and we can’t wait for them to try The Pure Company products for themselves.

What sets The Pure Company apart from others in your industry? 

I believe one of the things that truly sets us apart from others in our industry is our approach. We’re challenging the idea that in order for a purifier to work well, it’s relegated to be ugly and bulky; we’re challenging the idea that the only way to inspire a woman to purchase our products is to scare her about the air quality in her home; and we’re challenging the idea that to have clean air and water in your home, you have to use complicated and confusing products. 

[Photo: Courtesy TPC]

We also knew that if we wanted to create products that were truly different than anything out there, we needed to operate differently. We didn’t want to follow the same designs that had always been used, and we didn’t want to approach our customer’s pain points the same way that they’d always been approached. By bringing in smart women to solve for these problems, we could reimagine air and water purification in a completely new way.

How does it feel to be named a CES 2019 Innovation Award Honoree for your Portable Air Purifier?

Finding out our Portable Air Purifier had been selected as one of the top innovations of the year by the organization that sets the standard for cutting edge consumer products was definitely a “pinch me” moment for our entire team! And while we were already incredibly proud of the company and products we’ve created through this journey, it was validation for all of us that the outside world also saw the value in approaching the healthy living industry in a new way.

[Photo: Courtesy TPC]

Being named as a CES Innovation Awards Honoree is an absolute honor and a testament to the hard work put in by the team. We engineered our Portable Air Purifier not only to be high performance, but company, easy to use, and whisper-quiet. As the Lead Industrial Designer, Deborah Jessup ensured the aesthetic design honored the hundreds of women we spoke about wha they wanted in an air purifier. 

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.