Elico

Elico is a Norwegian direct-to-consumer brand founded in 2023, built around a single idea: refillable foaming hand soap that is shipped as lightweight tablets rather than pre-mixed in plastic bottles. The company sells a reusable glass dispenser once, then mails refill tablets that the customer dissolves in tap water at home. It remains active, operating online stores for Norway and Sweden and serving customers across the Nordic region.

The brand was created by Tobias Fiskum, who registered Elico AS in Oslo in 2023 [4][5]. Its product range is narrow by design — a starter kit, refill tablets, glass dispensers and larger supply bundles — and sits within everyday body care rather than skincare or fragrance.

Elico traces its origin to a single observation by its founder. Tobias Fiskum noticed that liquid hand soap is roughly 90% water, and questioned why that water should be packaged in plastic and shipped around the world [2][4]. The answer became the company's core product: a dispenser bought once, paired with refill tablets that the buyer mixes with water from the tap. According to Elico, one tablet makes about 300 ml of foaming soap.

Elico AS was registered in Oslo, Norway, in 2023 (Brønnøysund Register Centre no. 931647075), with its address recorded at Sponstuveien 27C [5]. Corporate records describe the business activity as importing soaps and detergents for resale through an online store [5]. The brand presents itself under the banner of Norwegian design with a focus on sustainability.

Elico's stated purpose is to make small, sustainable everyday choices easier, summed up in its tagline "Köp en gång, fyll på för alltid" — buy once, refill forever. The company frames its mission as making "the small choices that make a difference easier for everyone" [2]. Visually and tonally it leans on Scandinavian minimalism, with messaging built around reducing single-use plastic and the unnecessary transport of water.

The brand is sold directly to consumers online rather than through retail or pharmacy distribution, and it operates a subscription option for recurring refill orders. Its positioning rests on the contrast between a conventional plastic soap bottle and a reusable glass pump that is refilled indefinitely.

The line centres on the foaming hand soap system. The Hand Soap Starter Kit pairs a reusable glass dispenser with refill tablets, while four-packs of refill tablets, multi-bottle bundles and a one-year supply package round out the range. Refill storage containers are offered as accessories.

Elico says 98% of the ingredients in its refills are naturally derived [3], listing components such as citric acid from citrus fruit, sodium benzoate as a preservative, sodium dodecyl sulfate derived from coconut, and sodium lauroyl glutamate derived from vegetables. The company describes the formula as gentle enough for sensitive skin.

Sustainability is the brand's organising principle rather than a secondary claim. Elico states that its lightweight refill tablets cut both the volume and weight of what is shipped by up to 98%, lowering the carbon footprint of transport compared with pre-mixed liquid soap [9]. The dispensers are reusable glass, and the refill packaging is described by the company as biodegradable.

The brand also reports cumulative impact figures: more than 100,000 plastic bottles avoided and over 5,000 customers switched to its system [2]. On animal testing, Elico states plainly that it uses no ingredients tested on, derived from, or extracted from animals, and markets the products as vegan [3].

Fulfilment is split between two Nordic warehouses: orders are shipped from a facility in Stockholm, Sweden, while Norwegian orders are dispatched from Rjukan [3].

Elico is an active brand. As of 2026 it maintained a live storefront with current promotions and recent customer reviews, and stock available across its Nordic markets [1]. It is a small, young company with a single product category, and no awards, press coverage or independent editorial profiles were identified — consistent with a brand founded only in 2023. It maintains social accounts under the handle elico.noo on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.