Method

Method is an American maker of plant-derived home- and personal-care products, founded in San Francisco by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry. The two had grown up a few streets apart in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and reconnected by chance years later in California, where they discovered they were once again near-neighbours. Sources differ on the exact start date: Encyclopedia.com and several business profiles record the company's founding as 2000 [5], while Wikipedia lists 2001, the year Method's first products reached shop shelves [4]. Since 2017 the brand has been owned by S. C. Johnson & Son, which runs it as a distinct sub-brand rather than folding it into the parent company [4].

Within beauty, Method is known for its body washes and hand washes; its wider catalogue extends into home cleaning, dish soap and floor and surface cleaners, which sit outside the cosmetics field. The company pairs naturally derived formulas with deliberately styled packaging, a combination it has built its identity around since the early 2000s.

The idea took shape on a 1999 ski trip in northern Michigan, where Ryan and Lowry decided to start a business together and settled on cleaning products. They felt the existing market leaned too heavily on killing germs and too little on the everyday experience of looking after a home. Their backgrounds were complementary: Lowry, a chemical engineer who had studied chemistry at Stanford, handled the formulations, while Ryan, who had worked in advertising and marketing for agencies and brands including the Gap and Colgate, shaped the design and positioning.

After roughly a year of research they rented an office and launched the company using their savings together with investment from family and friends [5]. Lowry built formulas around ingredients derived from coconut and palm oils and plant extracts in place of harsher chemicals, and used essential oils and plant extracts to give the products their scents.

Method's first retail sale came in 2001 at Mollie Stone's Market, a grocery store in suburban San Francisco. A turning point arrived in 2002, when the designer Karim Rashid reworked the packaging and the mass retailer Target began stocking the line. Distribution widened quickly: by 2003 the products were carried in at least 10,000 stores, and by 2006 annual sales had reached about 44 million US dollars across 132 products, the year Inc. named Method the seventh fastest-growing private company in the United States [5].

In 2012 the Belgian green-cleaning company Ecover acquired Method to support its entry into the North American market; the combined business reported around 200 million US dollars in annual revenue and was described at the time as the world's largest green cleaning company by sales [4]. In 2015 Method opened a LEED Platinum certified factory, nicknamed the South Side Soapbox, in the Pullman neighbourhood of Chicago.

S. C. Johnson & Son purchased both Ecover and Method in 2017, on undisclosed terms, from their shared parent, People Against Dirty [4][6]. The brand continues to operate under the S. C. Johnson umbrella while keeping its own name and identity.

Method describes its mission as a commitment to "challenge the ordinary, delight every sense, and reveal the magic hidden in the everyday". The company frames routine chores as something to be enjoyed rather than endured, summed up in taglines such as "make the good fight good fun" and "method for change". From the start the founders rejected the notion that environmentally minded products had to look or perform like compromises, pairing naturally derived formulas with design-led packaging.

In beauty terms, Method's range centres on body and hand care, including its Body Wash Tonics and a Hydrating Serum Hand Wash, alongside a Super Shine dish soap on the home side. The company says its formulas are dermatologist-tested and draw on skincare-inspired ingredients. It also points to research partnerships with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, aimed at keeping plastic out of the oceans and encouraging circular-economy innovation, and with Plastic Bank for sourcing recycled coastal plastic [3].

Sustainability is central to how Method presents itself. The company holds Leaping Bunny certification against animal cruelty, and cruelty-free databases additionally report that its products are certified by PETA and are fully vegan, containing no animal-derived ingredients [3][7]. Method was among the founding group of Certified B Corporations in 2007, and in 2017 it and Ecover reported a B Impact Assessment score of 146, placing them in the top few percent of benefit corporations [6].

On packaging, the company states a goal of converting all of its clear plastic packaging to recycled, recovered coastal plastic, collected within about 31 miles of the coastline before it can reach the ocean. It uses RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil while stating an aim to "leave palm oil in the past", and describes a broader push toward a circular economy that uses design to cut waste and pollution.

In 2018 Method was named one of the 50 most sustainable companies in the world at the SEAL Business Sustainability Awards [4]. B Lab had earlier recognised it as a "Best for the World" honoree for 2016. Its early growth also drew press attention, including the 2006 Inc. ranking among the fastest-growing private companies in the country.

Method is an active brand operating under the ownership of S. C. Johnson & Son following the 2017 acquisition. It maintains a live direct-to-consumer website and continues to introduce new product lines, including recent additions to its body wash and hand wash ranges.