nuud

nuud is a Dutch natural-deodorant brand founded in 2017 and operated by Nuud B.V., a private limited company under Dutch law. It sells a single product type — an aluminium-free, fragrance-free deodorant built around the active ingredient microsilver — in a tube of sugarcane-based bioplastic, alongside a later stick format and a complementary soap. The brand trades under the line "fresh armpits worldwide" and positions its formula as natural yet effective, rejecting what it frames as the usual trade-off between the two [10].

The company remains active and has grown from a Dutch start-up into a scale-up selling in more than 100 countries. It describes its products as 100% natural, vegan and cruelty-free, and places sustainability claims — recyclable packaging, plastic recovery and carbon-neutral shipping — at the centre of its positioning.

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

nuud was founded in late 2017 in the Netherlands, conceived as a response to a deodorant category its makers saw as largely unchanged for decades and dominated by large marketing budgets [10]. In interviews, co-founder and managing director Martijn van Seters has framed the problem as a false choice: when natural alternatives appeared, he argues, shoppers were forced to pick between "natural" and "effective," and "nobody should have to choose between the two." Van Seters has cited the viral Dollar Shave Club video as an early inspiration for the brand [14].

The brand's account of itself leans on this origin. "Improving the world often begins with solving a problem," its story page reads; the company says it recognised "the significant and often underestimated issue of sweat and its negative effects." The resulting product is presented as a way to address body odour without, in its words, harming people, animals or the planet.

nuud's core product is a deodorant cream supplied in a tube, with a formula the company lists as nine ingredients total. Its stated approach is selective rather than antibacterial across the board: regular deodorants, the brand argues, kill odour-causing and beneficial bacteria alike, whereas its own formula targets only the bacteria behind odour and leaves the skin's natural balance intact. Two active ingredients carry this claim. Microsilver — which the company describes as 99.9% pure metallic silver — is said to inhibit odour-causing bacteria for days at a time, while zinc oxide is described as converting the fatty acids in sweat into odourless zinc salts.

The brand emphasises concentration: it calls the cream around 15 times more concentrated than a conventional deodorant spray, recommends a pea-sized amount applied roughly two or three times a week, and states that a single application can stay effective from a minimum of 48 hours up to seven days. It markets the product as a "preodorant" rather than a deodorant, on the basis that it prevents odour at the source instead of masking it. Supporting ingredients in the cream include sunflower, castor and strawberry seed oils, candelilla wax as a plant-based alternative to beeswax, arrowroot powder and vitamin E. The range later expanded beyond the original tube to include a deodorant stick and a soap called the Refresh Bar.

On skin safety, the company says its formula was dermatologically tested by the German facility Derma Consult, reporting that of fifty people with sensitive skin, none showed a reaction.

The brand frames its purpose around an "underestimated" problem — sweat and body odour — and an effective solution that works with the body's microbiome rather than against it. Its formulas exclude aluminium, fragrance, parabens, salts and propellants, and the company presents low usage as a deliberate design goal: van Seters has said the aim is "the most innocent, yet most effective deodorant," with "the smallest footprint possible" and price not the determining factor [11]. The Dutch-language mission statement describes the goal as creating a deodorant "that eliminates odour without harming people, animals or the planet" [3].

Environmental claims are central to nuud's positioning. The deodorant tube is made from sugarcane-derived bioplastic that the company describes as 100% recyclable, and outer packaging uses unbleached FSC-certified cardboard. The company says it produces its products entirely in Europe, which it links to compliance with European regulations.

Beyond recyclability, the brand makes a "plastic-negative" claim, stating that through a partnership with rePurpose Global it recovers from nature double the low-grade plastic it uses across its production process [4]. It also describes its shipping as carbon-neutral, attributing the offset to a GoGreen collaboration with Deutsche Post. One Dutch sustainability publication has described the brand's microsilver as Ecocert-certified, though this characterisation appears only in that single editorial source rather than on the company's own certifications page [12].

The brand was funded initially from its founders' own savings rather than outside investment [10]. A notable moment came in 2020, when a crowdfunding campaign drew more than 5,000 backers and raised roughly 160,000 euros to develop a screw-on applicator cap that converts the cream tube into a stick-like applicator [12]. Around the same period the company reported having reached about 500,000 customers across more than 100 countries. It has since been profiled in Dutch business media as a scale-up reported to be on track toward roughly 10 million euros in revenue [14].

nuud remains active and independently owned [11]. Its official store carries customer reviews dated into 2026 and runs ongoing promotions and a subscription and loyalty programme. The company sells internationally through its own multi-language sites and through European retailers including dm, Rossmann, Holland & Barrett, Lyko, Manor and Druni. The brand reports availability in more than 100 countries; sources variously put its reach at 100 to 130 markets [10].