We’ve all been there: Standing in an aisle of home cleaning products, wondering why every air freshener and dish soap has those sweet, floral scents. Sure, they might smell nice, but if you wanted another option, there wasn’t much you could do. Archer founders John Bleeden, Todd Durston, and Berk Wasserman had the same thought—and they decided to do something about it.
“As the main shoppers in our homes, we noticed a huge hole in the home products category for men,” Wasserman said. “Dish soaps and air fresheners were all too flowery and frilly. If we wanted our house to smell like grandma, we’d invite grandma over. But grandma all the time?”
So the three came together to design a new line of air fresheners—the Archer Air Superiority line—which included scents that have names that get your attention: Distillery, European Sports Car, and Hunting Lodge.
Courtesy of Archer
The scents themselves and the design of the product—a stylish WD40-like can that would look normal alongside your other home tools and products—were inspired by what Wasserman described as: “hunting lodges, bourbon barrels, and 1970s Maseratis.”
Within each of the scents are different notes you might not expect in an air freshener, including worn leather and aftershave (European Sports Car), charred oak and sour mash (Distillery), as well as hearth stone and damp timber (Hunting Lodge).
The trio took that same approach to their next product, Dish Whiskey sink soap, which took inspiration “from our favorite libations aptly coming in flasks,” Wasserman said. The Dish Whiskey was the first dish soap product from the company, but they’ve already expanded to more scent options for soap, including Dish Tequila and Dish Rum.
“We always loved how in old Westerns and war movies, badasses cleaned their bullet wounds with whiskey,” Wasserman said. “We wanted to give men that same sensation when cleaning dishes.”
With the success of the air sprays and dish soap, the company wants to expand into even more product categories for men. Wasserman said that Archer could look into making male-focused hand soaps, candles, and floor soaps, plus maybe even their own line of paper towels.
“Those paper towels with the bells and flowers, and other ridiculous, frilly sh*t printed on them drive us crazy,” Wasserman said.
Next time you’re cleaning the house and want something a little different to use, Archer could be your pick—just try to remember not to drink them.
