End of last month we had the pleasure to take part in an international press gathering in Lisbon to meet the protagonists of the newly launched DOCKERS® CHALLENGERS series by Levi Strauss & Co.

Jeff Kirschner, founder and CEO of Litterati, a crowd-source cleaning app; and Ludwick Marishane, founder of DryBath®, the world’s first waterless body wash, are the contenders of this spring’s #DockersChallengers - two ambitious, modern hustlers who are trying to make a philanthrophic impacts to our wasted planet.

 

The two Challengers were introduced in a co-working hub in Lisbon by Joan Calabia, marketing director of Dockers Europe. The event included putting Jeff’s Litterati app to the test, attending guests like us went on a “Hidden Lisbon tour,” collecting litter along the way physical and digital as well by feeding the app with an image and its geo-data.

The Litterati app’s goal is to identify, map and to collect the world’s litter data in communities and by working with companies and organizations toward shared, sustainable goals. With the #litterati hashtag and a geo-tag, Litterati allows users to flag litter they’ve seen and picked up, bringing a smartphone visibility to to of humanity’s waste problem. The collected Data can be used as a voice of reason e.g. petitions to the waste causer or as tool to more ecological solutions to obtain necessities.

DryBath is an innovative gel that removes dead cells when rubbed into skin. By eliminating the need for an actual shower, DryBath offers cleanliness and hygiene when time, privacy and water are lacking. 

“I started this business with an allowance of five dollars a week, without a laptop, writing my business plan on a Nokia phone. And I worked for six years before I could touch this actual product that I had in my head,” said Ludwick, who grew up in Limpopo, a rural community near Johannesburg, South Africa. 

“When what I created can be used by people in my community, that’s when I believe that I will have achieved full success over this challenge.”

Ludwick conceived the DryBath concept after pondering the sheer convenience of getting clean without a full bath. By now 2.5 billion people globally do not have proper access to water and sanitation, leading to populations that are more susceptible to health risks and diseases. Five million of these people live in Ludwick’s home country of South Africa.

Dockers® followed Ludwick as he put DryBath to the test: providing his village of 1,500 people with his DryBath body washes using only 80 liters of water. Sans full baths and only a nominal amount of water, Ludwick was able to provide the security of cleanliness and hygiene to some of those most in need. He considers his product more of a life-saver than a source of convenience.

“My dream for humanity is to try and decrease the amount of suffering. You just have to be willing to learn and committed to solving your problems,” says Ludwick. “The best entrepreneurs are always on. Nothing should be stopping you.”

Find out more about Ludwick Marishane and DryBath at drybathgel.com. You can also discover the story of his fellow challenger Jeff Kirschner at litterati.org and more about #DockersChallengers project here. 

Find Joan Calabia, marketing director, Dockers Europe, explaination why Dockers is involved in this marketing project and how the brand benefits from it at sportswear-international and the latest Dockers news on Instagram.