Q&A with founders of l’avant Collective lindsay Droz & Kristi Lord

photo by: Cortney Bigelow

Here at Fenimore Lane, we are all about elevating the everyday. Enter L’AVANT Collective: a sustainable company that takes the banality of daily cleaning into a more refined experience. Its collection of plant-based cleaning products with chic packaging and works just as well as the brand products we’re so used to using. We sat down with the founders, Lindsay Droz and Kristi Lord, to talk about how they started their business, how they acquired fans like Gwyneth Paltrow and Molly Sims, and their best cleaning hacks for you to try at home.

Tell us a little bit about your background, and how you two met:

Lindsay Droz was born and raised in Seattle. She graduated from the University of Washington and immediately stepped into a successful sales career at two medical device companies. She is married to Chris, an executive in the tech industry, with one boy and two girls, ages 13, 10, and 9, respectively.

Kristi Lord was raised in Billings, MT, and White Salmon. After graduating from Washington State University, she made her way to Seattle starting her career in finance and accounting. She spent the next 20 years in several roles beginning at Deloitte and as a COO of an emerging markets fund. She is married to Eric, a financial advisor for Wells Fargo, and has three boys ages 14, 10, and 8.

Kristi and Lindsay met at a wedding 10 years ago where they were the only two pregnant people amongst a sea of partygoers. They sparked an instant friendship.

How did the idea for L’AVANT Collective come about:

Kristi: The idea for L'Avant came about when we were in different industries, and we started paying more attention to the products we were using at home as new moms. Lindsay worked in the medical device field, and her wake-up call came when she was pregnant with her first child and cleaning the floor. She noticed a warning label on the cleaning product, cautioning against using it around pets, but no mention of potential harm to a crawling baby. Meanwhile, I had been in finance for over two decades, and my aha moment was realizing that my six-month-old son's skin issues were linked to various household products, from cleaning supplies to laundry detergent and skincare items.

Lindsay: These realizations pushed us to try plant-based cleaning products, but the options on the market didn't meet our standards. Additionally, we wondered why something so integral to daily home care didn't align with the aesthetics of modern homes, especially with the rise of Instagram and Pinterest-worthy content. That's how L'AVANT Collective was born, where we merge home design and style with top-notch performance to provide a memorable, non-toxic, eco-luxe cleaning experience.

When did you officially launch L’AVANT, and what was the biggest challenge you encountered in getting started:

Both of us always prioritized committing 100% to L'AVANT from the start. It took three years from the initial idea to the actual launch of L'AVANT. During that time, we dedicated our evenings and weekends to developing the concept, perfecting formulations, working on branding, and sourcing. As L'AVANT product development started gaining momentum as we neared launch in December of 2020, we both decided it was time to leave our day jobs, which ultimately led to the launch.

From the very beginning, we understood the importance of having effective formulations for our clean-but-luxe soaps and detergents. Our goal wasn't just to outperform other green cleaners, but to match the performance of leading conventional cleaning products to secure repeat business. We found a talented chemist on LinkedIn who shared our passion for making plant-based products perform as well as their conventional counterparts. This chemist had previously worked with top-tier green cleaning brands, making her the perfect fit for our mission. The formulation process involved countless iterations and testing, spanning nearly two years. We subjected our formulas to third-party lab tests, pitting them against well-known conventional cleaning products such as Dawn, Joy, 409, and Tide. We persevered until we either matched or exceeded their performance. One of our proudest moments was when we received the lab test results confirming that we had achieved our goal with our dish soap. It was a very difficult formula to perfect and we both knew at that moment that we had created a game-changer.

What products did you start out with in the beginning, and how did that evolve over the course of the business growing and expanding:

Lindsay: Our initial journey with L’AVANT began with a focus on high-performance, plant-based cleaning products, starting with Dish Soap, Hand Soap, and Multipurpose Spray. What we didn't anticipate was how much people would fall in love with the scent and aesthetic of our products, desiring them in every aspect of their daily lives. This unexpected demand led us to create candles, lotions and other products, transforming our brand from a cleaning company into a home and lifestyle brand known for its luxurious scents.

You talk a lot about sustainability, and about being plant-based. Tell us about the decision behind both of these core tenants of the business, and why it’s important:

We set out to create high performing, plant-based cleaning products that meet or exceed the performance of traditional cleaning products, but also keep the aesthetic of the home at the forefront. In the past, using eco-friendly cleaning products meant sacrificing performance, but not anymore. We spent three years formulating L’AVANT and insisted all of our products were free from parabens, phosphates, phthalates, triclosan and artificial colors. With every product we create, we ask ourselves - how does this fit into our home and how does this make us feel to use it?

The packaging is exceptionally beautiful—no wonder L’AVANT has fans like Gwyneth Paltrow, Molly Sims, and Gucci Westman. Where did the inspiration come from, and how did you make it a reality:

We worked tirelessly with our designers to create a chic and sustainable custom glass and PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastic refillable bottles that belong on countertops, not under the kitchen sink. Aesthetics and efficacy are not mutually exclusive, at least not for L’AVANT.

At Fenimore Lane, the home is centric to everything we do – your products not only clean homes, but also make that experience feel elevated. What are your best cleaning tips you can share with our audience, in the greater context of L’AVANT’s brand ethos:

The versatility of what our Multipurpose Surface Cleaner can clean from counters and windows to mirrors and stainless steel (it can even spot treat fabric) is endless. The formulation of the Multipurpose Spray continues to outperform the expectations of our consumers and what a plant-based cleaner can achieve. Fun little tip, the cleaner works wonders on white sneakers to make them look good as new. Our Dish Soap also cleans makeup brushes and jewelry! Multi-use products save you money by reducing the amount of products needed under your counter and better for the planet with less waste of discarded bottles.

If you had to tell our audience to buy only one thing from L’AVANT, what would it be and why:

L’AVANT products capture a feeling. They make people feel good when they use them and when they see them sitting on their counters. These products have moved from under the counter to on top of the counters for you to experience joy with every glance and use.

Take Ten: My favorite…

Food:

L: Cucumbers and Vinegar

K: Salad. Soup. Anything in a broth oh, and Pizza.

Drink:

L: Rye Whiskey Old Fashioned with a big Ice Cube. Has to be a big one.

K: Pre Peri Menapause: Red Wine. Current State: Paloma.

Film:

L: Good Will Hunting

K: Office Space

Hotel:

L: Las Ventanas (Cabo Mexico)

K: Four Seasons Maui

City:

L: New York

K: New York

Cleaning Hack:

L: Use Dish Soap as a stain treatment for clothes

K: Multi purpose on acid based stains

Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it):

L: Grande Americano with Extra Cream

K: Coffee. Black with lots of cream (not heavy cream, but lots of cream)

Playlist:

L: Lindsay Ooooh I like this Song (Self Made Playlist on Spotify of all my loved songs from Fleetwood Mac to Lady Gaga and Kenny Chesney. Basically an ADHD mix bc I can never make up my mind)

K: Anything 90’s