It had to come down to this eventually: designer hand sanitizers.
It didn't take long for marketers to figure out that if swine-flu phobia made sanitizers a hot product, fancy versions could be even more profitable.
Retailers are latching on to the notion of hand sanitizers as fashion accessories, such as on cute key chains designed to dangle from student backpacks. Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret have gone designer. So has tween-targeting Justice and designer Ed Hardy. Other upscale brands in the mix: EO and Frais.
The number of hand sanitizer products rolled out through mid-October this year is five times the number introduced in all of 2005, reports researcher Datamonitor.
Yet, under normal circumstances, "People probably don't need them," says Michael McCann, biology professor at Saint Joseph's University, who says washing your hands is best. "It's always bad when we drive people behaviorally out of fear."
But Valerie Folkes, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California, says it's a good thing that hand sanitizers have become fashionable. "Concern about germs has grown from a small segment of people to a culturally accepted practice."
Among the "fashion" players:
*Bath & Body Works. Sales of hand sanitizers are up more than 50% at the chain, which sells more scented hand sanitizer than anyone else in the category, says Camille McDonald, president of brand development.
"These products are playing to people's lifestyles and taking on a fashion sense," she says. That's why in 2008, it created the PocketBac line of hand sanitizers in multiple scents, including pomegranate, melon and sweet pea. One-ounce bottles sell for $1.50.
*Victoria's Secret. The chain sells an $8 sanitizer dangling from a key chain with a peace sign. Its Victoria's Secret Pink Anti-Bac Hand Sanitizer is organic and comes in a pump bottle.
*Justice. At many of its stores, the tween-targeting fashion retailer is selling mini hand sanitizers as impulse items next to the register.
*Ed Hardy. Several years ago, Courtney Copeland was a backup singer for Britney Spears. Now, she's a licensee who makes and distributes a hand sanitizer with famous tattoo artist Ed Hardy's name on the tattoo-like label.
"I get calls for this from teachers all over the country," she says. The Ed Hardy Habit Hand Sanitizer sells for up to $3.99 for a 2.3-ounce bottle online at habitualsolutions.com.
*Frais. The Aussie firm sells designer hand sanitizer in the spa at Miami Beach's Fontainebleau resort, says Laura Chisholm, who oversees sales.
*EO. The organic personal-products maker's sanitizer sales are up 68% this year, says Emma Mann, marketing chief. In the works, she says, is a hipper bottle "kids will want to carry."
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