There is nothing I love more than seeing behind the scenes, whether it’s at a concert or a factory. It’s one of the most educational experiences imaginable and recently I had the chance to tour the P&G Fabric Care facility in Cincinnati and learn more about the development, research and testing that go into beloved P&G products including Tide, Downy and Bounce.

When it comes to product development, P&G pulls out all the stops. Once a product is created, the research and testing that goes into it helps to ensure that it performs as expected is nothing short of phenomenal. We started our tour by learning about the torture tests that are done on fabrics so that people can see the difference in the products for themselves.

My personal favourite test was a comparison of three white designer shirts. One was washed ten times in a leading detergent. One was washed ten times in Tide+ Bleach Alternative. And one was washed ten times in the leading detergent and then five more times with the Tide detergent. The difference between the first and second shirts was obvious; the shirt washed in Tide looked like new while the other shirt had yellowed and showed discolouration around the seams and pockets. [Read more…]