DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – The schools are normally considered rivals, but a Duke student and UNC student have teamed up to create a successful business partnership. Now a product created by the young entrepreneurs is becoming more and more popular.
We use our hands to greet each other, express affection, make a good impression. But one thing can get in the way of all of that.
“When you think sweaty hands you don’t think like ‘life changing problem’, but for a lot of people it’s really embarrassing, it’s something that kills confidence,” said David Spratte, creator of Carpe Lotion.
Spratte has been trying to dry out his hands since high school.
“I put antiperspirant sticks on my hands – didn’t work,” he said. “I tried the sprays, didn’t work. I tried some weird home remedies.”
Kasper Kubica, also a creator of Carpe Lotion, said, “We’ve been dealing with sweaty armpits for decades, but nobody bats an eye about sweaty hands, which honestly seem to be a bigger problem.”
By college, Duke student Kubica joined Spratte, a chemistry major at UNC to create a product to combat sweaty hands. They turned a dorm room into a makeshift lab, found investors, and eventually began manufacturing Carpe Lotion
“We kept selling more and more units every week and we’re up to 250 units a week sold last week,” Kubica said.
Spratte added, “After we started selling we started hearing back from gamers, from hunters, from people who wear prosthetics, from people who are in the military using it on their feet, from people who are bald using it on their scalps their foreheads.”
The founders said athletes have been picking up the produbt, including basketball players, football players and rock climbers.
CBS North Carolina took some carpe lotion to Triangle Rock Club to see what climbers thought.
Nathan Yager, a climbing instructor with the Triangle Rock Club, tried the Carpe Lotion when CBS North Carolina brought it to the club.
“It feels sticky at first but then starts drying out,” Yager said.
“I can tell how this is going to be really useful when I’m climbing outside and the humidity’s pretty high.”
Some climbers said they’d use the lotion along with chalk
“I already know chalk is a good stabilizer so together it would be a good combination,” climber Kathryn Chao said.
But they think it would be even more useful when nerves result in sweaty palms..
“Maybe just during school – especially during math tests – my hands get really sweaty,” Chao said.
And Yager said the product might be useful before a business interview when his hands get clammy.
Coming next for Kubica and Spratte is to start marketing Carpe as a product for feet.What others are clicking on: