Putting the local HEX on the stink and odor in your sweaty athletic gear

In an effort to get the stench out of his rancid hot yoga gear, Nestor found a laundry product that was produced right here in Baltimore. Then, he set out to find HEX founder Drew Westervelt, who joined him at Far & Dotter in Timonium on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour to tell the rest of an amazing science, sports and a determination detergent trail from lacrosse laundry to stinky hot yoga gear and getting it really clean.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

lacrosse, detergent, product, laundry, fabric, cleaning, smell, baltimore, activewear, armour, played, people, yoga, wash, years, brands, business, hex, category, kid

SPEAKERS

Drew Westervelt, Nestor J. Aparicio

Nestor J. Aparicio  00:00

Welcome back at W NST chassis Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are positively at foreign daughter a curio wellness brand we’ll have your somoni him through the Maryland crabcake tour yester our crabcakes So Jerry and Erin have left a half dozen behind. G shock is going to get a shock when she rolls it I got a crabcake for her and for window. Michael and Wendy brown fine who are in the picture back here the curio father and daughter founders going to be joining us in the last hour. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the marital lottery. I got the OH SNAP gingerbread they smell like gingerbread. They really do the peppermint. I’m still not convinced the peppermint pay on multiplayer smell. They’re overwhelmed by the Oh snaps but we also have the unwrapped cache. I’ll be giving these out out here at the Foreign daughter today. Also our friends at window nation 866 90 Nation. I’m not going to wear the funny hat because it’s a little guilty. Because I’m trying to you know get the science project together here. The next couple hours I’m gonna learn stuff and I’m going to hang out with rock and roll royalty and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tina shock 866 90 nation you buy to you get to free 0% financing and I gotta check in on doors because I need some doors. Also our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care I gotta get my oil change. There’s a Jiffy Lube right there. You can see it from here it’s right across the street for four I didn’t realize that I’m asleep Jiffy Lube, multi care looking. Hey, they got room for me and baby number two right now maybe going to get I might get moral change right over here. I might not go to Dundalk true western values here. He has no idea why. I reached out to the internet on Tuesday. It’s true story telling me who you are telling me what hex is. What does hex? Well,

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Drew Westervelt  01:36

it’s a laundry product that I can guarantee I never thought I’d make laundry products. But when

Nestor J. Aparicio  01:42

you were playing lacrosse, you were not you were not first in class to make laundry play

Drew Westervelt  01:46

played the cross for arguably way too long did went to UMBC played with MLL and NLL for 10 years, and then went the entrepreneurial route and saw that there was a ton of growth with activewear and Under Armour and that type of fabric. And I had challenges cleaning my gear when I played and thought there was a interesting opportunity to enter the laundry category to make products more specifically focused on performance you’re

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:11

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going to do when you grew up, like I often ask lacrosse players like what what was the real plan when you were out there? Because we football players to real plans go make a million dollars? Yeah, I felt right. Yeah. And I go back to Carrie gate and Paul gate and all those guys. Gordon Boone 30 years ago on this radio station, you know with Teddy bow, I mean, I’m talking about all the lacrosse royalty in this area, Bill tant in the Hall of Fame, trying to make it something that kid would want to grow up and make a billion dollars. But what were you going to do with your education at UMBC? Yeah,

Drew Westervelt  02:46

I wasn’t going to retire from lacrosse. I hope that changes someday but um, you know, I still don’t feel like I’ve grown up well, but you know, it’s it’s fun. It’s it’s competitive. It’s there’s a lot of sports aspects to running a business. But I know that I like what we do. I think we’ve got a cool widget here. And I think there’s a cool opportunity to category with what’s going on. And

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:14

so you don’t even know my story with your product. Right?

Drew Westervelt  03:16

You don’t even know what you’re doing only what you reached out online about.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  03:19

Sorry. So you never heard of me before Tuesday?

Drew Westervelt  03:22

No, I’d heard you. Okay. All right. I

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:24

don’t know if you had an idea. I think I had heard of you once I heard your name. And then I realized we’re already first connected on LinkedIn. Right? You’re already connected on LinkedIn. I don’t know how or why. Alright, so I do a lot of hot yoga. And, yeah, I got time to and I’m gonna grab my water here because I got crabcake in my teeth. And even though we’re doing the live thing here, I’m just gonna get off the set and to say, this is a hell of a crab cake. The cherry Schlichting sent me over here and Aaron from a clean cuisine. So I’m hydrating, and I know what you’re thinking like, he’s a really handsome fit man for being 55 years of age and looks a little younger than that. So in in 1999, I was nationally syndicated at Sporting News Radio, and they told me, You’re gonna go up to Philadelphia and do a show with Brian Baldinger and I’m like, I know him. He played for the Eagles, you know, was the season ticket owner. And I went up there and the first day I met bouldering and we were at NFL. Steve sable was there and Ron Jaworski. They were doing the show and all that. And I met Baldinger and he’s got the finger and the whole thing. And he still does all of this on his Twitter. He did it the other day on Twitter. Nasty you, you got to get into yoga, you got to get into Hi picker, hot yoga. You got to so in here looking at this guy that played on astroturf. It was summit in Indianapolis, Dallas and Philadelphia skidded on yogena. So I’ve been doing hot yoga for 25 years. I’m partners my planet. My Planet Fitness partners know when I’m a hot yoga guys. Well, I did a lot of sort of, you know, meditation hot yoga down in Midtown yoga Kim man Freedy was my original yogini Hmm, 25 years ago, she’s out in Palm Springs painting stuff now. And I’m still doing yoga and the stuff sticks, right? So about five years ago, I’m doing yoga in Midtown. And I had a teacher, instructor yoga instructor who gave me like a little sample of this thing that said hex on it. And she said, Yeah, I got some samples as a local company. And this is like 2017 1819 Somewhere in there. Then I got a couple samples. And I don’t know that I even really used them right but, but the stuff I took home smelled like battery acid after a while, and I wrestled in high school thought, reason I have my dumb dog. I was a wrestler in 10th grade. And it’s the only thing I can compare to the smell sure of wrestling and like being with sweaty dudes who were 16 and Dundalk in 1984. I couldn’t get the smell out of half my stuff, long underwear, anything that has that fabric that you would call an Under Armour miracle synthetic synthetic fabric Fair enough. So it worked. And my wife bought the antibacterial Fabric Protector. And I’m gonna be really honest with you now she’s not here. She’s in New Hampshire, she’s going to kill me when she comes back. But I’ll get her crabcake from I got some you know what I have this this will make her happy. I have the butternut lasagna from this, this will square thing. So my wife brought this home and I was cleaning my products the last like six months with the wrong product. And then she went online and we were gonna go like Target wise markets is my sponsor, they do not stop this are a couple places you can tell me places you can and can’t get it. She went online and ordered this product, which is the detergent. This has gone a lot better for me that the church has done a lot better at cleaning the product than the the fabric. Yeah, you

Drew Westervelt  06:46

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gotta use them together. You do? Yeah.

Nestor J. Aparicio  06:49

I have never done that. Yeah, I used here. How much is left at that? Not much. Yeah, you can. You can hear what’s left in it. And then this morning, I did last night’s low. And I’m running low. Yeah. My wife is in New Hampshire. The only reason you’re sitting here because you’re wondering what the hell am I doing here in the middle of a cannabis dispensary board daughter talking about my product with the sports guy connected on LinkedIn with. So my wife said, get some hacks, we went to a couple stores couldn’t find it last week. And I’m getting I have a confession one batch left. And I did a batch this morning, I did this. I did this skirt that I was literally okay with my batch. So on Tuesday night, I became a smartass. And I took the picture of these and it’s really nice portrait picture in front of a martini glass and I put online and I said if anybody knows these people, I’m like, I need to find the product. And I thought somewhere along the line, I need a sponsor. But I also like want to have the person on the show. Because I don’t know what this is or why it’s magic and how it works. But it’s like magic. It literally is this is like a magic product, right? So I sit on Tuesday, I’m like, I want to put this out to the to the universe. And I’m going to find out how many people I know that know, whoever the hex person is. And I, I tweeted to my text my wife, I said, By Thursday, this guy will be begging for mercy to come on the program. Because people are gonna hit this guy and tell him I’m looking for him. And I put it across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, maybe I put the picture up, you’d appreciate me saying your products. Great. Yeah. So I put it out. And I heard back from 50 people by nine o’clock at night that you were the guy. And 930 I heard from you. But I went to bed early because I’m old and I do yoga. And I get up at three in the morning and I run a business because I’m that guy too. And I said to my wife by Thursday, so you text me. Tuesday, then Wednesday morning. And by the time I got to my wife at Wednesday, I’m like I’ve already heard from the guy twice. He’s lacrosse player. You want to be see he probably knows Kurinji Yeah, yeah, he probably knows free man. You know what I mean? Like, so all of these people have, you know, Steve Levy. Yep. So who I’ve known for 40 years. So I don’t know how I don’t know you and I don’t know how we’re first connected. But I am thrilled that you’re here and being a part of the program. And you’re gonna tell me I just told you everything I know about you. I’ve even Googled you do I need to go onto your website? I know your lacrosse dude. And I know you must be a genius to come up with this. So Well, I mean,

Drew Westervelt  09:19

you touched on earlier you asked about lacrosse and you’re not gonna You’re not making the money that the NFL or MLB. Guys, what are you gonna do? Right? So I think lacrosse was the conduit to figuring out, you know, the entrepreneurial side of this and the backstory was I had been playing indoor and outdoor in the professional leagues for

Nestor J. Aparicio  09:39

young. How old are you? 38 years young, okay, washed up as an athlete but young as a year. Right. All right.

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Drew Westervelt  09:45

You couldn’t pay me to play lacrosse again. But did it for 10 years after college. There’s a ton of fun. But I was reading about high dollar athletes also real athletes getting Mercer staph infections and the remedy because I was playing in these venues and NHL or you know had for Denver and a bunch of different franchises. But we were playing in the NHL, too, right? So but the remedy was like, disinfect the facility and hope it goes away. And I had met with some people locally that were chemists. And the idea was, instead of just hope it goes away, let’s create something that prevents it from coming back. So I was going to leverage my lacrosse travel with make a commercial cleaning product to protect sports venues. And what we’ve learned was, what’s in the laundry product is a product that provides prevention. So it stays in the fabric and inhibits odor. It promotes workability it promotes a lot of performance benefits you find in activewear. But the backstory is, we figured out that the antimicrobial or the chemistry that’s in this works in the commercial setting on a breadth of services, like turf, or plastics or textiles, and the light bulb in my head was like, I have to fly home from wherever I’m playing a game this weekend. I have my gear bag, I have to wash it. I had tried everything and it smelled great. But the next time I played or you go to Hot Yoga, it didn’t smooth

Nestor J. Aparicio  11:05

I would get in yoga in 10 minutes. And I’m like this shirt smells like. Right. So you know, and I don’t how do I get it out.

Drew Westervelt  11:13

So did some research and found that all laundry products were built for like cotton, because that’s what we cleaned for forever. And then this emergence of what Under Armour created of synthetics, took over wardrobes and created a cleaning challenge. So a lot of the big brands were hoping fragrance solve the problem. And we said, well, maybe there’s an opportunity this category to make a I would say niche or specialty care product that actually cleans activewear. Because it’s expensive stuff

Nestor J. Aparicio  11:41

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major.

Drew Westervelt  11:42

It was economics. Nothing

Nestor J. Aparicio  11:44

to do with science, nothing. Man, I look, I had my high school science teacher on this show. And I still I don’t think I could pass ninth grade biology. I really don’t I mean, I I don’t think I would have the math, the algebra calculus. So like, this is what this began as a Mersa issue for you, right? medical issue or

Drew Westervelt  12:05

again as a commercial cleaning product. And then when we figured out what the product could actually do, the the thing that made most sense to me was I have a personal problem with I’m given all of this. It will call it an Under Armour, whoever sponsor legs, I have all this gear and it’s disgusting. I’ve washed it, it’s not working. And for me, this is like this is an opportunity to my wife and I

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Nestor J. Aparicio  12:27

recently, dude, I’m talking six weeks ago, I had five or six pieces, that now that winter was here like long, right? vinegar, white vinegar in the tub, soak, soak, soak, soak your hand smell like Easter eggs. Yeah, right, I’ve done that. And it still doesn’t work. Well,

Drew Westervelt  12:46

that that’s kind of where we thought the opportunity was like we have all these folks creating being their own chemist at home trying to figure out a solution. And it’s like, let’s just pull chemistry together ingredients together that actually work for the fabrics. So what we found was that we could create a product that didn’t have fragrance to cover it up, but could actually remove what was in the fabric. And then what we did leave behind on the fabric was like, for instance, when you buy Under Armour t shirt or a Lululemon t shirt, or you name it, a lot of them say that they stretch, they breathe a wick and they have an anti odor tech built in. So we set a big tag for all of that. So he said, That’s awesome. But why not build a laundry product that washes all that stuff back and every time so it never degrades. That was essentially the thesis behind this brand of like, all these cool, innovative, coming to read

Nestor J. Aparicio  13:37

it out loud. This is the bat what is hex? The hex molecule is the real deal. We’re talking deep cleaning checks so advanced that it can penetrate even the tightest knit performance fabrics. I don’t know enough about fabric other than that feels nice. That feels icky. That’s wool sure you know this is something I want next to my bot and I picked his shirt out today sure, like active Kenneth Cole. I mean it’s like I wouldn’t sweat it but it’s cotton. I wouldn’t wear it to yoga, but I have a different wicking thing. So anyway it targets in eliminates odors at the source. It creates a shield against stain Stink, stank, stunk and sad the holiday season. And it makes clothes feel as fresh as the first time. Hex Yeah. What did you invent this way? What’s the right word? Develop it Yeah.

Drew Westervelt  14:27

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Workers, you know, chemists and people a lot smarter. Right?

Nestor J. Aparicio  14:31

I mean, I’m gathering that that like the outside of your, of your science. Sure.

Drew Westervelt  14:41

Sure. But it made a lot of sense to me right? It was something that I was dealing with was like, hey, this this these products are awesome. Whether you’re talking about lacrosse equipment, or performance fabrics are Christ, everything we’re wearing. Your kid stinks and I mean, I think 10 years ago activewear was stuff you were at the gym now it’s we were several I’ve all the time. So, to me it was like an opportunity to be like, can we solve a problem? Because I think a lot of consumers do what you said I put vinegar I do with all this stuff at home and I create a solution. It’s like, well, it shouldn’t be that challenging. And I think in the laundry category, you know, it’s a it’s a place in the grocery store. Wherever you buy it. We’re like, I don’t, I don’t love doing laundry. I got to do it. I gotta buy it. It’s not a it’s not a child that shopped. And I don’t think

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:26

when I called you to come talk about you like, this isn’t sexy. Yeah. Who wants to hear about laundry?

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Drew Westervelt  15:31

I think that’s, you know, the, from the

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:32

smell you come in before you get there though. Yeah. Yeah, I

Drew Westervelt  15:36

think we’re actually a bit naive. Entering the category because it’s super competitive space. It’s owned by big, big, big brands. And I think what will how we’ve gone after it is you know, it, there’s the analogy I’d uses is in cleaning, right? You don’t use one cleaner to clean your entire house. There’s stuff you use for your refrigerator. It’s different from your countertops, it’s different from your floors. Yeah, and laundry. We’ve been told forever that you just use laundry detergent

Nestor J. Aparicio  16:05

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every piece of you know I’m wearing this nice Robert Graham shirt in your OC machine wash should have all these things, but it doesn’t tell you what kind of detergent to you. Well, what’s interesting

Drew Westervelt  16:12

about activewear if you read the care tag on him It says what not to do not what to do. It says don’t use excess detergent, don’t use softeners don’t use dryer sheets don’t use this and it doesn’t say what to do. So that’s where we were like this is an opportunity now the challenge is consumers don’t think like like you said, this fabrics different than this fabric and I think is the more

Nestor J. Aparicio  16:34

well they see when they do laundry they do whites and colors and light. I mean you I always

Drew Westervelt  16:39

now I’m starting to segment into type and that’s where we think there’s an opportunity is is what’s what’s already happened in the category whenever we’re talking about

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Nestor J. Aparicio  16:48

Under Armour shirt all you want with that cheer. Yeah, and it ain’t coming out. I mean, like it’s just not

Drew Westervelt  16:54

it’s not like I said it’s not sexy. But like, at the end of the day, there are very large brands and then laundry category for babies then people buy that in addition to a regular detergent. There are very large brands in the category that are afford delicate fabrics that people buy in addition to regular detergent. So this was just building on that saying, buy all the regular detergent one for your regular stuff, but if you want the stuff you’re investing a lot of money in the stuff you’d like to wear the most elastin perform we think there’s an opportunity to build a new, a new active wear type or synthetic fabric type solution. Drew

Nestor J. Aparicio  17:30

Westerfield is our guest He is the founder and co founder of hex performance of Baltimore company, I knew was a Baltimore company because it said so on the back every time I would have used this fresh and clean scent antibacterial Fabric Protector. As your detergent I would see on the back. This is the original bottle we had for months. Yeah,

Drew Westervelt  17:51

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that that. That’s probably why I didn’t love it initially, because it’s not a deterrent. That one’s not the detergent.

Nestor J. Aparicio  17:56

It smelled nice. does smell nice.

Drew Westervelt  18:00

That one goes like in your rinse cycle. Like where the softener goes.

Nestor J. Aparicio  18:04

You’re gonna have to teach me all this. Yeah, that’s why you’re here. We’re gonna learn about lacrosse.

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Drew Westervelt  18:10

Let’s, let’s go there.

Nestor J. Aparicio  18:12

Well, I’m at the lacrosse part of this. And dare I say, you know, you’ve mentioned Under Armour 100 times, even though they’ve never sponsored the show. Kevin Plank, you know, came up with this, this thing. And I remember when Kevin was had stuff in the trunk of his car, like I remember Kevin being around and at the radio station, North Carolina State signed up in the beginning, he was trying to get Maryland, he had this miracle thing that you could sweat in and you didn’t feel like you weighed 100 pounds. And for anybody that’s ever been an athlete and sweaty. It was revolutional a revolutionary, I should say. But the part where you launder it, right. It took a generation. I mean, Kevin’s been running around for 25 years, it is Under Armour stuff, right? Like, I figured out six months ago that a guy from Baltimore who was lacrosse guy had a product that could fix it, when I was still dipping my stuff in vinegar. You know, recently, at what point did the money of the fabric people not sort of catch on that they were selling something that wasn’t getting laundered through traditional means? Well,

Drew Westervelt  19:16

I think, I mean, we’re talking about nerdy chemistry stuff. But I think what opened my eyes was before we were thinking about a laundry product, we wanted to clean sports venues. And what connected the dots for me was when we realized the chemistry where we were using was really good for synthetics. And then we also found out that Under Armour and these other activewear brands were essentially building it into the product, like so. A lot of these activewear brands are building in anti microbials or anti odor technologies into the fabric because they know it’s gonna get crushed and ruin through wash and wear because detergents aren’t going to work. So they’re trying to preserve the fabric from what they know is going to happen. I’m like seven He five washes out and I’m like, here’s the why don’t we just take that with that what they’re building these things into the fabric, let’s build them into detergent. So when you wash you actually benefit the fabric. Can you explain

Nestor J. Aparicio  20:12

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how it works in a way that is lacrosse player? I’m not smart from Dundalk. Okay, explain it to me. Because I’m perpetually 12 years old. Look at my belt buckles. Yeah, I mean from 1980. So explain it to me, so I can explain it to my wife, if my wife Sister, how does it really work? Or if a kid says, How is it that this is cotton? Okay, how does that detergent that’s been cleaning or underwear all of our lives, right? This change really happened when plank in that the active wear. Yeah,

Drew Westervelt  20:46

he created an incredible product. Now, you have this massive laundry category. So there’s in the US in the house, and household laundry in the US is a $10 billion category. So there’s $10 billion of laundry detergent bought for household use. Every year, it doesn’t shock me at all, there is until Under Armour created this awesome fabric and promoted all the benefits of it. No one ever said man I washed my champion t shirt still stinks. That never existed. No one ever had that pain point. However, when synthetic fabrics came in, they’re plastic. They’re not natural fibers like a cotton. So that to explain it like simpleton lacrosse is that cleaning something that’s porous. So a natural fiber, like a cotton is easy to wash it easy to penetrate, and get things through it to clean it out. However, a synthetic is a plastic, so it’s a hard surface. So when something gets in it, it’s hard to get it out. So we had to figure

Nestor J. Aparicio  21:45

out which literally, the whole idea is wicking, right. So what the

Drew Westervelt  21:49

challenge of traditional detergents are is they’re in you’ve poured traditional detergents, they’re thick, and there’s nothing in them that actually disinfects or kills what causes odor. So what they rely on is if it smells good, it must be clean, but inactive where the more that something penetrates in it, like body oils or sweat or bacteria, and then you put it in a washing machine that’s wet, you put in more detergent that doesn’t kill anything it grows. So the more times you wash white stick gets worse and worse and worse. And that’s why these brands are building an anti odor technology. So that doesn’t happen. So all we said was our product is water like you’ve used it. The negative of thick detergents are they create a residue and residues or what odor sources feed on it think about it think about you’re putting a sweaty item in a wet environment in a washing machine, there’s nothing that’s disinfecting, there’s nothing and we’re leaving a residue that promotes every time we wash it again it smells worse okay. And the only defense the current products had was fragrance so if you read laundry bottles it says this fragrance is gonna last for 10 weeks is

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Nestor J. Aparicio  23:01

when I come off the yoga mat putting cologne on any distinct is still there you just you’re just deodorized so we said

Drew Westervelt  23:08

let’s not look at laundry formulas let’s build products that can get into a pennant you read that penetrate a hard surface like a synthetic and wash out the stuff you don’t want. But the residue we do leave behind is stopping things from growing in the fabric to create odor.

Nestor J. Aparicio  23:27

So when I smell that fresh scent of what I smell which is crisp linen in this one this because this is what I’ve been using lately I’m almost out I’m almost out I don’t want to free I’ll buy it I just need to find it. So what’s the best way to find it?

Drew Westervelt  23:42

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So like I mean, easiest is is online via Amazon or a website. In retail locally, Baltimore wise, it’s Wegmans we’re in a subset of Walmart’s where a subset of targets. But not all stores have Wegman we found that not all stores have Target and Walmart but Wegmans and all stores. So that’s really the local options but the easiest is our website or Amazon

Nestor J. Aparicio  24:06

hacks.com. What is it

Drew Westervelt  24:07

x x performance X

Nestor J. Aparicio  24:08

performance.com All right. Well, I want the local part of this true Westerfeld is here he’s the CEO of this thing. He’s lacrosse guy. We’re at father and daughter it’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery I’ll be giving away some I don’t know if any winners or not a game away people smell them and they walk away but I’m not sure but we have a variety pack here the Oh snaps. We have the fantastic peppermint payout multipliers and these are unscented, but they do they all smell like gingerbread now unwrap the cash $5,000 ones so and we’re gonna be at wise markets on Monday with former Maryland stadium authority chairman Tom Kelso, as well as a professional wrestler Derek Frazier is now manager wise, like lacrosse guy, he had to find another gig. I’m going to talk to him about that. And we’re also going to have John Martin from the Maryland lottery for a holiday edition. Eggnog ham and sauerkraut kielbasa, so you know, it’s going to be legitimized markets. I I think for this product and for where one of the things about promoting it for me and why you’re here is, you know, Baltimore gets a bad rap, right? I mean, in a lot of different ways. And you know, things aren’t here, what gets invented at the testing maze guys on we’ve had a lot of beer here. I mean, obviously big companies like McCormick Black and Decker Under Armour. We mentioned things that are from here. But there are a whole lot of products in my home, that I pick it up. And it says, manufacturer. I’m just being honest with you. So you’re wondering what you’re doing here in Baltimore positive, there’s not a whole lot of things where maybe there are and I should look harder for that. And people can yell at me and say, there’s all sorts of things being made here. But I think there’s a made in Baltimore made in Maryland thing that we all take pride in you UMBC guy you live in and Severna Park, where’s your factory? How did this come from? Lacrosse nerd who had some science, you had some economics, you put it together to get money funding all of the things that have that I know have to happen to get this product into a target, literally.

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Drew Westervelt  26:07

I mean, when did it start? Let

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:08

me start with that. What year did you think about this? And that motion began as a lacrosse player.

Drew Westervelt  26:13

So I was still playing until like, 2018. So 1516 I started messing with it. And then we started really getting into it and creating product and getting distribution in 2000, late 1718.

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:27

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So that’s when the LaCrosse, my lacrosse instructor came to me and said Here try.

Drew Westervelt  26:31

Yeah, your yoga yoga instructor. Yeah, yeah. Well,

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:34

I mean, much like plank running around the radio stations and running around the sports teams and selling the truck. Well, you run me through that period of because I don’t. I’m first connected with your LinkedIn. I don’t know how exactly it happened. But I had you know of me, but I don’t know, the whole it’s an amazing thing this made it’s off the shelf. You

Drew Westervelt  26:52

mean like how do we get like, what’s the process hard to do? This is I think, you and I didn’t mention, but we do have like local businesses that carry the product like Charm City run and stuff like this are fantastic.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  27:06

I mean, they’re, I got these shoes from Josh right here, right up the street.

Drew Westervelt  27:12

I mean, the the process, the challenging part of it is, I don’t think many people probably realize it. But in a grocery store or target or a Walmart, they’re only meeting with vendors once a year for what they do the following year. So it’s a very long sales cycle. So for instance, we’ll be meeting with vendors are trying to meet with vendors we want to be in distribution with in August for what they do that next day, but

Nestor J. Aparicio  27:37

also you meet them in 2019 and 2023. They hear a podcast and say, Maybe we should reconsider that if you haven’t pitched us in a year or two or three years trying to get it because no certainly no. For now. It’s not no forever. That’s right. In any case, right.

Drew Westervelt  27:51

8

And and the vendors we’re talking to are do a ton of business with very, very big businesses. There’s not very many niche brands approaching them saying let’s talk laundry. Right, right. Yeah. So I think we learned quickly it was it was like it was about data, it was about like, not about saying like, Oh, this cleans better this is is like with target when we went to them was like, Hey, I don’t know if you realize this, but you also sell activewear and you sell a billion dollars of activewear a year that no one even thinks about in their private label business in targets. We were like, Hey, you have tons of consumers buying this and you have nothing in your laundry aisle to talk to them right? Like this is an opportunity. Now, the challenge is it takes

Nestor J. Aparicio  28:36

everybody that hears that can understand that if you have if you have no clue about business at all that there’s there’s pain and there’s and there’s there’s a missing ingredient

Drew Westervelt  28:45

and where oh how we’ve approached the business has not been going to a target or a Wegmans or you name the retailer and saying hey, I am here to get your shoppers to stop buying something and buy me what i What’s interesting about the sales call is I’m going in saying I’m not asking your consumer to switch they’re gonna buy whatever they buy what they love for the regular laundry but I know they have a problem with their performance stuff. So what I’m going to do for USA buy all that but when because we know consumers segment activewear you wash it separately than other things. So I’m here to tell you target buyers buy all the time do you want and have your consumer bio but I’m going to sell something incrementally that they’re gonna buy in addition to it which is going to grow your category

Nestor J. Aparicio  29:30

is there anything else out there that that’s another there’s another you in Denver or another you in China that’s making this in a different with a different there’s

8

Drew Westervelt  29:40

starting to be a lot of people talking about making cleaning products for activewear but not with the chemistry we’re

Nestor J. Aparicio  29:48

using right on and your chemistry is patented to you Well yeah, I mean,

Drew Westervelt  29:53

how many cleaning products have you ever heard of that? Say that I do something after use it I keep working after I you You. That’s the whole difference about what we do is we’re building in chemistry that sounds very nerdy, but we’re building and chemistries that are bonding to the fabric so that the next time you’re in class, it’s inhibiting odor from happening on something or inhibiting. It’s promoting actually, the likability of that shirt or the breathability of it. So there’s a lot of things we’re saying is really unique. And we’re this is the challenge of our business and communicating it is that we’re not just another cleaner we’re trying to, like, prolong the useful life and the performance of what you spend a ton of money. Yeah, that stuff’s expensive. It’s like insurance for your activewear type of play Archer Western

Nestor J. Aparicio  30:37

8

belts here, Hex performance is the product. How many of these products do you have? I like literally, how many different kinds of bottles we’ve got

Drew Westervelt  30:43

a bunch of different products, from like, stain removers, to detergents to additives to dryer sheets to deodorizing sprays we’ve ever probably 15

Nestor J. Aparicio  30:51

usable, dude. Yeah, no, I mean, like,

Drew Westervelt  30:54

I’ll get you hooked up now.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  30:56

I made you an hour ago. I don’t even know what I’m doing. You told me I’m supposed to use them both. Yeah. Is that a sales technique? You’re giving me what the use of both are?

Drew Westervelt  31:03

No, you obviously didn’t read the instructions? No, I

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:07

didn’t read the instructions. Well, well,

Drew Westervelt  31:09

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that’s what they’re there for.

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:10

I went there to begin with.

Drew Westervelt  31:11

I mean, I look, I get I get I get the miss, but we can fix that. All right,

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:16

I have to read. I mean,

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Drew Westervelt  31:18

maybe that’s a good idea. Maybe I should just make, like pictures. I

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:21

have a 530 page book that I wrote on the Ravens. And I knew we were going to hell in a handbasket in this country. In 2014 When I went 13 When I went down to Ocean City for the the Ravens convention, and I had my book out there and people kept coming by and they’re like, that book ain’t got no pictures. It’s only got words and I’m like, so I am my own worst, you know, enemy. I guess at

Drew Westervelt  31:47

this point. I think it’s good feedback. I prefer some pictures.

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:51

8

This isn’t a book. It’s a pamphlet. I don’t do pictures. I I don’t do emojis. If you put little cartoons on I don’t see those. I need words. But then I just need them to be concise. Yeah. And I need them to be highlighted that says you must read this if you want to read. I mean, like the party, Your word says may be harmful if swallowed. Yeah, I read. I mean, I don’t even eat.

Drew Westervelt  32:13

Don’t drink. Don’t drink. I mean, you’ll be fine. But I wouldn’t recommend

Nestor J. Aparicio  32:17

that too. Please do not do that. But it is biodegradable. Biodegradable blend of water surfactants

Drew Westervelt  32:26

cheerleading chelating

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Nestor J. Aparicio  32:30

ch l a t ing I’ve never seen that word in my life. And I’m a writer, stabilizers, fragrance enzymes and preservatives. I can tell you what, they’re what’s a cheerleading agent.

Drew Westervelt  32:42

It’s just like a binder. It helps stabilize the formula. Okay.

Nestor J. Aparicio  32:46

Well, stuff works. And I found you on the internet. I got your three days that’s a record. Combat your lacrosse career at UMBC. And, and all that because you you must have loved it to play that long. I mean, I’ve talked to a million athletes about a million things. Every one of them had that fire of competitiveness in them that made them still want to do it. Even when they’re making a million dollars and could have gotten killed doing or whether they’re just out there because they love doing it. But if you’re flying back and forth across the country with your lacrosse, as a 30 year old, you loved it. You know, it’s

Drew Westervelt  33:16

8

crazy to think we did it for so long. But yeah, I grew up in Bel Air. I went to John Carroll played soccer, basketball, lacrosse and then went to UMBC played for Johnson ermine nupi Kurinji. mentioned on the wall that yes it played for him for for four years and then graduated and

Nestor J. Aparicio  33:36

was Monica Yanko. coaching the women then

Drew Westervelt  33:39

Monique is away he was just she was just before I got there.

Nestor J. Aparicio  33:42

Okay. All right. Good. All right. I know the air. She gave me a UMBC lacrosse shirt and she was the coach and I wore it for years and years and years. So

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Drew Westervelt  33:51

yeah, she was she was there just before me

Nestor J. Aparicio  33:54

you know how old how long ago that was. Now might be asking you no longer that was there was not an under it was a cotton shirt. I’m sure it was a regular cotton shirt, where Kurinji gave me a UMBC soccer shirt back before the Final Four and all that that was gold that I wore in yoga forever. And it was with the original stinky piece. It was the original piece I wrote to Kurinji and said shirt stinking dude, I need a new shirt. No,

Drew Westervelt  34:18

we won’t be to where I was at UMBC I graduated OHSs in 2007. And the first two years our practice stuff was champion stuff. Like caught both school right? Yeah. Champion stuff that I had a sweatshirt that was that when the second two years was when we finally got you know, Under Armour stuff.

Nestor J. Aparicio  34:37

8

Who were the basketball players you were there so Sullivan coaching then I’m trying to think of who your players were. Was Jade Hodge, okay.

Drew Westervelt  34:48

Trying to think of those guys names, they they had their mice junior or senior year they did pretty pretty well but it was after me when they they took down UVA. I was

Nestor J. Aparicio  35:01

way after you. Same thing with the Final Four. That’s a couple years after you do Final Four was when my wife was battling so that was 14. That was 1415. Yep. Yeah. 14 and 15 was for sure. Yeah, we

Drew Westervelt  35:12

had some we had some good runs. When I was there in the crossing. We made the quarterfinals one or two years in a row. The highlight was taken out Maryland, so always always,

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Nestor J. Aparicio  35:20

you know, what, everybody beat them in the end for a long, long. I mean, they waited a long, long, long time here.

Drew Westervelt  35:28

We always wanted to make sure they could make it the Preakness right, we wanted them out of the tournament. These

Nestor J. Aparicio  35:33

lacrosse guys see, I want to get you talking lacrosse. I knew I get that. That lacrosse fire in you, right? Yeah, I mean, why? Why in Harford County kid playing lacrosse was it big then, as opposed to baseball. I’m just throwing my last name is Aparicio my people came off a boat for Venezuela, my cousins and all the fame. So like, a Dundalk kid in 1978 8084 there was no one in our neighborhood that owned a lacrosse stick that knew what lacrosse was that ever played. There was a kid in Berkshire who threw the ball against the wall. And there was a kid in old Dundalk whose father was involved in Loyola who went to Loyola, but I didn’t know anyone who played lacrosse, soccer. Yeah, because we had, you know, Greek kids Italian kitchen, island town or whatever. I was a baseball community completely. Which to me with the Orioles and Cal Ripken and legacy of all of that, plus the lacrosse legacy that’s here and the butterflies we always talk about, but I find it interesting when kids in Dundalk or Harford County or places it used to be Harford County’s Cal Ripken land right like, Yeah, but you can’t play them both, right?

Drew Westervelt  36:41

8

No, I did. In middle school. I played like club baseball. It was like some team called the Hartford Sox. I think we paid played like 60 games on

Nestor J. Aparicio  36:51

summer. So you did have a baseball bat in your hand before? Yeah.

Drew Westervelt  36:53

I was like, I’m done. Like, I’m burned out of this. I’m, I need a time limit on games. These This is too much.

Nestor J. Aparicio  37:01

You know, it was enough actual add.

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Drew Westervelt  37:03

I need to like action. Yeah, I need to action and it was slow. And it was a lot of stuff. So my brother older brother was really good baseball player. And then, so I thought nuts. No, no, no. It wasn’t from I didn’t I didn’t go to school in Hartford County. In middle school. I went to a school in Baltimore called Odyssey. Okay. And we started a lacrosse program. And not me some other guys. And I picked it up and loved it. And we were like, a little tiny school in Baltimore. Oh, were you? I don’t know. What however old you are in sixth grade. 11.

Nestor J. Aparicio  37:36

Yeah. So you were 11 when you got to lacrosse. Okay. All right.

Drew Westervelt  37:39

Yeah. 1112, something like that and loved it. What’s more of a birth

Nestor J. Aparicio  37:42

8

sport here now more than baseball, like during the generation, you’re, you’re my son’s age. I’m 55 in that 20 year period, and I think Angelo’s had a lot to do with it. And Camden, you know, just in general football come into the community at that wish. Football. That’s a regret. Okay. All right. But yeah, well, the lacrosse career, right. Yeah,

Drew Westervelt  38:01

it was awesome. I mean, the college thing was awesome. And then a guy I played with, and really the main reason I went to UBC was a guy, Brendan Mundorf. I played with there and he got drafted. He was a year old and he got drafted to play in the outdoor league. And then he got drafted to play in the indoor League, and we had been a good tandem. So when I graduated, I got drafted the same teams he was on. So we just kind of picked back up our college never let it go. Like, seriously for 10 years. I can’t believe I did it. Both the indoor and outdoor leagues for 10 years. We did the UST US national team together. I think I you know, every weekend was traveling with

Nestor J. Aparicio  38:42

work. I always found the Fassi anytime we would have any lacrosse guys out. I fly to Pittsburgh on the weekends or I fly here to Vegas. But you know, I’m a stockbroker. You know, like, everybody had a gig in your league

Drew Westervelt  38:52

I before this before the hex thing. I when I graduated college, I was working for like a commercial real estate company local business called mannequin on the like, project managers construction side, and then took a job at Constellation Energy doing project managers, because I had the flexibility to roll out on early on a Friday and fly to where

8

Nestor J. Aparicio  39:10

and when do you decide as a human being as a 30? Something? I have this thing that I’m going to dedicate my people ask me all the time, like, how did you get a radio say 30 years ago? What were you thinking? I wasn’t? I love sports. And this seemed like what, like the only reason I did I love sports. I love journalism, it gave me a chance to do both. I didn’t think about it as a business until I had to. And then and then being a business is the only thing that really matters because the only way going sustainable part of it is this has to get in stores. Or it’s a hobby like literally and and obviously this isn’t sexy enough to be a hobby no no.

Drew Westervelt  39:47

You know we’ve had we raised money done the whole thing. I think what when I quit constellation and I was still playing lacrosse was just like the more I kept learning about this, the more I can digging into it, the more I made it. I felt like it. There was logic to it. It was your life’s opportunity. I was like this, like, yeah, why not? Let’s do this and figure it out. And it’s, you know, 678 years later, we’re still doing

Nestor J. Aparicio  40:14

it. So what’s the next thing for hex and for your company? And where do you make it? I did ask you that because it’s all in Baltimore. Everything’s Baltimore. Scientists were from Baltimore. sad, mad. So how will the Baltimore story do that? Say, I can’t believe it took me this long to get you on? Yeah. Like, we were like, What am What am I doing here? Like, it’s a great Baltimore story. You know, we

Drew Westervelt  40:34

8

use a vendor in Baltimore that all they do is, as a local, third generation bone of our business, they make all of our formula that gets moved over to another Baltimore business that all they do is fill bottles and label bottles. It then moves to another bottle or business that all they do is it’s a, it’s a three PL, it’s a warehouse, and all they do is warehouse product and move it to retailers. Like

Nestor J. Aparicio  41:00

it’s all right. I did the entire curio tour with Wendy back six weeks ago. So I went to the grow. I went and she’s getting the car, we’re gonna show them where we go. Where do you think all the company we have to make all this stuff, you know, and then we have to package it all. And then we have to distribute it all. It’s not just like a bunch of plants in the back with lights and the all the science. It’s just an amazing thing. I think anytime you go behind the scenes of a beer operation, you go to a local brewery and to see the time the love the that’s the science of beer. Yeah, has also, you know, things that make things different for you with this. Are you done with the product as a product? Like it works? It’s real, it’s definable. It’s in a bottle? Is it just about cents at this point? I mean, you know, no, you’re not done with this. Science.

Drew Westervelt  41:48

It’s changed a couple times. Okay. And like, I mean, not like radically but like, I mean, there’s always there’s so it’s not like we’re making like we’re leveraging other businesses, whether they’re packaging suppliers or fillers or third party logistics companies like that’s what they do. We’re a sales and marketing company. So we’re not doing that we’re not making it we have partners that it’s our product, right? Sure. But you know, just like on what all the different things you read on the back of that bottle, there are hundreds of vendors that make really cool technology. So we’re looking at him like, does this make a better mousetrap right? Should we be thinking about this? So yeah, it’s always changing.

Nestor J. Aparicio  42:31

eliminate odors. With technology, not perfumes, removes the gunk and funk Is that a real word gunk, and other detergents leave behind protects fabrics from losing that new clothes feeling. And I’ve already endorsed because that’s how I found you. So your western belts here from hex Baltimore company takes a stake out and all the funk out of all my stuff. You allow me to eat these delicious, clean cuisine. crabcakes here and go get sweaty tonight on my hot yoga mat. I have all my smarmy stinky stuff from last night. Put on the side. I’m waiting to get the smarmy stanky stuff from tonight because I wash in batches right? You know, I mean, I gotta get one or two or three like little things going on here but so how am I going to do this that teach me I’m gonna put a cap of this in. barely get a capitalist. I’ll put a cap at this in and then halfway through the cycle we go here.

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Drew Westervelt  43:19

I guarantee your washing machine has two different chambers. One says detergent one says fabric softener stop and both in dump that one and detergent this one in fabric softener and then you don’t have to do anything that’ll do it for

Nestor J. Aparicio  43:31

you talking to you like I’m a dumbass and you’re right. Okay, but like we need to know is that just need to know how to do it right one time you teach me one time. I promise you I’ve never put them both in there. I’ve read the instructions. It says so on the boat. My wife’s gone Your treat me like my wife treats me I’ve read the bottle. Well, it is a good point. All right. All right. If you put emojis on I wouldn’t make any sense anyway. How best to get in touch with you or any of that kind of stuff. Find the stuff just just go to heck

Drew Westervelt  44:01

yeah, heck performance.com. Click it. Yeah, and it comes. Yep.

Nestor J. Aparicio  44:06

Thanks for being a good sport. crabcake was good too. It’s awesome. Drew Westerwelle from hex here we’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour. We tried to learn stuff around here today is the science and technology part of our crab cake tour. We had the Oh snap. I don’t know the science of how do you make the smell like gingerbread but they do the unwrap the cash and the peppermint payouts as well. Marital lottery together with window nation and our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care I can see it right out the window right across York Road here word foreign daughter a curio wellness brand. They are sponsoring our 25th anniversary with all of our members. You can find all those up at Baltimore positive.com and great stories. We’re plotting the biggest charity initiative I’ve ever done in February. I’m sort of bread crumbing it beginning today because it’s starting to take shape. The last couple of days we get through the holiday. hope everybody’s enjoying all of our coverage around here as well as Luke being out in Owings Mills next week for Christmas week as the Ravens head to San Francisco where I want What’s left my heart. Hopefully we don’t leave a cheap victory on national TV and curdle, my eggnog and wreck my ham and sauerkraut and mashed potatoes on Christmas night will be wise markets buying all of those items including delicious sauerkraut and kielbasa. I’m trying to get Derek to mix it up in some sort of event so we can give it out with the lottery tickets on Monday we’ll be wise markets and honey go joined by Maryland stadium authority, former chairman Tom Kelso as well as John Martin of the Maryland lottery. We’re gonna come back continue on Jeanne shock from the gogos we’ll be here momentarily. We talk rock and roll drums. I’m gonna give her a lottery ticket. I’m gonna give her a crab cake from clean cuisine. And my thanks to Drew for coming out and hanging out we are WNS ta of 1570 Towson Baltimore from foreign data antimonium We continue on we are Baltimore positive.com. Stay with us