John Marino, the inventor who rolled out the first premoistened toilet tissue five years ago, is now about to clean up with his product.
Procter & Gamble Co. said it has bought the company Marino founded, MoistMates LLC, and will reintroduce MoistMates tissues under its Charmin brand beginning in July.
Terms were not disclosed. But Marino said he and investors, who include some of Boston's biggest business moguls, should do fine. "It's a five-year deal, and a very good one," he said. If Charmin Fresh Mates catches on, "we'll all do very well."
MoistMates has been described as a sort of baby wipes for grownups. A patented dispenser keeps the extra-strong tissue damp until the user pulls off the sheets.
But MoistMates, distributed only through eight retail chains in New England, has proved a poor seller and was facing major-league competition from two paper industry giants.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. plans to introduce its premoistened Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes in July, while Georgia-Pacific Corp. already is selling its brand, Quilted Northern Fresh and Moist Wipes, in many locations across the United States.
Marino, 62, who is also a software entrepreneur and was Massachusetts commissioner of commerce and labor during the 1970s, said he approached P&G last January, shortly after Kimberly-Clark announced its impending moist tissue product launch.
He was angered that Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes was described as "the first wet, flushable toilet paper on a roll." Wrong, Marino said. "That really got my juices flowing,"he said.
MoistMates, based on patents issued in 1980, came out in 1996, backed by Boston adman Ed Eskendarian, former Stop & Shop executives Avram and Carol Goldberg, and others.
Kimberly-Clark later conceded the big difference between the two products was that Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes used a paper with shorter fibers, which break up faster in water.
Procter & Gamble, the largest maker of toilet paper in the United States, plans to begin selling Charmin Fresh Mates in the Northeast and Southeast in July — the same month Kimberly-Clark will launch Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes in the Southeast.
Marino said he regards Procter & Gamble's use of the word "mates" with its Charmin brand as a tribute to MoistMates and himself. "That word represents a lot to me," he said.