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TUSHY

A $79 designer bidet attachment that broke America's toilet paper taboo with humor-first marketing, then exploded 10x during the 2020 toilet paper panic.

TUSHY (New York, NY) United States 2015 Co-founded by Miki Agrawal with CEO Jason Ojalvo; small DTC team pre-2020

Key numbers

raised from $20M to $50M mid-pandemic2020 revenue target
10x normal; $1M+ single-day sales (10,000+ bidets)Peak sales spike
nearly 1 million bidet usersCustomers
5M+ trees diverted from toilet paper productionEnvironmental impact

The product

TUSHY Classic is a non-electric bidet attachment that clamps under an existing toilet seat and connects to the water supply, selling for $79-$119 depending on finish; TUSHY Spa adds warm water, and the line now extends to travel bidets, squatting stools, bamboo butt towels, and a $1,599 integrated smart toilet. The pitch is hygiene, comfort, and the planet: Americans destroy millions of trees a year for toilet paper, and users recoup the cost in about three months. Unlike $2,000-$5,000 Japanese washlet toilets, TUSHY made the category accessible at a hundred dollars with no plumber and no electricity. The brand voice - irreverent puns, butt jokes, banned NYC subway ads - makes an awkward purchase feel fun and shareable.

How they did it

Miki Agrawal had already built two taboo-breaking businesses (farm-to-table pizza restaurant WILD and period underwear company THINX) when she asked why Americans only wipe with dry paper. She co-founded TUSHY in 2015, fully launching in 2016 with CEO Jason Ojalvo running operations while she fronted the brand. Early growth was slow, steady education work against a century of American bidet stigma, mostly via Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit ads with a small team. Then March 2020 happened: viral toilet paper panic videos sent sales up 10x within days, including a single day of $1 million in sales and over 10,000 bidets shipped, forcing production to scale roughly 6x and headcount to grow by a dozen. The team raised its 2020 revenue target from $20 million to $50 million. The brand has since reached nearly a million customers, diverted over 5 million trees from toilet paper production, and continued expanding upmarket with heated seats and a smart toilet.

Why it worked

  • Price-point disruption: a $79 attachment against $2,000+ smart toilets removed the single biggest barrier to first-time bidet ownership
  • Taboo as marketing asset: humor and banned-ad controversies generated media coverage paid ad budgets couldn't buy
  • Positioned for a macro shock: the 2020 toilet paper panic was a once-in-a-decade tailwind the brand was perfectly built to capture
  • Values stacking: hygiene plus a quantified environmental story (5M+ trees saved) gave customers a second reason to talk about it

Figures are compiled from public sources and may include estimates. Always verify before making business decisions.

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