Cutting the Clutter

Last week, de-cluttering expert Marie Kondo, made famous in the U.S. through her Netflix show, Sparking Joy, as well as her four books, announced a collection of home organization products with 3Coins, a discount home store in Kondo’s native Japan. The first category to debut is kitchen storage, including bags for sorting perishables, expandable organizers, baskets, trays, wire racks, and the like, with a bath collection to follow. Kondo and her KonMari brand also have a collection in The Container Store in the U.S., which debuted in 2021.

Kondo’s 3Coins deal is the latest of several agreements that have come to light in the last year pairing celebrity tidiness experts with products meant to assist consumers in simplifying their lives through organization. Some of the others include:

• A collaboration between mDesign and Home Sort, the brand of Brandie Larsen and Ryan Eisland, the sisters, influencers, and professional organizers who star in the Design Network TV show Sort it Out. The products, including spice racks, bamboo bins, lazy Susans, drawer dividers, bread boxes, clear bins, pot racks, a step stool, and more, are sold through mDesign and Amazon. mDesign is an e-commerce-only brand that focuses mostly on storage, as well as décor and furniture.

• Walmart’s exclusive partnership with The Home Edit, supplied by iDesign. The Home Edit Collection includes standalone products ranging from bins to turntables to ornament organizers, as well as “Edits,” or systems that are designed and packaged for specific spaces such as pantries, bathrooms, or laundry rooms. Founded as an organizing business in 2015, The Home Edit brand and founders Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin have expanded into books (The Home Edit and The Home Edit Life) and a Netflix show (Get Organized with The Home Edit), as well as merchandise. Hello Sunshine acquired the brand in spring 2022.

• Ría Safford’s collection with iDesign, which includes risers, turntables, baskets, trays, and tiered organizers, all made from wire and acacia wood. Safford, an influencer, podcaster, and founder of an organizing business called Ríorganize, also released a Target-exclusive Ríorganize Collection with U Brands, focused on office organization, last year.

De-cluttering specialists are not the only properties getting into this space. A number of interior designers, lifestyle labels, and others include organizing products among their licensed and collaborative assortments, both in specialty collections and as part of broader home arrays. Celebrity interior designer Nate Berkus has a line of organizing products with mDesign, for example, while storage elements are included as part of his and Jeremiah Brent’s latest home goods collection with Living Spaces.

Celebrities and other properties with areas of expertise that are associated with specific organizing and storage needs are also increasingly entering this sector, introducing small collections closely tied to their niche. Baking influencer Rosanno Pinsino has a collection of kitchen organizing products with The Container Store; makeup artist Sarah Tanno has a collection of cosmetics organizers, including for nail polish, lipstick, and makeup palettes, with iDesign; and jewelry brand Mejuri paired with Claude Home for three sculptural, decorative jewelry holders.

The home organization sector continues to expand steadily, with one researcher, the Freedonia Group, predicting an annual rate of increase of 2.1% from 2021 to 2025 in the U.S., with retail sales of $13.5 billion forecasted for that year. Additional collaborations that offer unique solutions to organizing challenges will help move this always-useful but increasingly competitive product category forward.