Why We Redesigned the Cotton Swab

The cotton swab was invented in the 1920s. It is one of the simplest objects in a bathroom — a stick with cotton on each end. Its design has not changed meaningfully in a hundred years.

That is usually a sign of a well-designed object. The form has settled because it works. But the cotton swab has a problem that the original designers did not have to consider: it is used for seconds and then lives in a landfill for decades. Or it travels through a sewer, through a wastewater filter, and ends up on a beach.

We did not set out to redesign the cotton swab because we thought we could make a better tool. We set out to redesign it because the single-use model made no sense for something as simple and repeatable as cleaning an ear.

The Brief

The brief was minimal: make a cotton swab that can be reused. Everything else — material, shape, case, user experience — followed from that constraint.

The first question was material. Cotton is absorbent, soft, and familiar. It is also exactly why the swab is single-use — cotton fibres retain moisture, trap debris, and do not rinse clean reliably. You cannot rinse a cotton swab and reuse it.

We needed a material that cleaned like cotton but rinsed clean. That led us to TPE — thermoplastic elastomer. It is soft, smooth, non-porous, and hypoallergenic. It does not absorb; it lifts and releases. Under running water, it returns to a clean state. That was the material answer.

The Shape Decision

We tested different tip profiles. Wider tips, narrower tips, different stem lengths and diameters. Most of the alternatives solved problems we did not have and created problems we did not want.

The standard cotton swab shape — symmetrical, roughly 7cm long, with equal tips on each end — works because it fits naturally in a hand, reaches the outer ear at a comfortable angle, and is instantly recognisable as a tool whose use you already know.

Changing the shape would require users to learn a new technique. Keeping the shape meant the product was familiar from the first use. This mattered more than we initially thought. Products that feel alien get returned to a drawer and forgotten. Products that feel familiar get used.

We kept the shape. We have written more about this in Why We Kept the Cotton Swab Shape.

The Case

A reusable swab without a case is a contamination problem. If you put it loose in a bag, it touches everything in the bag. If you leave it on a shelf, it collects dust. The case was not an accessory — it was part of the design.

The snap-close case protects the tip, keeps the swab clean between uses, and makes it portable. It is also the part of the product that turns a swab into an object worth keeping — something with a home, a form, a small ritual of opening and closing.

The case is made from plant-based bioplastic. It is designed to last as long as the swab itself.

Kickstarter

LastSwab launched on Kickstarter in 2019. We wanted to test whether people were ready to pay more upfront for a product that would replace years of purchases. The answer was yes — the campaign funded significantly over its goal, with backers from dozens of countries.

The Kickstarter also gave us the production volume we needed to move from handmade prototypes to manufactured product. That transition is where most product ideas fail, and it required its own round of refinement — tighter tolerances on the case, better quality control at the tip bonding stage. We wrote about that process here.

What Came After

LastSwab was the first product Better Objects (then LastObject) launched. It shaped how we think about all the products that followed: find an everyday object that is single-use by convention rather than necessity, redesign it to last, keep the form familiar enough that the transition requires nothing of the user beyond a small change of habit.

LastRound (reusable makeup pads) and LastTissue (reusable tissues) both came from the same starting question: why is this single-use?

Frequently Asked Questions

When was LastSwab first launched?

LastSwab launched on Kickstarter in 2019 and shipped to backers the same year.

What is Better Objects?

Better Objects (formerly LastObject) is a Copenhagen-based product design studio. We design reusable alternatives to high-frequency single-use products — things you use every day and throw away immediately. LastSwab, LastRound, and LastTissue are our core bathroom products.

Why TPE instead of silicone?

Both materials work for the cleaning task. TPE is softer against skin — closer in feel to cotton — and has a smoother surface texture than silicone. We tested both and found TPE gave a more comfortable experience for daily ear and skin contact.