We didn't invent a name. We found the word cotton already had.

綿 (wata) is the Japanese word for raw cotton — the fiber in its most natural, unprocessed state. Not the fabric. Not the thread. The material itself.

It started with a question.

Every parent remembers the first time they cleaned their newborn's skin. For our founder Vanessa Menache, that moment came with a question she couldn't shake: what is this wipe actually made of?

She turned the package over. The ingredient list was long and unfamiliar. The fabric composition wasn't listed at all — because the FDA doesn't require it.

What she found alarmed her.

The vast majority of baby wipes — including many marketed as "natural" — are made from polyester, polypropylene, and viscose. Synthetic fibers pressed into sheets, soaked in chemical solutions, wrapped in packaging covered in images of cotton clouds.

Even premium brands were compromising. Some used 99.9% water — on a polyester sheet. The wipe itself was almost never what parents assumed.

So she built something different.

Vanessa didn't want to reformulate someone else's wipe. She wanted to rethink it from the fiber up. She found a way to manufacture non-woven fabric from 100% cotton — no blends, no binders, no bleaching.

She built manufacturing in the United States. Not overseas. Here, where she could hold every product to her own standard: would I use this on my child?

TruCotton™ Innovation

Wata is the first wipe brand to utilize TruCotton™, a farmer-owned, unbleached cotton process that retains cotton's naturally soothing waxes and oils. TruCotton™ is OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified and verified free from 316 chemicals commonly found in processed textiles.

More than a wipe company.

Wata isn't just a baby wipe company. It's a cotton company. The same unbleached, American-made fabric can go into cotton rounds, facial cloths, feminine care products, and anything that touches the body's most sensitive areas.

Our mission: if it touches your skin, it should be real. Not synthetic. Not "derived from." Not "plant-based*" with an asterisk.