Rod and Leigh Jenden
Wet & Forget is probably one of the most recognised brands in New Zealand, but cleaning moss, mould and lichen off your exterior surfaces is not all the company is known for. For example, their antifouling product War Paint, is a well-respected brand in the marine industry.
The man behind Wet & Forget, Rod Jenden, was born in Wellington but lived most of his early years in a state house in Onehunga (His father being a war veteran) until his parents bought their first house.
His first foray into cleaning products, Solar Chem, was born in the early 1970s, which started a whole new path for the enterprising Rod. However, while driving around, he spotted an opportunity to clean up all those dirty roofs. This new venture saw the roofs being chemically treated to remove moss, mould and lichen, after which they could be resurfaced to ensure longevity. No one else was doing it. At that time, this business proved very successful.
So, with several years of experimentation with water blasting and chemicals for this untouched market, he came up with Wet & Forget in 1995 and as they say, the rest is history.
Then came the development in the 1990s of an interior and exterior paint range called Skins and the factory expanded into manufacturing and selling to the public. A specialist antifouling product followed this in 1995 called War Paint, which remains a leading product for NZ’s huge boating fraternity of yachts and launches.
“We started War Paint because we were making decorative coatings and selling to the trade as well as roof coatings that we were applying for the roof resurfacing side of the business.
It was decided that because we already had the paint manufacturing equipment, we would have a go at making our own antifoul for our personal use as keen yachties”, says Rod.
War Paint Marine Anti-Fouling Inhibitor is a premium product that uses modern copolymer resins and cuprous oxide and is effective against many marine fouling organisms.
War Paint can be applied to almost any vessel (Unsuitable for aluminium) and is available in sixteen colours. This makes it a unique product. It is also compatible with Wet & Forget’s X.15 solvent/thinner. “War Paint was developed specifically for local conditions, one of the significant differences between War Paint and some other antifoulings”, added Rod.
WET & FORGET IS BORN
In 1995 the ‘new look’ company of Wet & Forget was born with its hero product Wet & Forget. So many customers requested this unique roof cleaning product that trickled onto their driveways while his team was spraying roofs and cleaned them too. At the same time, the company expanded with Bone Dry, a moisture proofer for exterior surfaces and Hitman, an organic weed controller, which the company nicknamed Nature’s Assassin.
Following the massive success of their products in New Zealand, Wet & Forget expanded across the ditch to Australia in 2003. However, not content with the local and Australian market, in 2009, Rod expanded into the US to take on one of the biggest markets in the world.
Then in 2011, it was the UK where the Wet & Forget products have proven very successful. With the UK as a sounding board for the European market, Rod then took his product to France. It seems that no country is going to be saved from the exposure of Wet & Forget. Today the USA, UK and Europe are strong markets for Wet & Forget products, and demand is growing. While just about every product in the Wet & Forget brochure is exported, War Paint is strictly home based.
With the local and export markets growing and Wet & Forget becoming a household name in New Zealand, because customers knew these products worked!
Over the years, Wet & Forget added more products to their portfolio, such as Ants in Ya Pants, Shower Witch, Hit The Deck, Miss Muffet’s Revenge and Bugga Off. All are designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible.
There seemed to be no end to new product releases and in 2014 the company released Wet & Forget Indoor, Seafood Soup, Salt Shaker and Chopper Weed. In 2015 they introduced a range of detergents and laundry products and, in recent years, also got into car shampoo and mag wheel cleaner. The amazing Window Witch, exterior window cleaner, requires no squeegee! Double Bubble is an amazing house shampoo to greatly extend the life of your paintwork!
“If it gets dirty, Wet & Forget have a product to clean it”, says Rod.
It was time then to build a new production factory. Today, most of the company’s products are manufactured ‘in-house’.
MARINE WASH
While Wet & Forget has roots in the household and commercial cleaning areas, the company is also active in the marine environment, with War Paint and a couple of dedicated wash down solutions for both fishing tackle and your boat and trailer.
Salt Shaker Boat and Trailer Wash is also an engine flush and this blend of surfactants and protective anti-corrosive compounds removes the damaging effects of salt on your boat, trailer and engine. It dissolves the corrosive salt.
Salt Shaker Fishing Tackle Wash. This attacks the salt molecules, breaking them down and allowing them to be flushed away. Applying a protective spray after washdown will leave you with a protective coating on your rods and reels.
While Wet & Forget has embarked on a serious radio and TV campaign over the years, they have also been involved with motorsport sponsorship. Their logo has been seen on cars driven by brothers Mitch & Simon Evans and now Brad Jones Racing at Bathurst 2022 – not to mention Logan Rowell with KTM Racing, plus many racing series for yacht clubs.
Wet & Forget is now a household name throughout NZ with 21 stores and a vast range of specialised and ground breaking products for the home and marine. Rod says that there are new products under development all the time.
If you have a household cleaning problem – indoor or outdoor, bathroom, kitchen or laundry or the car – Wet & Forget have the solutions!
If it gets dirty, Wet & Forget have a product to clean it
War Paint was developed specifically for local conditions
