By Alex C Irving - Founder of Wett

Wett vs Wild

Wild is probably the most recognisable name in natural deodorant right now, and for good reason. Their marketing has been spot on, they recently hit a significant acquisition milestone, and their products have been — and continue to be — seriously Instagrammable. If you've seen a sleek, refillable deodorant case all over your social feed in the last few years, chances are it was Wild.

Here's the thing though: Wild is actually where my natural deodorant journey started. And in many ways, it's exactly what led me to create Wett. This isn't a hit piece. Wild makes a genuinely good product, and I'll be upfront about that throughout this comparison. But there's an important conversation to be had about what "good" actually means — and who a deodorant is actually designed for. If you're an active person, an athlete, or someone who pushes hard in training, that distinction matters a lot.

Products we're comparing here and how we test:

Products. Wett 50ml Cold Orange balm vs Wild (Cotton) stick deodorant.

How we chose Wild: We can’t see Wild’s best-seller data directly, so we used marketplace signals to pick one of the most commonly purchased options on Amazon.

Blind Tests. We decanted both products into identical clear containers and labelled them “1” and “2” so testers weren’t influenced by brand, packaging, or price.

Feedback. Testers wore each deodorant for a full day and logged feedback via a short form — including training day performance, end-of-day odour, skin feel, and whether they’d buy it again.(If you want to run the same test yourself, we’ve included the form link at the bottom of this post.) Google Form

A quick introduction to both brands

Wild launched in 2020 and quickly became one of the UK's most visible natural deodorant brands. Their USP is built around sustainability — a beautiful, refillable aluminium case with compostable refill pods. The branding is clean, premium, and highly giftable. They've built a loyal following and their marketing, particularly on Instagram and through influencer partnerships, has been exceptionally well executed.

Wett was born out of a gap in the market that I experienced personally. After switching to Wild and other natural deodorants, I kept running into the same problem: the moment I started training seriously — cycling, running, lifting — the product simply couldn't keep up. Not because natural deodorants are inherently flawed, but because none of them were specifically formulated with athletic performance in mind. Wett exists to fix that.

Meet Ondrej. Ondrej is a competetive cyclist and competes in the veterans (over 40's) cyclecross at events across the UK along with his son, Lukas, whom recently won the European championship U16's.

Performance Under Sweat and Heat

Let's be honest here, because this is the heart of the comparison.
Wild performs well in everyday situations. Going to the office, running errands, a casual social day — it holds up, smells pleasant, and feels comfortable on the skin. I used to use it regularly and for that kind of use case, it does exactly what it promises.

The problem comes the moment you start exercising seriously. As soon as I pushed into a real training session — a hard ride, a tempo run, a heavy lifting session — Wild simply fell apart.The odour protection that had been perfectly adequate for a desk day disappeared under the demands of actual athletic effort.

This isn't a knock on Wild. It's just not what they're designed for. Their positioning is lifestyle and sustainability, not sport. They've never claimed to be a performance product, and that's completely fine. But if you're buying a natural deodorant hoping it'll see you through training, it's important to know that distinction upfront.

Wett is specifically designed for that gap. The formulation is built to remain effective during sustained exercise, manage the increased sweat load that comes with training, and continue working through a full workout rather than giving up at the first sign of effort.

Scent and Longevity

Wild offers a wide range of scents and has done a brilliant job of making fragrance feel like part of the brand experience. Their scents are well-crafted and genuinely pleasant — it's one of the areas where they really shine.

Wett's scent range, (for now, Cold Orange) is designed with active use in mind — clean, fresh, and effective at masking exercise-related odour rather than simply layering a pleasant fragrance over it. The goal is a scent that works with your body chemistry during activity, not just at rest. At the time of writing, I realise that Cold Orange is the only one we have released while we're still gathering customer feedback and we have 4 others that are being tested. Once we're sure it's what people want, we'll release them to you all.

In terms of longevity, for everyday use Wild holds up well. For workout use, Wett is built to last through the session in a way that general natural deodorants typically can't match.

While we're still working on formulas for release, here's a quick overview of the plan so far.. (at least, these are my favourites):

👉 Nordic Mint - Clean, cool & fresh.
👉 Cedar & Black Pepper - Woody, warm & slightly spicy.
👉 Eucalyptus and Sea Salt — clean, coastal, slightly medicinal in a good way.
👉 Hinoki or Cedarwood and Yuzu - itrus note that's completely different from orange — lighter, more floral and tart
👉 Dark Pine and Charcoal — bold, Nordic-adjacent, very different energy.

If you want to help shape this, here's a link that will take you to a google form to pick your favourites: Google Form

Get customer attention by clean visual and video

Packaging and Sustainability

This is genuinely an area where Wild deserves credit. Their refillable aluminium case is a beautifully designed piece of sustainable packaging, and it's been hugely influential across the natural deodorant industry. The compostable refill pouch concept in particular is something we think is brilliant — and it's a direction we're actively working toward ourselves.

But here's a conversation the natural deodorant industry doesn't have often enough: Refillable doesn't automatically mean better for the environment.

There's a concept called greenwashing — where a brand uses terms like "refillable" or "eco" in a way that implies environmental superiority without the full picture being examined.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the Green Claims Code in 2021, which is the official UK guidance on what constitutes misleading environmental claims.

The reality is that the carbon cost of a product's life cycle isn't just about what it's made of. It's also about how it gets to you.

Logistics research consistently shows that last-mile delivery — your postman bringing a parcel to your door — is one of the most carbon-intensive parts of any product's journey. So if a refill system requires more frequent deliveries because the product runs out faster, or because the refill format means smaller quantities shipped more often, the delivery emissions can easily outweigh the packaging savings.

*McKinsey & Company published a widely cited report called "Sustainability in last-mile logistics" which quantifies last-mile as responsible for around 50% of total supply chain emissions.

Wett launches in an aluminium tube — not refillable in the traditional sense, but infinitely recyclable. Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely without any loss of quality, and recycled aluminium uses around 95% less energy* than producing it from raw materials. Our position is that a long-lasting, high-performance product in infinitely recyclable packaging, shipped as infrequently as possible through a subscription model, is a genuinely responsible choice — not a compromise.

*The Aluminium Federation UK published data on aluminium being infinitely recyclable using 95% less energy than virgin production.

We're also working toward a refill system of our own — a longer-life pot format with biodegradable refill pouches — but we're doing it properly rather than rushing it for a marketing headline. When we launch it, it'll be because the system is right, not because it looks good on Instagram. No greenwashing, Just honest performance and clear carbon reduction.
Iv'e added a mock up below so you can see what it would look like when and if released 👇

A personal note on this, if you'll allow me a slight tangent.

My wife Emma and I were talking about this very subject just this morning. There used to be a refill shop near us — the kind of place that feels like the right thing to support, and Emma was genuinely enthusiastic about using it regularly. In principle, it's a lovely idea.

But in practice, it rarely had the stock we needed. That meant extra trips, or still ending up at the supermarket anyway. And the shop itself was receiving frequent small deliveries to keep its limited inventory topped up — which, when you actually think about the carbon cost of all that last-mile logistics, starts to look a lot less green than the reusable containers on the shelf.

Emma and I didn't entirely agree on how to weigh it all up — and I respect that reasonable people can land in different places on this. But my own view is clear: if a product requires more frequent deliveries, more trips, or more logistics to reach you because of the way its refill system works, then the packaging savings can be wiped out many times over before it even arrives at your door.

Calling something eco-friendly purely on the basis of its packaging, while ignoring the full delivery picture, isn't sustainability. It's a story told for marketing purposes. And that's exactly the kind of greenwashing we're not interested in at Wett. In fact, The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published multiple rulings against brands making unsubstantiated eco claims.

Price and Value

Let's be straightforward about this: Wett isn't the cheapest natural deodorant on the market, and it's not trying to be.

Wild uses a stick format (also a roll-on but that's not used in this comparison as it isn't as strong as their stick deodorant be design) — solid, lightweight, and cost-effective to produce. It's a sensible format for a general everyday deodorant and their pricing reflects that well. The refill model also makes it reasonably cost-effective over time once you've bought the case.

Wett is a heavy-based balm, and that distinction matters more than it might seem. A balm format allows us to load the product with high-performance ingredients at concentrations that a stick simply can't carry. We've deliberately chosen ingredients that cost significantly more than the standard building blocks of most natural deodorants — because cheaper ingredients don't perform under serious athletic stress, and performance is the entire point.

Comparing the two on price alone is a bit like comparing a Ferrari to a Fiat. Both are cars. Both will get you from A to B. But they're engineered for completely different purposes, built from fundamentally different components, and deliver a completely different experience when you actually push them.

If you train hard and need a deodorant that performs at that level, Wett is priced to reflect what it actually costs to make something that works. Available on subscription to keep the ongoing cost manageable and make sure you never run out mid-training block — because running out the night before a race or a big session isn't an option.

Google form results

Iv'e added an image below to the summary of the results our testers gave each of these products. You can also have access to the full form that our athletes completed should you wish to really dive in to our line of questions and reasonsing. Here's the completed forms: Ondrej testing complete. 

Who Is Each Brand Best For?

Wett is the better choice if:
👉 You train regularly and need a deodorant that performs under pressure
👉 You've tried natural deodorants before and found them lacking during workouts
👉 You want a product specifically formulated for athletic use
👉 You're switching from conventional antiperspirants and need confidence it'll hold up

Wild is a great choice if:
👉 You want a stylish, sustainable everyday natural deodorant
👉 Packaging and aesthetics matter to you more than performance
👉 Your activity levels are moderate and you're not training intensely
👉 You love a wide range of scent options