Founded in a Duke dorm room, Carpe has grown from a solution for sweaty hands into a bestselling product redefining hyperhidrosis treatment
By Sharon Kinsella | Photography courtesy of Carpe
Dentist Siti Lowery spends her days in close contact with patients. “Body odor is unacceptable [in my profession],” she says. But when menopause – or her “crisis of internal flames,” as she calls it – hit the owner of Cary’s Lowery Smiles, she started sweating profusely, even while treating patients, and nothing she tried kept it under control. Then she came across the brand Carpe, and, noticing it was locally based, decided to give the antiperspirant a go. “It just worked,” she says.
This kind of excessive sweating is exactly what inspired Duke University alum Kasper Kubica and UNC alum David Spratte to start developing and ideating on Carpe in 2014. The two met through the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, a joint merit scholarship that offers students “dual citizenship” at both universities. It was during a summer program in New Orleans after their freshman year when David, up late one night, turned to Kasper and told him about an idea he’d been working on.
“He tells me he’s always had sweaty hands,” Kasper says. “I also have sweaty hands.” David was interested in developing a solution to this problem, and had even already met with a dermatologist to consult on the project. He saw a clear need for an effective, noninvasive treatment for hyperhidrosis – excessive sweating that’s not necessarily triggered by heat or exercise. “A lot of people come [to the doctor] and want something simple as a first-line treatment,” Kasper says, before trying more “serious” options like systemic oral meds, injections or even surgery to address their sweating.
Kasper and David started by testing every product already on the market for sweaty hands and found most companies simply added the active ingredient found in antiperspirants to moisturizing lotions. “Which, if you’ve ever had sweaty hands and put lotion on them,” Kasper says, “they just feel greasy and even sweatier. … We realized that if we just created a different base that went on nongreasy, nonsticky and left your hands feeling a little drier rather than slicker, we would have the best product on the market.”
The pair began experimenting with formulas and prototyping their base in their dorm rooms, drawing on expired patents in the public domain, online lotion tutorials, and combinations of moisture-wicking powders and astringents. Through that process, they also discovered how well they worked together – that dynamic, Kasper says, was crucial to their success. “We just fit so well,” he says. “We were so excited for the next conversation and the next part of this, and we just wanted to work together no matter what it was going to be.”
After nine months and 60 formula iterations – tested by applying the lotion to one hand, donning nonbreathable latex gloves and watching nerve-racking YouTube videos of daredevils dangling off construction cranes – Kasper and David took their concept to now-shuttered Durham contract manufacturer Hatchbeauty Laboratories for their first production run. Carpe officially launched on their website and Amazon in July 2015, the summer before their junior year.
Five-star reviews quickly poured in, catapulting the lotion to the top spot among sweaty-hand solutions on Amazon. Still, Kasper says, scaling the product proved challenging, so the two began attending dermatology conferences to spread the word.
Their big breakthrough came at a conference in 2017, when dermatologists began reporting back unexpected results. “They said, ‘Listen, we’ve been trying this with patients for the past two years, and the results are incredible,’” Kasper recalls. “And we said, ‘Yeah, we know – the reviews are great.’ And they say, ‘No, not just for hands. We’ve been recommending it for underarms, and it works better than any other antiperspirant we’ve tried.’”
That revelation stunned them. They never imagined they could outdo the crowded field of underarm products already on the market. Yet by solving the tricky problem of sweaty hands, Kasper and David had inadvertently developed a highly effective underarm antiperspirant – one that also works as a deodorant thanks to the dry environment it produces, which inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria.
Demand grew after they released an underarm version of the lotion. Customers began asking for solutions for sweaty feet, faces and other overlooked areas, prompting Kasper and David to adapt their formula and expand their line. The brand took off, Kasper says, fueled primarily through word of mouth. That momentum has carried the company into its next phase: it’s looking forward to a future retail debut with help from Topspin Consumer Partners – its partner since 2024 – and is developing new premium fragrances.
Even as Carpe grows and gears up for its next big chapter, Kasper emphasizes that what matters most isn’t the sales figures or acquisitions – it’s the people driving them. He loves hearing how customers discover Carpe through friends or family. “That’s what makes me happiest,” he says. “It means the product works so well that people are excited to tell others about it. For some, it’s truly life-changing. [Sweat] can control what clothes you can wear when you go out and [have you] worried about pit stains or odor. You’re in your head, and it’s ruining your confidence. But when something actually works, you’re freed from that insecurity, and you get that everyday confidence back. That’s what Carpe has delivered to so many people, and that’s why I think our growth has been so strong in the past few years.”
Siti, who uses the underarm stick and breast cream daily – her favorite scent is fresh powder – agrees. “I don’t have to worry about body odor, even in the middle of my [menopausal] sweats or rushing from my day job to an evening event,” she says. “It has given me that confidence.”
The brand has enjoyed a few viral moments in the past few years after a pandemic-induced dip in sales (“Sweating is a social problem,” Kasper explains) led the team to lean into short-form marketing on TikTok and Instagram. For many people, those playful videos – many filmed against the familiar backdrop of the Bull City – were their first introduction to Carpe. As a local, seeing a piece of home pop up on your feed sparks a sense of pride – especially knowing the brand’s reach now extends worldwide. Carpe is a brand that helps people feel their best, but it’s also a reflection of the community that shaped it – one defined by ingenuity, collaboration and support. “It’s a unique city with incredibly talented people,” Kasper says. Carpe embodies that spirit, seizing every opportunity to make life a little more comfortable, confident and bright.
