Until last year, toilet paper had never loomed quite so large in the public mind.
Early in the pandemic, many countries saw a toilet paper crisis, with stores selling out of rolls as people panic shopped. An Australian cafe used toilet paper as currency. A website helped you calculate how long your stock will last.
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While the shortage is over, the pandemic has spurred new products promising to improve our crappy bathroom experience forever—such innovation as extra long toilet rolls.
Marutomi Seishi, a Japanese toilet paper maker, launched a 300-meter long roll last month. That’s six times the length of an average roll, or equivalent to the height of three Statues of Liberty.
The longer rolls are designed to reduce the number of visits to the supermarket to restock, Maki Ochiai, the deputy chief of marketing at Marutomi Seishi, told VICE World News.
“We wanted to deliver a product to customers that reduces their shopping stress,” she said.
As Japan’s state of emergencies get extended, more people are spending time at home and thus running out of rolls faster, she explained.
The decision to make a 300-meter long roll was also a test of toilet paper’s limits, the challenge being how to create super thin but soft paper to produce a compact roll that would fit normal toilet roll holders. Previously, paper makers have created gigantic rolls that require the use of a freestanding paper holder.
Marutomi Seishi managed to keep its 300-meter roll at a diameter of 12.5 cm, which is bigger than average but wouldn’t be out of place in a normal bathroom.
“Any longer, and the roll wouldn’t fit in toilet paper holders,” Ochiai said, adding that the company’s sales have grown since the product’s roll-out in May.
Yuriko Sato, a worker in the tech industry in Tokyo in her 50s, said she’s thankful for long paper rolls.
“It’s great because I don’t have to restock as much,” she told VICE World News.
Sato has recently bought an extra-long roll made by Marutomi Seishi. She also likes that the roll has no core, which means more paper and one less thing to throw out.
