I am not sure if many companies offer to share their journey with the public, but with our mission statement and desire to create a trusted brand, it becomes necessary. This blog will become an evergreen document as our story will continue to grow.

Zone Protects was created to help and protect people. My name is Brian Baer, and as founder and CEO I have had the entrepreneurial spirit inside of me since I was a child. Most children love to make mud pies, but I created an entire product line, dried them carefully in the sun, and attempted to sell them by the road.

Fast forward to the early years of my career as a chemical engineer working in West Texas. I was sitting on a friend’s back porch and we watched his dog destroy his flower beds. I said to my friend that I could make something to help stop his dog from ruining his garden. It was that event that motivated me to create No Holes Bark, a chemical-impregnated mulch product that repels digging dogs from home gardens.

Over the years following that event, I tried selling animal repellents via several small businesses, working mainly out of my garage. However, it wasn’t until 2017 that I decided to finally get serious about embracing the entrepreneurial spirit and drive inside me.

In 2017, I kept seeing and reading about the millions of innocent children all over the world affected by mosquito-transmitted diseases. They literally go to sleep at night under a fog of hungry mosquitoes, not knowing if they will wake up with a disease that will kill them in a couple of weeks. This is preventable and unacceptable as the death toll globally from mosquito-transmitted diseases is more than 750,000.

With that information in mind, I set out to create the world’s best insect repellent. Through intense research, I settled on using Picaridin as the active ingredient in insect repellents. Picaridin is derived from the pepper plant and is a synthetic chemical produced by Lanxess Saltigo. It is EPA-registered as a safe and effective insect repellent. In the formula we use at Zone Repellents, I added vanillin, the molecule found in vanilla extract, to improve the already outstanding performance of picaridin insect repellent.

The Zone Insect Repellent formula is patent-pending and offers 12 hours or more of proven protection against mosquitoes, ticks, flies, fleas, chiggers, gnats and no-seeums. It is safe for adults, children, pregnant women, and even pets! The light scented product feels great and smells great and is not oily, not sticky and will not damage clothing, plastics or gear.

Today, we offer our amazing original scented product, an unscented insect repellent for sensitive skin, an unscented Invisible Hunter insect repellent for hunters, as well as Tightline, our Fisherman's Formula insect repllent.

Going back to my roots, I’ve also worked to add a line of natural oil animal repellents to the selection we offer at Zone Protects. We offer No Holes! Digging Dog Prevention, Zone Hiss Off Snake/Reptile Repellent and Oh Deer! Deer and Wild Animal Repellent. These products use natural animal repellent oils that are encapsulated to ensure long application times. They come in a 32 ounce gallon size with battery operated wand and a money-saving concentrate.

With our insect repellent product line, we have truly created the world’s best insect repellents that are helping and protecting people as they enjoy the outdoors. We’ve also launched the Zone Global Outreach Program, which is designed to send donation cases of our life-saving insect repellents all over the world. As our company grows, the volumes of these shipments will also grow, and working with organizations such as UNICEF, the International Red Cross, the World Health Organization and Malaria No More, we hope to drastically reduce mosquito-borne illnesses and deaths. Zone also supplies natural disaster victims with repellents and sanitizers.

The initial Zone Insect Repellent formula was developed and perfected in a makeshift lab in my garage. Today, we have an 8000 sq. ft. light industrial production space in Decatur at the Decatur/Morgan County Entrepreneurial Center and are expanding our capacity to keep up with increasing demand.

We are growing rapidly and increasing awareness that DEET is no longer the standard for insect repellents, as it is not as effective and certainly not as safe as Picaridin-based insect repellents. You can find Zone Protects products on Home Depot’s online store, at many pharmacies in North Alabama, and are more and more sports/outdoors and lawn & garden markets by the day. Soon, Zone Protects will be available in all major outlets, and we will begin to take market share from DEET and other competitors.

Our company strives to keep our costs as low as possible by using American-made suppliers but also realizing that we support a global economy as our products can help protect people on a global scale.

I encourage everyone to check out our online store and try Zone Protects Repellents. Then, help us to educate other consumers and spread the word that finally, safe and effective protection from insects and animals is available for all.