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This article is intended solely to discuss industry developments and does not constitute promotion or endorsement of any brand or product. All nicotine products carry risks. Please comply with applicable local laws and regulations.
Key Points
- Female Consumer Segment: Kelly White says around 70% of its repeat customers on HAYPP in Sweden in 2025 were women, suggesting female consumers may be emerging as a more distinct segment within the nicotine pouch category.
- Beyond Packaging: Founder and CEO Sophia Wilsby says the brand’s female focus extends to pouch format, comfort, flavour, nicotine strength and discretion, not only visual design.
- Design and Regulatory Boundaries: Kelly White uses fashion-led elements such as pastels, rhinestones and leopard print to differentiate itself, while facing questions around gender stereotypes, youth appeal and tighter packaging rules.
- Brand Value Under Pressure: Wilsby argues that a strong brand should remain competitive even if regulators restrict colours, materials and packaging.
- Independent Brand Strategy: Against global brands such as ZYN and VELO, Kelly White is relying on speed, focus and a defined consumer niche, while remaining open to external investment, strategic partnerships and potentially becoming part of a larger consumer group.
2Firsts
Europe, September 23, 2026
Swedish nicotine pouch brand Kelly White has built its business around a consumer group its founder says was long underserved by the category: women.
Kelly White targets adult female nicotine consumers and uses design as one of its main points of differentiation.
In an interview with 2Firsts, founder and CEO Sophia Wilsby said that, according to non-public HAYPP customer data for Sweden in 2025, around seven in ten Kelly White repeat customers on the platform were women. The figure covers Kelly White customers on HAYPP and does not represent the gender composition of Sweden’s nicotine pouch market as a whole. HAYPP is an online nicotine products retailer operated by Swedish e-commerce group Haypp Group, selling nicotine pouches and other nicotine products.
Public-health data show a broader rise in nicotine pouch use among young Swedish women. According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, 5% of people aged 16 to 84 reported daily nicotine pouch use in 2024. Among women aged 16 to 29, the proportion rose to 15% from 10% in 2022. Among men of the same age, it increased to 11% from 5%.
Kelly White’s experience offers one case of how the category is becoming more finely segmented — and how that shift is changing questions around product development, brand identity, regulation and competition.
A selection of Kelly White nicotine pouch products shown on the brand’s website, covering different flavours, pouch formats and nicotine strengths, including Slim and Mini variants. Image source: Kelly White official website.
Kelly White Bets on a Female Consumer Segment
Wilsby traces part of the opportunity to the history of Swedish snus.
“The nicotine pouch category in Sweden evolved from traditional tobacco-based snus, a category historically anchored around male consumers,” she told 2Firsts. Some of that legacy, she said, carried into the products, brands and communication that followed.
Kelly White was founded on the view that adult women were already moving into nicotine pouches but often had to choose among products that had not been developed around their preferences.
Wilsby said the HAYPP data subsequently gave the company an indication that the positioning was resonating with its intended audience. Around 70% of Kelly White repeat customers on the platform in Sweden in 2025 were women, according to the non-public data she cited.
Sweden’s official statistics provide a broader backdrop. Daily nicotine pouch use among women aged 16 to 29 exceeded that of men in the same age group in 2024, although use increased among both groups between 2022 and 2024. The figures do not indicate what products or brands those consumers choose.
Wilsby cautioned against treating women as a uniform consumer group.
“Women are not a homogeneous consumer group, any more than men are,” she said.
Beyond Pink: Product Needs or Brand Language?
Wilsby said Kelly White’s female focus is intended to extend beyond visual branding.
The company considers pouch format, comfort, flavour, nicotine strength, discretion and how the product fits into everyday use, she said, alongside packaging and communication.
“If all we had done was put a pink label on an existing product, Kelly White would have been fairly uninteresting,” Wilsby said.
The brand nevertheless uses a distinctly design-led visual language. Its products and accessories include pastel colours, rhinestones and leopard-print patterns, while some refill containers draw on the appearance of cosmetics, jewellery boxes and fashion accessories.
That has also opened Kelly White to criticism that moving away from a traditionally masculine nicotine aesthetic risks replacing one gender stereotype with another.
Wilsby disputes that interpretation. She said the company is not trying to define what is feminine, but to broaden the range of visual expressions available within the category. Rhinestones, pastels or fashion references, she said, are elements of the Kelly White brand world rather than a claim that all women share the same tastes.
She also argued that traditionally masculine design is often treated as neutral, while a more explicitly feminine aesthetic is more readily described as stereotypical.
The history of tobacco marketing makes gender-led nicotine branding particularly sensitive. A major U.S. National Cancer Institute review of tobacco marketing documented cigarette campaigns aimed at women using themes including beauty, independence, slimness and fashion, as well as feminine packaging and product design.
Kelly White operates in a different product and regulatory environment, but that history means gender-led nicotine marketing is likely to attract particular scrutiny.
A selection of Kelly White nicotine pouch products shown on the brand’s website, covering different flavours, pouch formats and nicotine strengths, including Slim and Mini variants. Image source: Kelly White official website.
Fashion-Led Branding Faces Regulatory Scrutiny
Wilsby said Kelly White draws a clear line around its intended audience: adults who already use nicotine.
“Our ambition is not to encourage people to start using nicotine, regardless of gender,” she said.
She described several internal marketing rules that go beyond basic legal requirements. Kelly White only works with models aged 25 or older, she said, does not allow marketing to suggest its nicotine products are risk-free, and uses digital channels only where visibility to underage audiences can be restricted.
Wilsby also drew a distinction between segmenting an existing market and seeking to expand that market by creating new nicotine users.
Asked by 2Firsts whether its fashion- and beauty-influenced refill containers could broaden the brand’s appeal beyond existing adult nicotine users, Wilsby rejected the view that such aesthetics were inherently youthful.
She described Kelly White’s design language as comparatively restrained and said the brand uses fewer visual elements than many competitors. Fashion influences, she argued, do not automatically make a product youth-oriented, and an adult nicotine product should not have to be unattractive to be marketed responsibly.
Regulators in some markets are moving toward tighter controls on the visual presentation of nicotine products.
The UK government is currently consulting on packaging, appearance and display rules covering vaping and nicotine products, including nicotine pouches. The proposals include requiring packaging for nicotine products to be white and restricting imagery, logos and the presentation of branding and text. The consultation closes on October 2, 2026. No final white-packaging rule has been adopted.
The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 provides powers for the government to make regulations covering retail packaging for nicotine products, including its appearance, shape and texture. Specific restrictions would require regulations made under those powers. The explanatory notes to Section 94 explicitly state that the power extends to nicotine products and can be used to regulate retail packaging appearance.
What Remains Beyond the Packaging?
Wilsby said design is important to Kelly White, but it is not intended to be the brand’s only asset.
If packaging rules became substantially more restrictive, she said, the company would still seek to compete through product quality, slim and discreet pouches, flavour and nicotine-strength choices, and a product experience developed with its target consumers in mind.
“A strong brand has to be able to survive changing rules around colour, materials and packaging,” she said.
“Otherwise, you have not really built a brand, you have built a package.”
The competitive backdrop is becoming tougher as multinational tobacco groups expand their nicotine pouch businesses.
Philip Morris International said full-year ZYN shipment volumes in the United States reached 794 million cans in 2025. PMI also reported strong growth in nicotine pouch shipments and said ZYN held around two-thirds of U.S. nicotine pouch value share in 2025. The company said ZYN was available in 55 markets.
British American Tobacco reported that revenue from its Modern Oral category, led by VELO, rose 47.4% to £1.165 billion in 2025. BAT said its Modern Oral portfolio was sold across 49 markets.
The figures use different reporting bases and are not directly comparable.
Independent Brands Face a Scale Test
Wilsby does not expect Kelly White to compete by becoming a smaller version of the largest global players.
“They have more capital, larger distribution organisations and enormous compliance resources,” she said. “We have different advantages: we can be faster, more focused and significantly closer to a specific consumer.”
Sweden remains Kelly White’s core market, while the company is expanding selectively in a limited number of international markets. Wilsby said its positioning can also help with distributors because the brand can fill a gap in a portfolio rather than compete as another broadly positioned nicotine pouch line.
The company is not seeking expansion in every available market.
“I would rather be relevant in the right markets, with the right consumer than irrelevant in a hundred,” Wilsby said.
Scale brings a different set of demands for independent brands, particularly distribution, regulatory compliance and capital.
Kelly White is keeping several options open.
Wilsby told 2Firsts that the company would consider external investment and strategic partnerships where they could accelerate development in markets where Kelly White is already present or wants to establish itself. She also left open the possibility that the brand could one day operate as part of a larger fast-moving consumer goods group.
She did not say Kelly White was seeking a buyer.
“What matters to me is building a brand strong enough to live on, regardless of whether it is one day operated within White Industries or as part of a larger FMCG group,” Wilsby said.
“Right now, the job is to build something worth wanting to own.”
For more coverage of global tobacco and nicotine consumption trends, continue following 2Firsts at 2firsts.com.
The cover image is based on a portrait of Sophia Wilsby provided by Kelly White and was digitally reworked and recomposed by 2Firsts using AI.
References
- Public Health Agency of Sweden. Use of Tobacco and Nicotine Products. National Public Health Survey data on nicotine pouch use by age and gender.
- U.S. National Cancer Institute. The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Monograph No. 19. Review of tobacco advertising, audience targeting and female-oriented cigarette marketing.
- Philip Morris International. Philip Morris International Reports 2025 Fourth-Quarter & Full-Year Results. ZYN shipment volumes, U.S. market share and international market presence.
- British American Tobacco. Combined Performance and Sustainability Summary 2025. Modern Oral revenue and market footprint.
- UK Department of Health and Social Care. Tobacco and Vapes: Packaging, Appearance and Display. 2026 consultation on packaging and appearance requirements for vaping and nicotine products.
- UK Government / legislation.gov.uk. Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 — Explanatory Notes, Section 94: Retail Packaging. Regulation-making powers covering nicotine-product retail packaging.
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