Your restroom makes an important impression on people. What kind of impression are you leaving on guests and employees—a good one or a bad one?
Give your building occupants a more positive experience—and make maintenance easier for your team while you’re at it—with these five trends we found on the expo floor at the 2025 ISSA Show North America.
1. Simplified Dispensers
Companies like Tork, an Essity brand, and Kutol Products showcased washroom product dispensers that are easier for building occupants to use and for your crews to refill. Tork featured an automatic version of its PeakServe dispenser with a battery life up to five years or 500,000 paper towels dispensed. The dispenser is also 99.99% jam-free, so your guests won’t run into issues getting the towels they need, explained Katrin Ferge, segment marketing manager for commercial.
Kutol Products demonstrated a top-dispensing unit for soaps, sanitizers, and scrubs. Many dispensers are bottom-dispensing, which can lead to hard-to-clean buildup on the underside, explained marketing manager Sarah Fry.
“When you’ve got products built up, you’ve got germs,” Fry said. “Cross contamination is another issue. Taking the dispensing area to the top means that there’s no leaking or buildup, so you take that out of the equation. It’s easy to see where you need to put your hand, so you’re not constantly trying to get product out or taking more than you actually need.”
2. Inclusive Features
Automatic dispensers are part of creating a restroom experience that’s inclusive of all of your building occupants, but it’s not the only step to take. “Put yourself in the shoes of the people you want to serve,” urged Ferge. For example, in an office building, employees might prioritize hygiene and comfort. From there, figure out what you need in the restroom to deliver that message—plentiful paper towels with a premium feel, easy-to-use dispensers that don’t require much grip, different soaps, etc.
Depending on your building type, you may also want to think about features like adult changing stations or adding baby changing tables to the men’s room, Ferge added. Features like these can show guests that your building is for everyone.
3. Sanitizing for Sensitive Screens
Tablets and other devices with touchscreens are touched frequently, but they’re rarely cleaned or sanitized—and the germ level on them can be up to five times higher than what you’d find on the average toilet seat, said Kirsten Hochberg, senior specialist with CloroxPro’s Clinical & Scientific Affairs team.
“Most screen products don’t sanitize and most sanitizing wipes aren’t meant for screens,” Hochberg explained.
At ISSA Show North America, CloroxPro highlighted its Screen+ Sanitizing Wipes, which are specifically formulated to kill germs on screens. They’re low-linting, so they won’t leave flecks on shiny surfaces, and the wipes are also 35% less wet than a standard disinfecting wipe, which allows them to sanitize without leaving a puddle on your screen. The sanitizing chemistry is also formulated to be compatible with plastics, unlike alcohol-based wipes, which can cause plastic screens to crack over time.
4. Odor Neutralizing Devices
Tork’s booth also included a new launch in the U.S., Tork Constant Air Freshener, part of the company’s Skincare & Aircare line. Instead of covering up smells, it neutralizes them with a propellant-free system that continuously and evenly distributes fragrance. The devices are available in three scents with adjustable intensity levels to match your restroom size and occupants’ preferences.
It’s also compatible with the company’s Tork Vision Cleaning system, which enables users to monitor product levels and ensure refills are completed on time.
5. Allergen-Friendly Products
Schools in particular are increasingly looking for restroom products that don’t trigger students’ allergies, Fry said. Kutol offers dye- and fragrance-free skincare products to ensure schools and other building types can offer a ready supply of product without causing allergic or fragrance sensitivity reactions.
