Our story
It started with a label nobody could read.
Gum baseArtificial flavoursProprietary blend
Two years ago we were standing in a servo turning over a pack of gum, trying to work out what ‘gum base’ actually meant. The answer, it turns out, is that nobody tells you. These are the three phrases a label uses when it would rather you didn't ask.
Who makes it
Two people and a lot of arguing with chemists.
We are Alex and AJ. Perli is the first product Vital Labs has put its name to, and it took two years longer than we expected.
Most of that time went on the base. We knew from the start that we did not want a synthetic one, which sounds like a small decision until you discover that almost every gum manufacturer in the world is set up to use exactly that. Chicle and mastic are tree saps. They cost more, they behave less predictably in a factory, and they are the reason our first four batches were unchewable.
The rest went on the label. Every time a supplier offered us a blend with a trademark on it, we asked what was in it, and every time the answer was less specific than we wanted. So we chose ingredients we could name in full, printed them on the front, and made peace with the fact that Nano-Hydroxyapatite is a harder word to sell than a made-up one.
We are in Brisbane. If something on this site does not add up, email us and one of us will actually reply.
Alex and AJ · Vital Labs Pty Ltd · Brisbane
Non-negotiable
Three things we wouldn't budge on.
Every one of them made the gum harder to manufacture and more expensive to sell.
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Name everything.
If an ingredient needs a trademark to hide behind, it doesn't go in. Nano-Hydroxyapatite is printed in full on the front of the pack, not folded into a blend.
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No synthetic base.
Chicle and mastic are tapped from trees. They cost more than a polymer and they are harder to work with. They are also not plastic.
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Twenty full minutes.
Anything that goes rubbery after two minutes fails the only test that matters, because twenty minutes of chewing is the whole point of the thing.
What we chose
Three ingredients, and why each one is in there.
Every one is printed on the pack, spelled out in full. Contains propolis and egg. Read the label.
Named in full.The mineral
Nano-Hydroxyapatite
The same mineral your enamel is made of. The first ingredient we chose.
Not sugar.The sweetener
Xylitol
A birch-derived sweetener, with erythritol alongside it.
Not plastic.The base
Chicle + Mastic
Tree saps. The reason our first four batches were unchewable.
= one piece of Perli.
Read both labels.
This is the comparison that started the whole thing. Drag the handle.
Ordinary gum
✗ Synthetic gum base. A plastic
✗ Sugar or artificial sweeteners
✗ Nothing in it for your enamel
✗ “Gum base” left unexplained
✗ A label that hopes you won't look
Perli
✓ Nano-Hydroxyapatite, the enamel mineral
✓ Sweetened with xylitol. Sugar free
✓ A gum base tapped from trees
✓ Plastic free
✓ A label you can read aloud
Drag the handle.
Where we're up to
Two flavours, and a long list of things we still want to make.
Read the labelAsk us anythingWe'll answer
Perli is the first thing we have shipped. It will not be the last. If there is a question this site doesn't answer, email hello@perli.com.au.
Try it
See whether we got it right.
One pack is $19.95. Eight brings it down to $11.97 a pack, with shipping on us from four.
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Cinna Mint Remineralising GumWarmer and rounder. Real cinnamon over cool mint.
$19.95down to $11.97 a pack in a 8-pack
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30-day money-back guarantee. If the texture or the flavour is not for you, we will refund it.