If you like your bottled water to come with actual water in it, this might not be the brand for you.
The anti-sugar crusaders at indie brand Fred Water are now selling empty versions of their eye-catching flask-shaped bottles, encouraging consumers to fill and refill them with free water instead.
Before you start freaking out about the nasty cancer-causing chemicals that might leach into your drink from reusing a plastic bottle, Fred reassures you its bottles are BPA and phthalate free.
"With the popularity of its water flasks at an all-time high, the company wanted to make an even bigger impact on its core mission: shifting consumers off sugar and on to water, and reducing its impact on the environment," Fred says. "As a result, the company decided to sell its refillable flask empty, and remind consumers again that while Fred Natural Spring Water is delicious and good for the body, refilling with free water hydrates you just the same."
Founded in Brooklyn, Fred also describes the bottles as "pocket-friendly," claiming that unlike those evil round metal SIGG bottles, which can cause injury if you fall on one, its flat water bottles are flexible and safe. In other words, stop carrying around that heavy artillery, and cushion your clumsiness with Fred.
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At $9 for an empty 13.5-ounce flask, it might sting your wallet a little—but if you're the bottled-water drinking type, only in the short term. Compare that to $25 for a 20-bottle case, or $0 for drinking tap water (excluding tax dollars).
Fred is also meant to appeal to your environmentally friendly sensibilities, because recycling is good for everybody in the long term, and gives you warm and fuzzies for feeling like you're making a difference now (also because, if you're going to buy bottled water anyway, Fred might as well make a buck off it).
Of course, if you're the type of person who tends to get distracted by activities less dull than keeping track of your water bottle, you will within a day or two lose your $9 plastic container, and be annoyed. Because it's not expensive enough to really warrant much attention.
Now, if only someone would design a $60,000 water bottle, that's the kind of thing you'd never leave behind.