Buzz Off ditches name Bug repellent now ‘Lewey’s’

CORINNA – Buzz off, Buzz Off.

A local insect-repellent maker is hoping a new name will provide a little brand separation between her product and a similar one with the same title.

Alison Lewey has changed the name of her all-natural repellent from Buzz Off to Lewey’s Eco-Blends, which is the same name of her company.

The only thing different about the product, Lewey said Tuesday, is the label.

“It’s the same stuff,” she said about the soy-based repellent.

The change was prompted by confusion between Lewey’s product and an insect-repellent clothing line, she said. Buzz Off Insect Shield LLC, based in Greensboro, N.C., has developed a line of clothing treated with a permanent repellent solution. The apparel is sold through clothing retailers Bass Pro Shops, Ex Officio, L.L. Bean and Orvis, according to the clothing company’s Web site.

Lewey said she trademarked the name Buzz Off in Maine as a lotion but that the apparel company can use it because it makes clothing, not lotion, even though the ideas behind the products and their names are the same.

Some people, believing Lewey was working in partnership with L.L. Bean and others, have congratulated her on the assumed arrangement, she said.

Lewey, who espouses an anti-corporate philosophy, wants it known that she is not associated with the clothing line in any way.

“I don’t want that,” she said. “[The name change] is the only way I can get away from it.”

Aside from the name confusion and resulting change, Lewey said, things are “excellent” for her business.

She no longer makes the all-natural repellent in her house. For the past two and a half years, she said, her company has used a 2,800-square-foot production facility adjacent to her home.

With the new facility, Lewey’s Eco-Blends makes 12,000 bottles of the lotion each day, she said. It also makes all-natural pesticides for use by gardeners and an all-natural insect repellent for horses.

The soy bean oil that makes up 80 percent of the lotion is manufactured in Aroostook County, according to Lewey. Other ingredients in the repellent include rosemary, thyme, vitamin E, lemongrass, wheat germ oil, peppermint and geranium.

Lewey said she has resisted pressure to sell her products in larger chain “big box” stores and supermarkets in Maine. Lewey’s lotions and pesticides can be found statewide at smaller businesses such as convenience stores, neighborhood markets, and at True Value Hardware and Agway stores, she said.