A Q&A with Kohler Co on Wellness Design and Experiences

How Kohler Is Integrating Elements of Transformation Into the Proactive Health Journey With Their Wellness Products

 Kate Fisher

 Dan Stanek

Estimated Read Time: 6 Minutes

As more people make holistic health a priority, a new era of wellness is here. With the introduction of longevity centers, social wellness clubs, health tourism, and holistic medicine into everyday life, innovation and change in the health ecosystem is now heading well beyond treating conditions to optimizing health at any age. Longevity and proactive health are rapidly gaining traction, with more people focusing on extending their health span rather than just their life span. As the industry evolves to empower self-care, there are opportunities to cater to wellness across body, mind, and soul.

Enter Kohler’s Wellness portfolio.

As products enter the market to focus on what’s best for mind and body, Kohler has created a portfolio of wellness products and rituals that help implement lifestyle improvements into consumers’ daily lives. With a focus on innovation and wellness design to enhance customer well-being, Kohler closes the gap between where users are and where they want to be through thoughtfully designed wellness products and immersive experiences.

In this Q&A with Huston Sprang, Marketing Manager – Wellness Products at Kohler Co., we discuss the origin of Kohler wellness and the focus of Kohler on innovative design in their product offerings that elevate consumers’ spaces, routines, and rituals. In addition, we learn about thoughtful cross-industry collaborations to enhance customer experience and well-being and discuss the vision for the future of longevity and health optimization.

Q: What is the origin story and history of Kohler Wellness?

For over 150 years, wellness has been at the heart of Kohler’s mission to help people live gracious, healthy, and sustainable lives. Our philosophy of Gracious Living—centered on enhancing quality of life—naturally evolved into a broader focus on wellness.

A pivotal moment in this journey was the transformation of The American Club. Originally built in 1918 as a dormitory for immigrant workers, it was reimagined in 1981 as a luxury resort, laying the foundation for Kohler’s hospitality and wellness ventures.

In 2000, we launched the Kohler Waters Spa, which quickly became a cornerstone of our wellness evolution. Today, we operate five Kohler Waters Spa locations, each offering immersive, restorative experiences.

As the wellness landscape continued to evolve, we saw an opportunity to expand beyond hospitality and create a dedicated wellness product business. Our goal is to bring elevated wellness experiences not only to spas and commercial spaces, but also into people’s homes—creating personal sanctuaries that support physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Q: How do Kohler Wellness products support health optimization and longevity? Ideally, what additional products would be a value add to your consumer portfolio?

At Kohler, our wellness portfolio is designed to support individuals seeking to integrate wellness into their daily lives—whether they’re pursuing physical recovery, mental clarity, or both. We’ve placed an early emphasis on hot and cold therapy, offering solutions that can be used independently or combined for a powerful contrast therapy experience.

Given our legacy of innovation in water, we’re also focused on transforming the shower and bathing space. We’re elevating our steam shower and hydrotherapy bathing portfolios, reimagining how consumers interact with their bathtubs, and revitalizing the category with new, immersive experiences.

Our approach to product development is rooted in thoughtful design and real-world insight. For example, we’ve engineered an ergonomically optimized ice bath specifically for cold therapy, based on extensive research into how people are using these products and the challenges they face.

Ultimately, our goal is to simplify and integrate wellness into everyday routines—offering beautifully designed, high-performance solutions that support people on their personal wellness journeys.

Q: You’ve successfully meshed wellness experiences with Kohler innovation through your collaboration with Remedy Place through Ice Bath by KOHLER x Remedy Place. What would be ideal partnerships for consumer products in the Kohler Wellness Product offering in the coming years?

It’s essential to us that every partner we work with shares our commitment to putting the consumer first and advancing our mission as a brand. We look for collaborators who are equally passionate about making health and wellness more accessible, inclusive, and impactful.

Whether it’s through product innovation, service delivery, or community engagement, we believe that meaningful progress happens when everyone is aligned around the same purpose: helping more people live healthier, more balanced lives.

Q: Where do Kohler Wellness products intersect with Kohler Waters Spas, Kohler Hospitality, and Kohler Experiences?

At Kohler, we see the intersection of wellness and hospitality as a unique opportunity to lead and innovate. By bringing together our Wellness product and Hospitality businesses, we’re creating a powerful synergy that allows us to deliver exceptional experiences while learning directly from our guests.

This collaboration enables us to gather real-time feedback from our spa environments, which informs how we design and refine our wellness products. Our spa experts are deeply involved in this process, helping us ensure that every product we create is rooted in real-world insight and expertise.

We’re also committed to supporting our hospitality teams with best-in-class, reliable products that enhance the guest experience and keep operations running smoothly. These spaces serve as immersive environments where guests can try wellness solutions firsthand—before bringing them into their homes.

A great example is our recently renovated Kohler Waters Spa in Kohler, which now features a KLAFS sauna—part of our 2024 acquisition. It’s a perfect illustration of how we’re blending innovation, experience, and trust to shape the future of wellness.

Q: We’ve discussed the current Kohler Wellness experience offering – where do you hope to see that grow in reference to longevity experiences, social wellness, events, and so on?

Community plays a vital role in overall well-being, and we’re committed to nurturing it. By bringing people together, we aim to foster meaningful conversations and connections within the wellness space.

This vision will take shape in many forms—from events and experiences to digital platforms and shared stories—all with the purpose of helping people discover new ways to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Q: Where do you envision the future of proactive health and longevity going in 2025 and beyond and where does Kohler Wellness fit into that vision?

It’s been inspiring to witness the growing global commitment to personal health and well-being. Over time, we’ve come to understand that true health isn’t found in a single product, supplement, or quick fix—but in the consistent rituals and behaviors that shape our daily lives.

We believe we’re still just beginning to truly understand our bodies—how they communicate with us, and how best to support them.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to be part of this evolving conversation and to help lead the way toward a more informed, empowered approach to health.

For more insight into longevity, health optimization, and wellness, read our full POV on how these trends are shaping the future of proactive self-care and personal well-being.

At WD Partners, we work with our clients to implement these emerging trends and strategize together as we envision a new era for the everyday user through health and wellness products, social wellness clubs, fitness centers, spas, health tourism experiences, and customer health journeys and relationships. Our mission is to create extraordinary experiences everywhere through brand-right, ops-right and build-right solutions. With our integrated strategy, design, architecture, and operations, we help solve our clients’ challenges while anticipating their future needs and delivering innovation at scale.

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