When Mark Yates couldn’t find wipes he trusted for his family, he decided to make his own — better ones. That frustration turned into Kine, a South Australian wellness brand built on integrity, sustainability, and care. With a background spanning defence, technology, and consumer ventures, Mark brings precision and discipline to an industry that too often prioritises convenience over conscience.
In our conversation, Mark talks about building Kine from the ground up, the lessons he’s carried from tech and manufacturing into wellness, and what “practical wellbeing” really means in daily life. He shares his approach to staying grounded as both a founder and a father, and why purpose — not growth — is what keeps the business moving forward.
Founding a company while raising a family comes with its own kind of balance challenge. What does a typical day look like for you? How do you create space to slow down?
As a founder you are normally doing many roles at once – so my day normally has a mix of tasks like planning/strategy, investigating new possible technologies & materials to use, marketing, supplier management and finance. A little bit of everything, which is what I like. So yes, you end up doing long hours, but thankfully they are flexible, and I can still make time for my children and make sure I get good time with them before and after school.
Sustainability and quality are central to Kine. How do you make sure those values stay front and centre while scaling a product and running a growing team?
Sustainability and quality aren’t just part of our brand — they’re the reason people choose Kine. From the beginning, we built the business around those two principles, so they guide every decision we make. It’s not only about what’s in the product, but how it’s made, where it’s made, and who it supports along the way. By manufacturing locally, we stay close to the process — we can walk the floor, understand every step, and make changes immediately if something doesn’t meet our standard. That hands-on approach keeps us accountable and ensures that every product reflects the values we stand for.
At the same time, continuous improvement is built into how we operate — we’re always testing new wipes, formulations, and packaging technologies to see how we can do things better. It’s about continual progress. We work only with partners who share that mindset and are genuinely committed to sustainable innovation. That shared focus allows us to grow without compromising on what matters most: delivering products that are better for people, better for the environment, and made with care here in Australia.
You’ve described Kine as making “wellness practical and purposeful.” What does wellness mean to you personally, and how does that show up in your daily life?
Wellness to me isn’t about luxury or just looking good. It’s doing what is best for you and best for the planet. This makes you feel better and more connected to what matters. For Kine, that means designing products that fit into real life — wipes you actually want to use because they work well and feel great on your skin.
For other founders trying to build something that genuinely does good—for people and the planet—what advice would you give about staying grounded through the process?
You have to stay close to your reason for starting. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day — supply issues, marketing, admin — and forget what made you want to build it in the first place. But if you lose sight of the “why,” your customers will notice. They can tell when a product or brand loses its purpose.
That’s why I keep going back to the original reason behind Kine and comparing it with what we hear from customers. Are we actually delivering something useful, or just what we think people want? It’s a constant check-in — making sure that what we’re doing still lines up with why we started. When those two things stay aligned, everything else tends to fall into place.
