How to Shop Like an Eco Warrior

I'm Emma Heathcote-James, founder of the multi award winning certified B Corporation Little Soap Company, which created the Challenger brands Eco Warrior. I'm so excited to be launching the series with this episode, the Little Soap Company journey. Here I reveal my personal roller coaster ride, the Little Soap Company mission to change the world and how I took the business from kitchen table to supermarket shelf. My journey to owning a cosmetics company is unconventional to say the least. And the journey from kitchen table to supermarket shelves was far from smooth and simple. It genuinely took blood, sweat and tears to get the brand out there and persuade retailers to be as passionate about soap as we are. My grandmother had always used pure proper soap, the sort that doesn't make your skin tight. The kind that's hard (but not too hard) and it lasts ages in the dish. She had stashes of the stuff stockpiled in their home. So it was without question that we grew up always using proper soap. At some point, liquid soaps hit the market but totally bypassed us as a family. It was only after granny died and her stash was fast dwindling, that I realised how hard it was to buy synthetic free soap over here. To me, the skincare market is akin to the food industry. Less ingredients is more. Just as Jamie Oliver proved you only need a handful of ingredients to make healthy fast food or that proper bread only has three or four key ingredients. The same is true with soap. We are awash with toxins in our day to day lives, and more and more people are choosing to move away from this as more people are developing allergies and intolerances. Never has the need for pure synthetic free soap been more relevant. For me, my life changed the day I nonchalantly bought a bar of handmade soap at Bretforton Village Fete, the village where I used to live. That single purchase plucked from a shiny yellow horse bucket in a North Cotswold orchard on a sunny afternoon was soon to create the unexpected eureka moment that formed the beginnings of Little Soap Company. Getting home that evening, I eagerly took out my new purchase and read the label as I turned the shower on; coconut, olive and palm oil, fragranced with just pure essential oils. It certainly ticks every box pureness wise and was not a combination I've ever tried to make myself amongst my many failures on the aga over the past few years. Moments later, watching the lather form, was the realisation that this doesn't belong in a horse bucket. This soap belongs on the shelf of Waitrose, it was better than anything I'd ever made or used. This sparked a question... Why was this sort of soap confined to sporadic farmers markets and craft shows? Why wasn't pure organic soap like this commonplace on any supermarket shelf? It seemed totally bizarre. I decided there and then still in the shower (despite knowing nothing about it), I would somehow create a company which would make the best organic proper soap possible; that I would disrupt the marketplace by offering consumers a choice. Pure soap shouldn't be only available in specialist shops. And here was the crux of the matter. I needed to make it affordable. If made in volume, it needn't retail at ridiculous prices. I wanted pure natural soap to be easily accessible via supermarkets, and to become part of everyone's weekly supermarket shop. It was to be sustainably made, ethically sourced, and skin and planet kind. The process to do that wasn't quite as easy as it sounded with legislation and safety assessments to read take on board and grapple with and fast learning that there is a physical cap on hand making artisan products, it was a steep learning curve. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2008, Little Soap Company was born. In the first couple of years, the company was a passionate hobby business alongside my real job as I created a brand that was transparent and easily understood. I did every farmers' market and craft show going, trying to get the word out there. And from the start, it was apparent where this new love was taking me. My analysis of why it wasn't available in the supermarkets was that customers didn't actually understand the difference of the staple multi ingredients synthetic soap that was so readily available and so cheap. Compared to real traditional soap made with a few simple pure ingredients. I needed to educate and communicate succinctly and clearly. Communication was the key. First, I had to convince supermarket buyers they needed to give choice on the shelves. Only then could I educate the soap-buying public. That was my strategy. But I needed to start small and get known first, build a small trusty tribe of followers before I knocked on any retailers' doors. I had to make sure the products worked and were liked. I started locally with Warner Budgens which was a small chain back then of four stores in the north Cotswolds. I had to badger, charm and beg my way into that first meeting. And when I did, the buyer almost laughed at my naivety when I said I'd only been trading a few months and literally told me to come back when you're a bit bigger and have got barcodes. By 9am the next day, I was back in his office with barcodes ready to roll. It threw him. And I could see tenacity was going to play a key part in all this. From that day onwards I would never take no for an answer. With barcodes and a regular order in place with Warner Budgens, my delusions of grandeur felt the next step was obviously Waitrose. I was six months in, ambitious perhaps, but I was convinced we could do it. Ignorance truly is bliss. With a background in the media, I wasn't used to emails and calls being ignored. And so like a dog with a bone I called and called and emailed and emailed the poor Waitrose buyer until I finally got a reply. A meeting in Bracknell. I just knew if I could get in front of the buyer, I could explain what the soap industry was currently offering, how my soap differed, and why they should be stocking it. It worked. And I was offered space for four of my handmade lines in eight Waitrose stores. I only asked for Cheltenham which is where my friend shops so I drove home thrilled. This stepping stone provided the business with the springboard it needed. No longer was I a simple hobby soapmaker but one that was on the shelves of one of the highest regarded supermarkets in the country. Making for the farmer's markets and handmaking soap for eight stores for Waitrose was just about doable. But a year later Waitrose asked me to supply their top 14 stores in the Midlands and Cheshire, which highlighted a blindingly obvious problem for expansion of the business. It'd mean curing and storing the bars but also shipping them as there was no way I could drive to each store myself. It would turn my beloved hobby business into a loss-leading sweatshop. It was a challenge, and for a few months remained unanswered. The demand was there. People clearly love the soap; strangers were buying it. The supermarket buyers I had contact with were also convinced, but to handmake it was impractical and furthermore, the profit nor margins were right as a business, as a buyer, or indeed as a customer, as these handmade bars retailed at a whopping £5.95. My aim to expand let alone make my products accessible to all was fastly flawed. Added to this 18 months into trading I hit a legal wrangle regarding trademarks and needed to change the name of the business. I'd originally called it 'The Naked Soap Company'. As ever, I decided to see what could have been a horrendous setback as a blessing in disguise and just got on with it renaming to Little Soap Company, but with £15,000 to recoup for loss of packaging and new label replacements, new website domains and the like, not to mention the potential legal fees that came with it. However, things happen for a reason. And with the name change under my belt, I was often asked to talk about my journey and the business so far at various conferences. In 2011, I was talking at the 'Women in Rural Enterprise' conference and specifically talking about the problems facing artisans and producers and how hard it is to upscale. Unbeknownst to me, a Tesco buyer was in the audience. To cut a very long story short, she believed in me and the products and gave me an order for four lines (40,000 bars) to go into regional Tesco stores across the Midlands, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. 40,000 bars. How would I afford to make your package and distribute them? But 40,000 bars. How could I afford not for it to work out? This contract or rather gift was the turning point for the business. I gave up the part-time safety blanket media and PR work that I was still doing so I could concentrate on the soap full time. I needed to find a factory to partner with who would be able to make my soap to recipe and to the quality I demanded. I knew if I could crack this challenge, it would open doors to other larger orders and my ambition to get pure natural soap to everyone at an affordable price would actually become reality. I decided there will be two ranges. The original artisan and handmade range, I would continue to make and a new commercial Organic range that we made at the factory. Four lines, 10,000 of each, launched regionally in Tesco in 2012. Due to the volumes, I managed to get the bars to under £4. And despite the price leap from the other bars on the shelves, they were (unexpectedly too many) a hit. With no cap on production and logistics now sorted, it meant six months later, I could launch nationally into Waitrose. It was the best beauty launch and their fastest-selling bar soap and followed in all 28 Booth stores later that year. In 2013 and 2014. It went national into Tesco, Boots and Sainsbury's. I need to mention from conception to this point. I work from my laptop at the kitchen table alone. However, I desperately needed help as there literally weren't enough hours in the day or night. My life was soap as any startup will tell you. My life was purely work. Luckily I loved it. Moving off the kitchen table, it was important to find a building that fitted the 'Little' ethos. It had to be aspirational. It couldn't just be on an industrial estate. It had to be in the Cotswolds, and it had to be somewhere I was happy to drive to each day. Our building is full of character its Broadway's old wineshop tucked away on the upper High Street. It had room for a vast workshop, storage rooms, online order room and three roomy offices upstairs. I absolutely love it. I settled on Broadway simply because it felt right. Despite me now living in Warwickshire, the business had started in Worcestershire, and it felt right for it to return there. So from October 2014, and with the space for a team, the business was finally able to grow. I bumbled along with just an accountant and two admin assistants for four years, it was really hard. I still pretty much did everything, insistent I was right to oversee all listings, which was such a mistake in hindsight. I created and launched the liquid range the Waitrose, I refreshed the 'Little Beast' Pet range and created a 'Naturals' range for Asda of bars and liquids, but I was drowning and working every single hour. In hindsight, I should have got really good expert people in, with experience of FMCG and growing the team far quicker. But I was so nervous at the time of cash flow. Each year felt like an unexpected bonus, an accident almost, I was so reluctant to take the punt and fund the proper salaries needed to do it in case next year was different. Something had to break. But thankfully, it wasn't me. Chaos hits in the summer of 2016, when the factory I was using to produce suddenly went under, I'd been making to order literally and then told as of Friday that week, the factory was closing its doors. We got through that I sold my beloved house, obtaining a fast deposit for it to finance stockpiling as the banks couldn't get the money over fast enough and moved into a tiny, but idyllic rental on a farm. There have been dips, there have also been peaks, but I wouldn't change a thing. What's carried me through is the unwavering belief that we have a fantastic brand; and we're helping not just the planet in that what's going down the plughole is earth-friendly; but for many with problematic and allergy-prone aggravations, it's helping people's skin too. As I began to heal in 2017, my first team member with FMCG experience entered my life. She called me about another brand she was actually working with. But by the end of the call as the first real-life person I'd met also working in the supermarkets, I'd begged her to come and help me with the promotional calendars and back offices for our main accounts. This was a turning point, there was so much I was missing or simply didn't know I could do. After that, I took on a really good bookkeeper. And then my supply chain manager joined us and from there, my eyes were opened. And frankly, the magic started to happen. And I began to finally get some much-needed sleep, sleep makes clearer decisions. And so from there, I took on a team who all knew far more than me. And with finances under control and forecasts assuring me we could grow the team further, so we did. With more hands and phenomenal experience on deck. I had the time to do what I was good at and enjoyed. I created a new concept for soap: 'Eco Warrior'. The idea being soap was just no longer soap; each bar was to have a function. This was made initially for Sainsbury's, it was one of their 'Future Brands', and we launched it in 2019. Another first on shelf, it was the first bar range putting what's traditionally in bottles into bars and the first shampoo and shave bar to hit the supermarket shelf. The team continued to grow, bringing in a role for marketing and a PR agency and assistant to the supply chain and then lockdown hit. But with half the team already working remotely around the country. We, fortunately, were already set up for work from home. Those in the office simply picked up their iMacs and took them home. A first for us as a team though was having weekly zoom meetings. Before with everyone all over the place, me perhaps being the worst culprit dashing from retail and meeting to retail and meeting up and down the country, we'd never even bothered to try before. The only time the team would get together was at our quarterly away days. But from March 2020, our weekly whole-team meetings began and have remained. And in this new normal the quarterly away days just last a few days to maximise our time together. Something that did happen in lockdown was there was a huge demand for soap. So for us, lockdown changed our culture and our communications but didn't negatively affect the business. In other areas, we were quick to adapt. When we had to close the doors on our 'Little Soap School' one to ones, we created 'Soap School at Home'. These were make your own kits which actually worked far better, opening the educational arm far wider as people didn't need to take a day off and travel to us. I don't think we'll look back. The last two years with COVID, we continue to grow; we've implemented robust systems, terms and processes and created more roles. I finally handed day to day admin over to a fabulous team who now have and oversee the key accounts. Of course, I'm still present at the main meetings as I enjoy them so much. But we've added help to every department, the foundations are there ready for our next growth spurt. The launch of 'Eco Warrior' brand was a turning point, I'd always wanted to provide an eco-friendly alternative. But this range made a bold, clear statement that Little Soap Company stands for protecting the planet and our people. All our four brands now proudly sit on the shelves of all the major supermarkets and health & beauty stores online at Ocado and Amazon, all with a loyal following. And that's great. But what I'm just as proud of is our recognition as a B Corporation. In other words, we recognised for putting planet before profit, I take this accreditation seriously and see it as my responsibility to use our products and our success to make even more of a difference. I want everyone to be able to shop like an eco warrior, to make small switches and habit changes that collectively will reduce the amount of plastic in landfill, protect communities around the globe and reduce the damage we do to the earth. So I got even more creative, I came up with the idea of 'Eco Bathroom' a concept all about educating and empowering people to make small realistic changes in the tiniest room of their house. Our website is chock full of content and tips about the changes you can make in the bathroom to be more eco friendly, and recommendations for other fabulous eco challenger brands. At the end of the day, I've only created a small company that makes soap, one of literally hundreds of 1000s of products that lie in the supermarket shelves in the UK. It's a drop in the ocean really. But it's so important, partly because people told me I couldn't do it, which spurred me on to prove them wrong. Partly because it's been a huge life lesson about the importance of being true to yourself, following something you believe in and not giving up despite it often being the easy option. But mostly, it's because I built something that's profitable and good for people and the planet. I never lost sight of my purpose and mission. It shows it can be done from the ground up by a small brand. So it shows it's possible. In fact easier to do as a bigger brand, there really is no excuse. Running a business is a responsibility. We just need all businesses to understand the business of a business should be to help improve the world. So as we draw to an end, let's quickly recap. In this podcast you heard about my journey from soap lover to soap maker and on to upscaling to becoming a national soap manufacturer available in 11 of the key retailers, the grocers and chemists, which amounts to over 6000 stocking points across retailers and high street such as Boots, Lloyds and Superdrug, as well as the large dot coms. You've learned the difference between naturally derived and synthetic products and had a small insight into the world of FMCG retail and what it takes to create a successful brand. If you want to read and hear more about our journey, head over to the 'About Us' area on littlesoapcompany.co.uk. You can also follow me Emma Heathcote-James, Little Soap Company and Eco Warrior Soap on Instagram, you can listen to our other podcasts, including getting the lowdown on greenwashing, hearing about the plastic crisis and why the future of shopping needs to be circular, which are also available where you found this one and on iTunes, Spotify and Google podcasts.