Like the birth of many company's you never know where inspiration will come from, but a lot of times the greatest epiphany or "ah ha" moment comes from personal experience. This was true for Larry Plesent, founder/CEO of Vermont SoapWorks, the largest producer of handmade soap in North America. In 1984 he was trying to earn some money for college by washing windows when he noticed that the soap he was using was giving him an unseemly rash. He experimented with a variety of soaps, but the itchy, red patches persisted. Sick and tired of irritated skin that made squeegee-holding most unpleasant, Plesent came to a decision: he decided to make his own soap. He figured he was far from alone in his struggle with irritated, itchy, sensitive skin and wanted to help others struggling. His wanted to get the word out that handmade soap is better for your skin and create a product that proved just that.
What makes there products so great is that Vermont Soapworks uses only organic and all-natural ingredients to make both their bar and castile, or liquid, soaps. Using a variety of oils including coconut, olive and palm, as well as other natural products, the factory manages to produce soap that is vegetable-based and not tested on animals. Vermont Soap USDA Organic means that their products are made with a minimum of 70% Certified Organic ingredients. Alkali, used to turn oils into soap, and water are the primary non-organic ingredients. Virtually every component comes from plant based renewable resources, farmed and processed without chemicals, in a sustainable, fair trade manner. Their main base oil supplier (palm, coconut, olive and palm kernel oils ) sets aside 3 hectares for every hectare they plant on their farms in Brazil. They use both natural and certified organic essential oils, grains, and herbs, and will NEVER count the water as the Organic ingredient.
Master Soapmakers create Vermont Country Soap the old-fashioned way. Natural ingredi are blended in small batches and poured into wooden molds. When ready, the soap is wire cut, placed on oak drying frames and aged in a curing room for a month. This process removes excess alkali, a major cause of dryness and irritation often found in conventional soaps.
What started as Plesent brewing up various concoctions of lye and acids in his kitchen quickly grew into Vermont Soapworks, an organic soap factory and retail outlet.
At Vermont Soap "Every day is Earth Day" ,their mission is to provide consumers with all-natural alternatives to conventional products and to educate them on why handmade natural soap is good for their skin and good for the environment. They pride themselves on making products that are made from all-natural renewable vegetable and botanical sources. Vermont SoapWorks is also a member of Co-op America's Green Business Network , the oldest, largest, and most diverse network of socially and environmentally responsible businesses in America. There hope and dream is that civilization will evolve quickly into a sustainable, peaceful and modestly prosperous world.
Made without chemical detergents, artificial foaming boosters, synthetic fragrances, colors, or preservatives
