Good for Everyone
A BRAND BUILT ON THE IDEA THAT A SIMPLE BAR OF SOAP CAN DO GREAT THINGS
/B· A· R ·E ·/ : BRINGING ANTISEPTIC RESOURCES TO EVERYONE
WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT OUR SOAPS?
Our soaps are all natural and free from preservatives, synthetics, or parabens. Basically, you won't find any of the yucky stuff that you would see in a "conventional" bar of soap. Speaking of which, did you know that the typical "bar of soap" that you see in the common grocery or drug store aisle is actually not soap but a detergent? You can learn more about that here.
We have both a handmade line of soaps and triple milled soaps. All are made with Rainforest Alliance certified palm oil and coconut oil which help naturally nourish the skin. Other natural ingredients are added to give color, scent, and exfoliation.
b.a.r.e. soaps was a simple idea born out of an observation in 2012. When co-founder Clare traveled around the world on mission trips, she noticed that many Westerners were helping provide fresh water to rural villages by helping dig wells. However, there was never a follow up of sanitation. So what if instead of fundraising, we were able to sell a really amazing bar of soap to fund sanitation supplies in these rural areas?
WE GIVE ON A "NEEDS" BASIS, HAVING LEARNED THAT A "BUY ONE GIVE ONE MODEL" DOESN'T WORK
INDIA: EMPOWERING WOMEN WITH FAIR WAGES TO RECYCLE USED HOTEL SOAP
We partner with Sundara Fund to employ local women (hygiene embassadors) in India to collect used hotel soap, recycle it into new soap, and distribute it to those who need it in a nearby slum.
Every purchase funds:
- -3x the local wage rate for our hygiene ambassadors
- -15% increase in wages/benefits from last year (2017)
- -Soap that is distributed to 500 migrant school children, along with basic healthcare and hygiene training
- -Soap to the local Shravan health clinic for women who seek free health care services
UGANDA: PROVIDING IMMEDIATE NEEDS TO CHILDREN
Furthermore, giving away soap can be detrimental to a local economy especially where soap already exists. The impact extends beyond the companies that provide soaps but the small merchants who stock it in their shops.
Instead of using proceeds to simply "give away" essentials, we can have a much broader impact by investing it on a "needs basis", which means we are in constant contact with our partners to assess what is needed at any given time.
In Uganda, our proceeds have provided for vitamins, custom & durable leather shoes for each of the 150 children, conducted hygiene workshops, provided funds for toothbrushes/toothpaste to be bought locally, and even helped fund solar at a newly built resource center for the children.
EVERY PURCHASE REALLY DOES MATTER
b.a.r.e. soaps is a passion project. That means that we run b.a.r.e. soaps in our spare time outside of our 9-5 job. That also means that none of us need to take a salary and all of the proceeds are either reinvested back into the business or into the non-profit initiatives that we support.
We get alot of questions around, "hat does giving back 20% look like?" 20% is just an estimate and fluctuates depending on how each year goes. But in 2017 and 2018, we gave back nearly 25% of our revenues. This means that for every $1 that you spent, 25 cents went to non-profit. This is really high for a for-profit business. Most businesses that give back only give back about 10% of their profits. The only reason why we are able to give back such a high percentage is because we operate with very low overhead (no salaries, no rent, etc). The other 75 cents is used to fund the cost of the item, shipping, warehousing, low operational overhead (website/ecommerce platform fees, accounting software, etc), and very light marketing. We do this because we truly believe in the causes that we support.
