The Exchanges

Q So in those early years, I mean, it's just you and Kate, like, making this stuff, making the soap and, and the shampoos, or did you, presumably to hire people to help you out, right?

A Well, Kate was actually very much involved in, uh, Raising the three children that we had at the time, and she was probably our best consumer advocate within the system to help guide my thinking on product design and packaging and so forth, and she's an artist, so she helped with the graphics and the art. Otherwise, I hired a chemist who was just perfect for us. He was brilliant. He helped us with Product formulations that were authentically grounded in natural ingredients. We had a warehouse in Kennebunk. We bought used stainless steel dairy equipment around the neighborhood. I knew where to get a hold of stainless steel equipment for a hundred bucks here and a hundred bucks there, and then you get your first filling machine, and So on. You just go.

AI assessment note: “Otherwise, I hired a chemist who was just perfect for us.”

Q Yeah. But I mean, they, they had a point, right? I mean, why would you even get into a market that was, I have to assume, totally dominated by those companies?

A Well, I think that comes purely and simply down to, uh, who you're serving. And in our case, we, we, Knew very well that we were serving a consumer that was discerning about what they would put in their bodies and why. They wanted facts, knowledge. We thought, well, why not serve these people? This is a great idea. The more people Learned about what was in their shampoo, or their soap, or their toothpaste. They would question, and Ralph Nader in the mid-seventies was successful in facilitating legislation that required that ingredients in personal care products had to be on the label. Once that happened, that disclosure and transparency raised lots of questions in people's minds for the first time.

AI assessment note: “comes purely and simply down to, uh, who you're serving.”