Tom Chappell

Co-Founder, Tom's of Maine · 1 appearance on the record.

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In 1970, Chappell co-founded Tom’s of Maine with his wife, Kate, pioneering the natural personal care movement before selling a controlling stake to Colgate-Palmolive in 2006. He later established the sustainable American-made apparel company Ramblers Way and authored the values-based business books The Soul of a Business and Managing Upside Down.

15statements → 14claims → 8claims resolved → 38%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 1.33/5average debate potential → 1said about them ↓

3 supported 3 partly supported 2 contradicted 6 not checkable as stated how the 14 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

14 assertions · 1 insight · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 14 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 8 are resolved, and 6 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Tom argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Tom's of Maine gave employees 5% of paid time for volunteer work

“We would organize that charity work or they would elect to do what they wanted to do in the community. It might be literacy work. It could be helping on the Appalachian Trail. It was generally community-based, environmental-based needs. Then they loved it. I m…”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 22:44 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted

Tom's of Maine pushed the personal care industry to end animal testing

“All the other companies stopped testing on animals, so we had a big influence.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 14:24 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Tom Chappell on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said15 What others said1 Episodes1

Everything Tom Chappell said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Contradicted

Tom's of Maine pushed the personal care industry to end animal testing

“All the other companies stopped testing on animals, so we had a big influence.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 14:24 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Contradicted

Chappell: The garment and textile industry is Earth's second-largest polluter

“The textile and the garment industry, because it is the second largest polluter on this earth.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 27:13 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Partly supported

Tom's of Maine created the first natural toothpaste, deodorant, and mouthwash

“We were the first person to put a toothpaste together, a deodorant together, a mouthwash. All of that was, we were first time providers of that.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 10:29 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Tom's of Maine launched with a $5,000 loan backed by IBM stock

“I asked a friend to put up 5000 dollars. He and his wife were involved in the creation of this new alternative school in Kennebunk called The School Around Us. We became good friends, and I told him of my idea, and, ah, he had some IBM stock and took it to the…”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 8:07 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Chappell: Tom's of Maine stalled with zero new products for four years

“The crisis was that we had achieved our strategic benchmarks, and I was feeling quite empty because we hadn't created a new product in four years.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 18:40 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Supported

Tom's of Maine gave employees 5% of paid time for volunteer work

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 22:44 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Partly supported

A 1992 deodorant recall cost Tom's of Maine $450,000 in ruined inventory

“450,000 dollars worth.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 24:46 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Chappell: Tom's of Maine fired zero employees over the 1992 deodorant recall

“No, I think I took the hit for that. No, we didn't fire anybody.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 25:19 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Insight

Chappell: Tom's of Maine succeeded by stealing market share from CPG giants

“The reason I was successful at Tom's of Maine is because I took market share away from Colgate, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever. So when you can take market share away from the commodities by an alternative approach to that product development and that product …”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 26:27 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Supported

Tom Chappell: Norman Rockwell recruited him at 10 for a magazine cover

“As a matter of fact, Norman Rockwell found me At a choir practice in Pittsfield, Massachusetts at St. Stephen's Church, pulled me out and asked if I wanted to be on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, and I was 10 years old, I had never heard of the Saturd…”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 2:29 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Chappell: Ranked #1 salesman at Aetna but received only a $600 raise

“Well, I was the number one salesman in my class of 65 people, but I was then given my raise. The raise was 600 dollars, and then I found out the lowest raise was 300 dollars.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 3:17 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Partly supported

Ralph Nader pushed 1970s mandates for personal care ingredient labeling

“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.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 12:47 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Supported

Chappell: Tom's of Maine became the Procter & Gamble of natural foods

“Within the natural food store community or distribution system, we were the Procter and Gamble of that class of trade.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 16:03 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Tom's of Maine scaled by hiring McKinsey and Booz Allen talent

“We brought on people from Booz Allen Hamilton, McKinsey and Company, and so from 1981 to 1986, ah, we were executing a strategic plan that, ah, had a lot to do with changing your message so that you could appeal to that new consumer.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 17:36 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Chappell: The Norman Rockwell painting featuring him was offered for $750,000

“So they said it's been valued at 750,000 dollars, and they wanted me to have the First chance to buy it.”

Tom Chappell Dec 11, 2017 ▶ 31:26 Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell

The other half of the tape: Tom Chappell's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 1 time in 1 episode on How I Built This. every mention, with the transcript →

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Every mention by year

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Advice Line with Jeff and Curran Dandurand of Jack Black Skin Care Apr 3, 2025 · 1 mention · from 14:07
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Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
Tom's Of Maine: Tom Chappell	Dec 11, 2017	19m

Tom Chappell

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

Their most notable contradicted claim

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Appearances (1)

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