A few weeks ago, Organic Authority published an article, What Real Natural Beauty Brands Want You to Know About Big Beauty. It was a very well-written piece by Liz Thompson, with quotes from some of my dear friends and brand founders in natural beauty. As I read through the article, it caused me to reflect on what Natural Beauty really is, and why we started in the first place. I wanted to spend a few minutes adding my thoughts because I think this is an important conversation to have as the natural beauty industry continues to grow and evolve.
Zoe Organics products became available in May of 2010. I was making products and running the business from my kitchen. I was a young mom with a toddler, preschooler and was pregnant with my third. I believed that natural and organic products could be so much more than what was currently on the market. During the first few years in business, I connected with some of the brand founders that today have thriving businesses. They also started in their kitchens or studios, researching and sourcing the best natural and organic ingredients they could find, making them with utmost care in small batches.
We had a common goal, to educate consumers on the benefits of natural and organic ingredients and provide something different than the conventional products that dominated the market. When we began, green beauty was still very young and good products were hard to find. You could take our products at face value, and when you called the number on the website, you could speak with the brand founder, who was also the formulator (and likely every other role within the company)!
In 2013, our friends La Bella Figura started A Night For Green Beauty, which would, for the subsequent three years, be the leading, highly anticipated green beauty event, bringing together the best premium natural indie brands into an intimate setting. It wasn’t a “show”, but a premiere social gathering, complete with flower crowns, champagne and tables covered with the most beautiful natural and organic products.
We, collectively, evangelized and promoted each other’s brands. We recognized that together we were a force that could bring about change. And indeed it did. Our efforts began to pay off and gain momentum as consumers eagerly made the switch to natural – now that products that were safe, beautiful and performed well were available. And sales picked up.
Fast forward seven years, and the opportunities have multiplied. The challenges have as well. We all agree that without the growth and consumer demand for natural products, we wouldn’t have the opportunities we do today. But we also feel the pressure from brands who have jumped on the bandwagon when it became trendy to do so. Brands that have big budgets and celebrity followings, and are far more motivated by the bottom line than their environmental or social impact.
But despite all the noise that has entered this evolving industry, I believe what set us apart then is what continues to set us apart today: our steadfastness to what we believe in, and the reasons why we started in the first place. As I read all of the quotes from the brand founders in this article, I was encouraged and re-energized. As long as there are brands fierce with purpose and commitment to quality and authenticity, there will be Real Natural Beauty.
A dream came true for us this week – our products went up on Nordstrom's website!
Nordstrom is a retailer we set our eyes on in 2010 when I was making products in my kitchen. We knew we wanted to partner with them, and this week it happened.
You can now find most of our products on nordstrom.com – and watch for our brand new gift sets coming early October. They are GORGEOUS!!
If you make a purchase on nordstrom.com, would you pretty please leave a review so that new customers can discover us as well? You're the best!
Thanks for working together with us to make natural and organic the standard in skincare. We've only just begun!
xo
Heather
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Have you heard? We've been making some changes to our prices this summer and we just lowered the prices of two more favorites! Zoe Organics Diaper Balm and Nipple Balm just got pretty new price tags in anticipation of our new tubes launching this winter.
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Our definitive summer skincare guide is here! Find out our list of personally tested, non-toxic, regular go-to sunscreen recommendations – for faces, sensitive skin and the whole family, as well as the best after-sun care products.
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What repels mosquitoes? Do natural repellents really work? Find out why not all natural insect repellents are equal.
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This is not your ordinary repellent! Find out 5 ways to use our Insect Repellent that highlight the unique benefits of this multi-functional product.
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Why some of our products are prone to melting in the summertime, and the easy steps you can take to re-solidify a melted product.
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Growth comes with pain, but it is also life-giving.
This comes down to the core of what Zoe Organics is all about: celebrating, protecting and changing lives. It has always been my goal that our products would be available to touch as many lives as possible, and part of that is by making them available in as many physical locations as possible. The other part of this goal is that they are as affordable as possible.
We've worked really hard to keep your costs down while still providing the highest-quality, choice ingredients that make our formulas so pure and effective. It is very rare to find a line that uses ONLY certified organic ingredients in most formulations. It is also the exception to find brands that put so much care in their product packaging and design. These things are important to us, and we believe that they are important to you as well.
You read the blog title, so you know that we have some really amazing news to share! Beginning TODAY, many of our prices are lower! You heard that right, lower. While most are familiar with periodic price increases, we are taking a leap of faith (in you!) and lowering our prices!
How is this possible? There are some big changes we have been working on behind the scenes this past year. We've been working on our processes and partnering with new suppliers, a new manufacturer and logistics company to make Zoe Organics better than ever. Part of streamlining and scaling does come with cost savings, and while (of course!) we'd love bigger margins, we'd way rather more people have the opportunity to use our products.
Our new pricing will roll out over the next several months as we introduce some new containers, packaging and sizes. Here are the new prices for today, already marked down in our shop:
Stay tuned for our other updates! We can't wait to reveal them!
With all these changes and growth taking place, I don't want to miss an opportunity to say thank you. Thanks to you, our customers and tribe, for making all of this possible. We wouldn't be anywhere without you.
xoxo
Heather
