HERE WE ARE! (OVER HERE!)
A little who’s who on the people behind Soaper Duper. Up first? Flo, our Head of Product Development.
(Truth be told, she pinch-hits on quite a lot of other stuff. Category management, analysis, plastic recycling research, packaging engineering. She kind of has to. We’re a start up. And there is no room for people to get all specific about their job descriptions.)
Flo, tell us why the nation’s going to get hooked on Soaper Duper?
Our formulations are what they say on the 100% recycled plastic iconic bubble bottles: perfectly luxurious, and gloriously guilt-free. (And I’m not just saying that because I helped develop them.) Even without artificial surfactants like SLS/SLES, our body washes have a very satisfying suds up. They’re full of naturally-derived ingredients, they’re amazingly affordable, and we’re proud to support two great charities – Clean the World and Water Aid, to help bring soap and water to people who aren’t lucky enough to be able to access it otherwise.
What’s the biggest draw for you?
I feel totally safe using it! Soaper Duper formulas don’t include artificial colours, or SLS/SLES, mineral oils, animal derivates, phthalates, or plastic microbeads. Every product comes in a generously-sized recyclable or recycled plastic pack too, and I like that I’m teaching my kids to think about the environment, and setting an example for them that as an adult, your career can revolve around doing good by doing business.
Why do Tesco and Soaper Duper make sweet harmony?
We are democratizing naturally-derived, super-high quality products that are formulated without the ‘usual suspects’ and packaged with the earth in mind, and we want to make them available to everybody. What do you need when you want to reach a lot of people? A partner with the same ideals in mind, and a lot of reach. We saw that they’d taken plastic microbeads out of their products a year before they had to, they saw what we were doing on the eco-friendlier and recycled packaging front, and we realised that two great brands would be better than one!
What was the biggest challenge you and the team faced bringing Soaper Duper to market?
How much time do you have? We’ve had suppliers go AWOL. Recycled plastic engineering issues. Debates about to silicone-or-not-to-silicone. Unsuspecting natural fragrance oils going rogue. Learning the subtle difference between requesting PCR plastic, PIR plastic, any other kind of plastic. And then the year long debate on grey versus paper bag brown versus green. And of course getting the formulations to be fabulous at a really affordable price.
Describe Soaper Duper in six words…
Perfectly luxurious, gloriously guilt-free. HAPPY!
Signature karaoke tune?
I have a mild-medium obsession with S.I.A. although I would be all over a ‘Push It’ duet with Saskia. (She’d be Salt, I’d be Pepa.)
What’s your desert island product?
My practical side says body wash, just add pulverized sand and you’ve got a smoothing scrub!
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
I’d remove envy and dole out tolerance. Let’s bring each other up, empower each other! Move forward and up!
If you could give advice to anyone wanting to live a little greener, what would it be?
Use less water. Use less plastic. Use less energy. Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. Have shorter showers. Turn off lights. Choose products that are packaged more simply. Never leave your house without a stash of carrier bags for shopping. And teach your children well. Nobody can do everything. But each of us can do something!