Gaining customer trust with your business is huge! And so is knowing what they expect from you. Having your product certified as organic in food or conflict free for diamonds can assure customers you are engaged in ethical practices. Recently our friend and maker of delightfully smelling bath and beauty products Cassie of SoapyLayne had her business cruelty-free certified by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics. We asked her about the process!
Q: Tell us a little bit about your business? When did you start? What do you make?
A: It all started when I decided to make handmade Christmas presents for my friends in 2010. I had always been fascinated by the process of soap making and decided to try it out myself with one of those DIY kits. Well, needless to say I was completely intrigued when I made a bar of soap… that you could actually use! I started researching and reading a lot of books and blogs, throwing away anything with questionable ingredients that was in my bathroom and makeup bag.
What started off as a few bars of soap turned into a complete line of natural skin care products when my obsession became a reality in 2011 and I started SoapyLayne.
Q: Can you elaborate on what goes into your product process? What's your philosophy?
A: I make everything myself in small batches to ensure quality goes into each product. I use gentle plant based materials that are nourishing for your skin and lack any harmful additives or preservatives. I do extensive testing on each and every product to make sure it’s the quality I would want for myself. I use organically sourced ingredients whenever possible and I try to keep costs affordable so that everyone can enjoy a little SoapyLayne!
Q: Why is cruelty free important to your brand?
A: Working many years in an animal hospital helped me realize the importance of creating cruelty free products that are also safe for the environment. I want SoapyLayne to represent myself and the things I’m most passionate about… little furry animals happens to be one of them.
Q: What's Leaping Bunny?
A: Developed by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics’ (CCIC) Leaping Bunny Program, it is a voluntary pledge that companies make to not test on animals during any stage of product development. The company's ingredient suppliers make the same pledge and the result is a product guaranteed to be 100% free of animal testing as of the fixed cut-off date.
Q: Why did you choose that over other cruelty-free certifications?
A: The Leaping Bunny Program provides the best assurance that no animal testing is used in any phase of product development by the company. Only the Leaping Bunny logo backs up its promise by commissioning on-site audits to assess the validity of each licensee's claim to a "no animal testing" manufacturing policy.
The logo is everywhere. It definitely makes me feel great when I pick up a product and see that little leaping bunny on there!
Q: What's been the response from customers?
A: My customers are so amazing and supportive of everything I do. It makes me so happy that my customers are like-minded and choose to go cruelty free.
Q: Where can people find your stuff?
A: I have an Etsy shop www.SoapyLayne.etsy.com and am so fortunate to have SoapyLayne carried at Good Home Studio which happens to be a rad little shop in Old Town Tustin. I have a few products in shops out of CA and am working on some secret plans of my own. :)
Q: Anything else?
A: Look for the bunny!
