Soaps Are A Natural For Brookside Label

EVERETT

About seven years ago, Sandie Ledray and Mary McIsaac naively purchased a "fixer" home in Lake Forest Park, which they planned to renovate in their spare time.

The project was much bigger than the two expected.

Fifteen months into the renovation, the two were out of food, sheet rock and laundry detergent, Ledray says. Because of her interest in environmental issues and the need to help solve her personal detergent shortage, Ledray began making soap.

Ledray studied soap-making from books written in the late 1800s and early this century. The result was bars of old-fashioned, natural soaps that Ledray says are good for the skin and easy on the environment.

Before long, friends were regularly stopping by to pick up soap, and Ledray's hobby developed into a home-based business. Ledray and McIsaac spent many weekends peddling soap at craft fairs throughout the region. Eventually their products attracted distributors and other customers.

Two years ago they incorporated the business, and this May moved to space in an Everett industrial park.

"Now the company has a life of its own. . .," McIsaac says.

Today, Brookside sells a line of nine bar soaps under its own label and markets another 12 soaps under various private labels. The tiny company is producing 2,400 bars of soap a week and has annual sales between $100,000 and $150,000, Ledray says.

The Brookside soap line includes bars filled with oatmeal and almonds, a gentle facial cleanser; rosemary and lavender, to soothe away the day's tensions; and even ground cinnamon bars, a good hand cleanser for gardeners, cooks and others who work with their hands, Ledray says.

Until recently, the partners expanded the company using only their money. To keep costs down, Brookside operated on a shoe-string budget. For example, Ledray built her own soap-processing kettle for about $300 instead of buying a commercially-made kettle for about $30,000.

The two got their first loan only a couple of months ago to buy a packaging machine. To keep up with future growth, however, Brookside will probably need some additional outside funding, Ledray says.

The soap takes about eight hours to process in the kettle. Then it is poured into a mold where it solidifies in about five days. Finally, the brick is hand cut into 4.25-ounce bars and set out to dry for several weeks.

Ledray and McIsaac take their social responsibilities as seriously as they take their business responsibilities. All Brookside's soaps are made with high-quality natural ingredients. The soaps use no animal fats and are not tested on animals.

"We won't grow if we have to compromise our quality or our values. . . .I need to be able to sleep at night," Ledray says.

The two women also use recyclable paper for their minimal packaging and grate all their scrap soap into laundry detergent, which they donate to the Chicken Soup Brigade.

This attention to quality and to environmental concerns means Brookside soap is pricey compared to other commercial soaps.

Brookside's soaps retail price varies dramatically, depending on where it's being sold, Ledray says. The price ranges from $2.59 to $4.95 for a bar.

Still, the soap sells well. Rishi Schweig, a distributor for the Feather River Co. near San Francisco, has been selling Brookside's product nationally for several years. Feather River specializes in distributing natural body-care products.

"We've had a good experience with it. . . .We are very enthusiastic about Brookside," he says.

Rick Seibert, a distributor for the Ginseng Co. near Los Angeles, says his company has sold Brookside's soap for about three years. The speciality soap niche is a competitive arena but Brookside's product is competitive, he says. Its price is consistent with other quality soaps made from top-of-the-line ingredients, Seibert says.

Schweig says the consumers who want a soft, nice-smelling, old-fashioned product are willing to pay more.

Ledray says the soaps appeal to those allergic to various synthetics in regular soap, those especially careful about what they apply to their skin and those opposed to using animal fat in products.

"We will never compete with Proctor & Gamble nor do we want to," Ledray says.