10 Quick Questions from Emma Cook of The Australian Natural Soap Company

10 Quick Questions from Emma Cook of The Australian Natural Soap Company

Emma Cook is the co-founder (along with her husband Anthony) of The Australian Natural Soap Company, a company that creates and produces soaps in Melbourne, Victoria.

We recently chatted with Emma about the company’s fantastic ethos in terms of both animals and the environment.

The company is now stocked in hundreds of stores around the country and even has a doggy shampoo!

1. Tell us a little bit about how you got started in business?

During outback adventures as a video journalist, I discovered the profoundly restorative power of our native plants and natural ingredients. Together with my husband, a doctor, we dreamt of sharing this natural goodness to the world.

We started experimenting with Australian plants and essential oils in our kitchen, coming up with all sorts of concoctions. It was the soap that we made that got our family and friends excited so we thought we might have something that others might want to buy!

2. The Australian Natural Soap Company is cruelty-free and vegan, what sparked this choice?

It blows my mind that animal testing still occurs in the cosmetics industry. I grew up with the Body Shop and Anita Roddick was my absolute hero. I have hunted out cruelty-free products from a very young age so of course, I was going to continue this when it came to sourcing our ingredients. I also became vegetarian when I was 13. When I began my research on soap, learning all about tallow, animal fats and other animal ingredients that are often used in soap making, I was like um, we’re not using any of that!

3. Your soap is also palm-oil free and you work with The Orangutan Project can you tell us a little about this choice you have made as a company?

Being palm oil free was really important to me. I’ve spent some time living in Indonesia and have seen first hand what the palm oil plantations have done to the natural ecosystems in Sumatra and Borneo. When I started to research it, I couldn’t believe that this was all so a lot of companies could use a really cheap oil to make most of the products that sit on our supermarket shelves. The biodiversity contained in these jungles and rainforests is so important to the planet. Much more important than giving people cheap soap!

We partnered with The Orangutan Project when I was still selling soaps at markets. I really thought it was important for us as a company to not only produce a palm oil free product but also support organisations that are on the ground, fighting for the survival of orangutans and their natural environment. I really fell in love with the Orangutan Project’s philosophy in particular of not only protecting these magnificent creatures and their home but also supporting the local communities that depend on the land.

4. What about the ingredients, are they sourced locally?

Around 95% of our ingredients are sourced from Australia. We only source ingredients from overseas when that ingredient isn’t produced in Australia. When I first started the business, that was another thing I couldn’t understand – why do we have so many skincare products on the shelves that use ingredients that come from overseas. In my opinion, Australia produces some of the best natural ingredients for the skin on the planet. We should be celebrating this in the same way that we celebrate our fresh produce.

5. Everything is still handmade is that correct?

Yes – our unique slow set cold-pressed method of making the soaps is exactly the same as when we were making it in our kitchen. Many hands in our Melbourne manufacturing facility are involved in making the finished product! We used to also handcut all our soaps but once the orders got bigger, that became a bit harder to do.

6. Plastic, do you use it?

Early on in our business journey, I had this aha moment when I was using our soap in the shower and started asking myself why do I have so many plastic bottles in my bathroom when really the soap that I’m using is just as good if not better than anything else that we were using for cleaning – and that’s not just cleaning the skin – that’s cleaning my hair, our clothes, the dishes, even the dog. That was the next phase of experimentation – offering a soap bar equivalent to anything that involves cleaning in the house. We are in the process of undergoing a massive rebrand which we are very excited about and by the end of it, we will have eliminated all plastic from our solid soap boxes and soap flakes packaging. Our range of liquid soaps are glass with a bamboo rim and the only plastic is the label and the pump, which you can return to us so that we can recycle through Terra Cycling.

7. Where do you hope to see the ANSC in 5 years’ time? Any ultimate business goals?

I like to say that we’re on a mission to redefine the way people think and feel about soap. I think over the years, soap has been getting a bad rap because it’s been considered drying and also because of some questionable ingredients. To anyone who thinks they don’t want to or can’t use soap, I say try a good quality cold pressed, plant based soap. We would love to be the soap of choice for Australian homes and bathrooms. We’d also love to take our humble soap to the world and showcase the amazing natural ingredients Australia produces for the skin.

8. What other ethical brands inspire you?

I feel so happy to be able to say that there’s a growing list of brands that inspire me – Who Gives a Crap, Dr Bronners, Terra Cycle. A particular shout out to the female founded businesses such as ModiBodi, Flora & Fauna, DesignerBums to name a few – absolute trailblazers in my eyes.

9. What other ethical leaders or individuals inspire you?

Dr Jane Goodall. My three-year old daughter has a book on her that we regularly read together. I love being able to teach her about Dr Goodall’s story. She was just such a trailblazer and was so driven by the empathy that she had for the animals that she studied.

10. Finish the sentence: “Making an ethical product matters because…

What we put in our shopping trolley is actually a very powerful vote for the kind of future we want for our planet. Imagine if every Australian overnight just made that small swap of using a liquid soap or gel to a solid soap bar – think of all the plastic that would be saved by such a simple swap.

Bonus Question: Who should we interview next?

Ellie from Go for Zero maybe?

Final Thoughts

Thank you so much Emma! To shop the range for yourself be sure to visit
The Australian Natural Soap Company website.

What did you think of the 10 Quick Questions from Emma Cook? If you would like to read more interviews like this one, be sure to visit our Vegan Chat section today.

LGV!