Target reached!
EDIT: Okie Soapy has been featured in The Telegraph both online (11th April) & i...
Okie Soapy Development & Vegan Friendly Products
Okehampton
Aim
To develop & launch a collection of handmade male grooming products in addition to other products & to have them vegan approved.
Project aim
The main aim is to develop and launch a collection of natural, handmade male grooming products in addition to other Bath & Body products I can add to my current collections.
The History of Okie Soapy
The Okie Soapy Soap Shop launched on 4th July 2014 selling products online and in a local shop. I started to attend events from November 2014, here I learned which of my products were selling well and also what type of products prospective customers would like to see developed as my business grows. At this stage I had a total of 11 varieties of soap, small soap gift sets & a special novelty Christmas soap, shortly after Christmas I launched my Bath Bomb collection.
This is a collection of some of my current products, traditional, handmade cold process soaps, Jumbo Bath Bombs and bath fizzes. The packaging for the soaps I developed and cut myself.
As you can see, the entire branding and final look of the product is as important to me as the product itself. Each bar of soap is hand cut and stamped with my Okie Soapy logo.
Please visit my website and Etsy store to see my current collection of products. This will show you the type of products I have so far and will give you an opportunity to read my reviews & see what my customers think of my current products and service.
How your Pledges will Help
My current products are very much female orientated; I would love to produce and launch a collection specifically for men. I have already started developing & experimenting with recipes for this collection; there are currently four different products, one of which has 3 variations making a total of 6 products to launch the male collection, which is yet to be named. In addition to the products themselves, this project will also help to develop the branding and packaging for the male collection so that the final packaged product reflects the quality of the item.
From this project I would also like to be able to develop and launch two further products to my current collection, lip balms and hand creams.
In order to be able to sell Bath & Body products within the EU, a Cosmetic Safety Assessment has to be obtained for every product before it is put on sale, this is carried out by a qualified chemist. To a small business this equates to a lot of capital; therefore the funding for this project is not only to help develop new products & packaging, but to help gain the neccesary legal paperwork to be able to put the product on sale to the public.
Of course in return for your pledges you do get something back too! Take a look on the right hand side of this page >>>> to see what goodies you can get from gift vouchers, 'goodie boxes' of Okie Soapy goods, a box of goodies for a month for 6 months & EXCLUSIVE rewards too! It's a fab way to try my products or even to give as gifts to others. Just below I've included a 'sneak preview' of some products you'll receive with certain pledges.
£50 pledge - Recieve a bumper collection of Okie Soapy goodies!
Choose this reward and one of the items in your collection will be this brand new gift set as below (soaps may differ).
£100 pledge - receive an Okie Soapy goodie box each month for 6 months!
If you choose the above pledge one of your last boxes will contain my very popular Snowflake soaps!
In 2014 these sold out extremely quick both online & at events with customers then requesting back in stock alerts.
These soaps will make perfect stocking fillers & teacher gifts at Christmas.
One of your boxes will also include the gift set (pictured above), another product that would make a lovely Christmas gift or stocking filler.
The Okie Soapy Soap Shop - FAQ's
What is the vision / goal of The Okie Soapy Soap Shop?
My plan is for The Okie Soapy Soap Shop to become my full time job. I would like to progress into having my own workshop so more of my products can be made & easily stored; this would then enable me to do bigger shows & events & eventually lead to having my own small shop in Devon. In order to do the bigger shows I would also like to have my own Okie Soapy van so I have more space for stock/display than I do in my current car.
How has the business been funded to get to it's current position?
To date I have funded the business myself from savings & my current day job. Takings from all sales are currently being re-invested back into the business to enable progression.
How are your products made?
All products are made in small batches, from raw ingredients. I spent months developing recipes, researching & sourcing the best natural ingredients to use. My cold process soaps are my own recipe, made completely from scratch with luxury ingredients that include Shea, Cocoa and Mango butters. My Bath Bombs are also made from scratch; they also contain luxury ingredients such as Epsom Salts and Sweet Almond Oil.
A Selection of just some of my soaps that contain only luxury oils & butters that are very kind to your skin.
How & where are Okie Soapy products sold?
My products are currently sold online via my website, Etsy and other marketplace platforms. I also have my products on sale in a local shop in Okehampton (as pictured), as it stands my products are in this shop until July 2015; I do hope to continue renting this space after July. In addition to locals, tourism picks up in the area April - September. In 2014 I had requests for more products to be taken to the local shop as holiday makers wanted specific items to take home as gifts.
I also attend various events across the south of Devon; in 2014 I had lots of my items sell out at Christmas events. In 2015 I am attending my biggest event to date, Exeter Craft Festival in July 2015. I applied for this event in November 2014 and received an email in January this year to say my application had been successful. I have also been invited to exhibit at a Royal Horticulural Society Craft Fair in September and more are booked for the Christmas shopping season.
If this project is successful & you receive the funds, how will they be spent?
- Initially - completing the development of the new male collection grooming products, 4 new products one of which has 3 variations
- Obtaining Cosmetic Safety Assessments for all 6 products - £180 each
- Branding - I would like the male collection to have a slightly different 'look' to my current products, but still in keeping with the Okie Soapy branding. I would use the same company that have done all branding - approx £50
- If funds allow I will add the two new items to my current collection, lip balms and hand cream - £180 each for safety assessment
- Product Packaging and Labelling - Recycable packaging (where possible) and Labelling for products
- Ingredients to build up stock of the new products
- Marketing the new male collection
If I am lucky enough to get 'over funding' (exceed my target) I will use these funds to get my products approved by The Vegan Society so my products and marketing materials can carry their logo to show that my products are suitable for vegans (apart from the two that contain Devon Flower honey). I would need approx 30 products approved by them which totals to approx £900 after VAT. This is a question I get asked often 'Are your products suitable for vegans?' so to be able to actively promote this while educating people at the same time would be a brilliant opportunity. In the UK alone there are approx 150,000 Vegans so this would be very worthwhile.
Project Timeline - What will happen when?
Everyone who makes a pledge towards this project will be added to a mailing list so you can be kept up to date on the progress at each stage.
I invisage that if this project is successfully funded I will finalise recipes within 4 weeks, once these are done the Cosmetic Safety Assessments will be paid for and sent off, these usually take around 4-6 weeks to come back. In the meantime the packaging and labelling will be worked on so these are ready for when the paperwork is ready.
There will be a huge new product launch planned (date to be confirmed), however those that pledge the £200 will have their reward before this launch as stated in the rewards section on this project.
At this point I would like to say 'Thank You' for taking time to read through my crowd funding project & so learning a little more about my business.
Please note: Any pledges made will be taken from your PayPal account/ card immediatly & held by crowdfunder. I only receive my funding if I meet the target by the end of the project. If my project is unsuccessful and I do not meet my target your pledge will be refunded to you.
If this project is successful, all 'thank you' messages on my blog and sponsor listings will go on my website once the funds have come through. These will then be shared heavily across all my social networking platforms.
There is a reward for each pledge so you do get something for your money; a great way to try out some of my Okie Soapy products! Have a look on the right hand side of this page to see the pledge amounts and the rewards they carry.
Many Thanks,
Gemma
This project successfully funded on 16th April 2015