Help us to upscale for our Make & Donate Project

Background

Purple Sage Soap Company was founded in 2021 when I returned from Germany after 11 years working for the British Army.  Having spent over 20 years teaching adults English, Maths and English for Speakers of Other Language (amongst many other subjects) I decided that it was time to really develop my crafting passion and start something for myself.

Like many other people, I love to be creative and make things, and along with gardening, it is my happy place!  Therefore combining both of these passions, led to the start of Purple Sage Soap Company.

Having acquired a small holding in the beautiful, rural Scottish Borders, the vision of how this company could grow and be an integral part of a wonderful community was soon to take shape.

And so the journey begins...

Our Mission

At Purple Sage Soap Company we believe that everyone has the right to basic hygiene and therefore we are proud to run our own in-house project, where, for every 3 bars of soap sold, we make and donate 1 bar to local charities, support organisations and those that need it the most and to help vulnerable people get back on their feet.  

Last year in 2022, we sold enough soaps to donate to the Borders Women Centre, Borders Pet Rescues and the Arthurshiels Rescue Centre (we support our animal friends too!). 

This year we want to increase our charity work and be able to say 'for every bar of soap sold we make and donate another'.  Our vision is to develop our donations further to include luxury  pamper packs for women in crisis, soaps packages for care homes,  soap boxes for NHS workers, food banks, gift hampers for auctions, pet pamper packs for adopted animals and much more! 

As well as soap, we want to develop a flower and herb garden, where we can grow our own botanicals for our skincare products (thus reducing our carbon footprint), but to also be able to offer volunteering opportunities for people to work in the garden, and help make up flower bouquets to gift to people in the local community, such as those in care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, those in isolation, nominated local heroes etc.  

We firmly believe that by providing volunteering opportunities through the Volunteers Centre Borders Network, we can help people with their own health & well-being, provide work experience for those seeking employment or training. 

Being able to up-scale our production, also means that we could offer employment opportunities and training to keep the traditional methods of soap making on-going within the area,

We feel that soaping and gardening goes hand in hand.  We believe that we can make a difference in the community by fulfilling our social aim within our small business.

We are a small, rural business with a very big heart!

How can you help?

We desperately need help to upscale our soap & skincare production.  In order for us to fulfil our dream of '1 bar sold - 1 bar donated' we NEED more space.

On the small is holding is a former dog kennels, that would make an excellent soap making studio and workshop.  Renovating this outbuilding would allow us to produce more products, therefore allowing us to donate more soaps. It would allow us to have the room to cure more soaps much more efficiently and to be able to store more stock.

Due to my husband's ill health and the need to get this renovation started and completed by July 2023, we need to be able to pay for trades to come in and help us complete the work - but trades are expensive and this is were we need to raise £10,000 to help us get started with it all.  

Any extra money raised would go towards starting our flower and herb garden, with much needed help from local volunteers.

Having made a start on the renovations, (I'm not afraid of hard work!) it became apparent that I couldn't do this on my own in the time frame that we needed to have it completed by.

We know that when we complete this renovation will we be able to upscale our production by 100% which allows us up our donations by 100%.

Hygiene Poverty

Our Make & Donate Project will help to support many people facing real poverty challenges at this difficult time.  Hygiene poverty is as real as fuel and food poverty and has a range of devasting outcomes:

• It is struggling to wash your hair because you can’t afford shampoo.
• It is not being able to purchase deodorant because money is needed for the electric card.
• It is not being able to replace a toothbrush when needed or sharing a toothbrush because one each just isn't an option.
• It is being unable to change your baby's nappy as often as is needed and scraping out the contents before reapplying it.
• It is washing hair, bodies, faces and clothes in the same cheap washing up liquid used for the dishes.
• It is being housebound because you can't afford period protection or have to improvise with rolled up loo roll and socks.
• It is having to choose between shaving foam and razors or the transport fare to a job interview.
• It is going to school with matted hair because there is only one hairbrush in the household and there's no time for everyone to get a chance to use it.
• It is not being able to launder clothes, school uniform and muddy sports kit when needed.
• It is being 'judged' for living in an unclean home, because you can't afford the cost of household cleaning products. (courtesy of the Hygiene Bank 2022)

By donating our products we can help to overcome some of the challenges faced, but also we can add a little bit of luxury into someone's life and help vulnerable people get back on their feet.