From The National Post
November 28, 2009
This time of year, I’m in full holiday shopping guide mode and immersed in gift-giving this and must-have product thats. Surrounded by so much stuff, I feel a little dirty. And yet the impetus at the holidays is to give, even when sometimes we can ill-afford to do so. Which is why I was struck by Consonant’s new limited-run Help Somebody Soap ). Consonant is donating 100% of the sale price - that’s twelve bucks from each and every one of the 1,000 bars for a total of $12,000 - to the Canadian-based organization Sleeping Children Around the World (scaw.org). So what, right? So many companies donate a percentage or portion of proceeds to charity these days. Thing is, Consonant isn’t exactly Body Shop or The Gap; it’s not even a mid-size company. Owner Bill Baker launched the fledging organic body care brand just last year, after leaving his job in advertising. “I have financed every penny of this business myself,” he says. “We’re not even a six-figure business this year so the donation will be a big percentage of our sales. We’re a very modest business but I’m investing for the long haul and this charitable giving part has been part of the DNA from the beginning.” Baker also went 100% because, he also admits, he’s “a bit cynical” about other companies and their donation formulas. “Is that 25 cents on $20? Is that half of the profits before tax or after? Do you deduct margin, marketing funds and advertising dollars?”
Donation aside, why pay $12 for a bar of soap when some mass brands sell three to a pack for four bucks? “You’re paying more for what’s not in it,” says Baker. That means no animal by-products or any of the regular unpronounceable synthetic ingredients found in cheap bars of soap (some of which been otherwise banned in American baby foods). No trace elements of herbicides, pesticides or hormones, no chemical preservatives. “Bar soap, made properly and saponified properly, is not vulnerable to bacteria and doesn’t need preservatives anyway,” says Baker. Consonant's charity of choice, SCAW, takes a similar approach. It was started by Murray Dryden, father of hockey players Dave and Ken Dryden, who created a trust to cover administrative costs. “So when you give $35 toward a bed kit for a needy child in a developing country, it’s $35 for a bed kit,” Baker says proudly. I feel cleaner already.
Help Somebody Soap is $12, at Delineation, The Bay and Sears downtown flagships in major cities and specialty retailers across Canada (or buy online at Helpsomebodysoap.com)
