What the heck happened to soap? Study after study. Issue-causing this. Environmentally-damaging that. Stuff meant to clean us was actually not so clean? Wasn’t always that way though. Soap had a pretty good track record before the Big Soap Companies decided to substitute the original plant-based ingredients with six-syllable synthetic detergents they pawned off as “soap.” Sure, it was cheaper to make and they pocketed more profits. But at our skin’s expense. And the planet’s. Forget that. It was time to go old school and bring back real soap.
Our founder turned his apartment into a makeshift R&D lab. Enlisted the help of friends & family. And we tried a lot of soap. Like more than 20 rounds for each product over the course of a year. What everyone realized was what truly made the best soap weren’t ingredients from a chemical plant. They came from a plant, plant. Coconut oil. Olive oil. Shea butter. The soap superheroes. And we knew it when we had it. A lush lather. Clean-rinsing. Not drying. A scent that lasted, but didn’t linger. And then. Friends cheered. People hugged. Birds sang. Nature rejoiced. A better, real soap had been created.
We had our plant-based sudsing superstars. But we had one more step to go. It wouldn’t solve anything, for your skin or the planet, if we used natural ingredients that were grown with toxic chemicals. We’d just be swapping one problem for another. So we sourced certified organic ingredients. No pesticides. No herbicides. No GMOs. Nothing on the plants. Meant nothing in the products. And nothing on your skin. Now that was truly clean.
Our mission from day one: make our business as clean as our soap. Cruelty-free and responsible sourcing. Biodegradable and vegan formulas. Renewable energy and local U.S. manufacturing. FSC-certified and recyclable packaging. And give back to the environment. 1% of annual sales to be exact. But we wanted a way to track these efforts. So we became a Certified B Corp. Every two years we go through a rigorous third-party assessment by the non-profit, B Lab. They analyze all of our business practices to ensure we continue to meet high standards of environmental performance and transparency. Keeps us honest. Creates trust for you.
At the end of the day, we’re still talking about soap. It can be fun. But everywhere we looked it was a sea of same-ness. And plain-ness. And boring-ness. Just because you were clean or natural shouldn’t mean you had to use minimalist design or wrap it in burlap. So we did the opposite. We’ve got a bold mission. An environmental ethos to show off. And we needed the labels to match. We work with great artists and designers to support their work. And create packaging our customers love to display.
A heartfelt thanks.
It’s a busy world. And we’re incredibly grateful you’re here reading about our story and hopefully trusting us to bring our products into your homes and showers. LEAP doesn’t exist without you, the people that care about better products, responsible ingredients, and respecting the environment. And for that, we can’t say thank you enough.
Luke / founder