Little Soap Company – sustainable sourcing from the beginning

8 December 2020

The idea of Little Soap Company was born in 2008 when founder, Emma Heathcote-James, tried to find high quality, natural, organic soaps in her weekly supermarket shop – and couldn’t. Within a year, with her signature passion and drive, Emma had created Little Soap Company and had taken her concept of the first RSPO sustainable, organic soap to the supermarket shelf.

Little Soap Company quickly became the first organic soap to roll out nationally in all supermarkets. It can now be found lining the shelves nationwide in Waitrose, Boots, Sainsbury, Ocado, Superdrug, Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Booths stores and online retailers including Ocado, Fetch and Amazon.

Sourcing sustainable palm oil from the beginning

From the beginning Little Soap Company exclusively sourced palm oil from accredited organic, RSPO-certified plantations. Sustainable sourcing came with extra costs, which made the product more expensive. Yet the company is still one of the fastest growing businesses in the toiletries sector, having created and driven consumer demand for organic and natural soap and brought a new audience to purchase natural bar soap.

Advocating sustainable palm oil use

Being a frontrunner in the sector, Emma (photo right) and her Little Soap Company have been vocal about using rather than boycotting RSPO sustainable palm oil for the past 11 years – long before it became common knowledge. They teamed up with the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) to explain why and how sourcing sustainable palm oil can help break the link between palm oil cultivation and habitat destruction.

Rather than boycotting the entire sector, Little Soap Company uses its products and voice to communicate the message that sourcing sustainable palm oil is the better choice to protect rainforests and help local communities.

‘Conservationists and scientists are clear: boycotting palm oil will not help orangutans or their precious rainforest homes, and could instead lead to greater rates of forest and biodiversity loss. We applaud Emma and Little Soap Company, who have championed this message and taken a proactive approach to ensuring their products are deforestation-free for years. They’ve proven that businesses can make the right choices without sacrificing their bottom line – indeed, it can bring them close to the hearts of the growing market of ethical consumers.’

Helen Buckland, Director of Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS)