Behind Our Brands: You're So Kind

At Social Supermarket, we love when we get to feature young and exciting social enterprise brands which we know our customers will absolutely love. You’re so Kind fitted this bill perfectly and we took the opportunity to catch up with their founder, Asher, to learn a little more about the brand, it’s impact and where it’s going! But first, some background:

You’re So Kind make natural hand wash which is carefully crafted; they take out and replace all harsh ingredients such as SLS, and never include parabens – that’s why it is healthy and leaves your hands silky soft. Their hand wash is never tested on animals, and is kind to the environment and what’s more, at the end of the year they donate 100% of our profits to 5 charities across the UK.

So let’s find out a little more about YSK and the wonderful work they are doing:

“So Asher, where did the inspiration for You’re So Kind come from? 

Whilst working in charity fundraising, I realized that there was an opportunity to help people to feel good about the products they buy and make a real difference in the world. 

So, what is your philosophy as a brand and how does You’re So Kind make an impact? 

The core philosophy is to look after yourself and others at the same time, so we donate 100% of our profit to charity at the end of every year. That means, instead of shareholders getting richer, any money we make goes to those who need it the most. 

More than this, the idea of being kind permeates our entire value chain, from procurement to delivery. We try to make the whole process as sustainable as possible. That’s why we are working with Good Market to ensure that our ingredients are low impact, will be introducing refills so that people can use our glass bottles again and again, and keep packaging to an absolute minimum, even reusing old cardboard boxes when we can to extend their life.

Brilliant! As a brand, what is your biggest achievement to date? 

We are such a new brand, just building a product which looks professional and fulfills all of the EU regulations on the sale of cosmetics has been a big achievement for us. We are so proud of the products we have been able to bring to market.

Do you think there has been a change in recent years as to how consumers understand the products they buy? (e.g. their origins, impact etc.)

I think that people don’t buy just on functional benefit anymore, the best in the market, because the market is saturated with good products. If you have the time to choose, and money to spend, you can find what you are looking for.

This is great, and what it means is that people are more and more interested in what the product tells about them, is it vegan, is it sustainable, does it give back? These things are just as important as whether it does a good job and is affordable (though it needs to be that too!)

We couldn’t agree more. Why did you choose to become a social enterprise and what does it mean to you? 

I have worked in the private sector and in charity, I want to build my life around social good, but I don’t want to sacrifice quality of life, and being able to make dynamic choices. I think a social enterprise allows you to be creative, bring cutting edge products to market, and leave the world a better place at the same time, what’s not to love!

Tell us how important your supply chain is to you and why? 

Trust is built through the supply chain, and we are so lucky to have such a consultative partner when it comes to this. Our supplier is willing to swap out ingredients, and work with us to make sure we are bringing to market the most sustainable product we can.

Where do you see You’re So Kind in 3 years time and what further impact do you plan to have? 

We want to expand our range, to include new scents, and new products. I think that moisturizer would be a great opportunity. We also want to partner with more restaurants, cafes and hotels, so keep an eye out and you might see us next time you are on your travels.

Can’t wait for the development of these new products. Finally, are you optimistic for the future and why? 

I am very optimistic, I think that there has been a step change in how consumers purchase, and the digital revolution has made it easier than ever for small businesses to have a big footprint. If we can build trust within our core demographics, we can bring a group of people with us on our journey.”

 

So great to chat with Asher about You’re So Kind; you can view the full product range on Social Supermarket here. 

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