________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Solid personal care items are becoming popular again . It is a favourable choice for younger consumers gravitating towards personalized solid shampoo and body bars , which are more sustainable , zero plastic and longer lasting . The challenge is , however , to make solid format products with the same performance benefits as liquid products . “ So , the gap we saw in the market all those years ago was to create a huge infrastructure to facilitate the production of solid format personal care items ,” he continues . “ Our initial goal was to develop solid shampoo that worked as well as bottled versions ; if you ’ re going to make a huge environmental impact , the eco product needs to perform just as well , or even better , than the traditional bottled products .” a more affordable price point . In doing so , we have also transformed the ideology around solid format products , meaning they are no longer considered premium items .”
Another challenge was related to slow sales of solid shampoos without accompanying conditioner bar . “ Conditioner has an entirely different formulation to shampoo , as the surfactants used in shampoo wash everything , rather than staying on and conditioning hair .
New product development
Decades of research and innovation has paid off , and Stephenson ’ s revolutionary Syndopal range of solid natural surfactants led to a spike of new solid format launches , from top indie brands to the most established brands in the market . Products range from shampoo bars and facial skincare bars to grooming bars and derma bars .
“ We produce a 97 percent finished base , for our customers to create bespoke customized bars , by adding colour , fragrances or functional agents with their own design and branding ,” Jamie explains .
Although the success is clear , Stephenson has faced several challenges while developing its revolutionary range of solid personal care products .
The high costs of production was a significant issue , from buying expensive mild surfactants to the production costs of manufacturing . To address this issue , the company implemented several cost engineering tactics to decrease production costs . Jamie states : “ By enhancing our manufacturing efficiencies and reformulating economies of scale , we successfully delivered
96