Over the past few weeks we’ve been preparing for our Warehouse Clearance Sale, which has meant digging through shelves and opening boxes that haven’t been touched in years.

It’s funny what that does to your memory. Because behind many of these products is a very specific moment in the life of our business.

A problem we were trying to solve.

An experiment in the kitchen.

Or sometimes just a batch of soap we suddenly had to figure out how to sell.

So instead of simply listing them in a sale, I thought I’d share the stories behind a few of them.

These five products tell the story of how the Australian Natural Soap Company began.

The very first batches of soap we made were in our kitchen in Canberra.

At the time I was writing speeches for the Trade Minister at DFAT, and Anthony was working as an emergency doctor.

Anthony was constantly washing his hands on shift and going through bottles of Palmolive — the kind in those plastic pump bottles.

Around the same time I was writing speeches about niche manufacturing in Australia, and how our country should be showcasing high-quality Australian products to the world.

Somewhere between those two things we had the thought:

Anthony had been reading online soap-making forums like a mad scientist and was convinced avocado oil was incredible for skin.

So we ordered some.

The first batch we made with it was honestly beautiful. Rich, creamy and incredibly gentle.

That soap eventually became what we now know as Absolute Avocado. And it’s still one of the gentlest soaps we make.

When we opened our very first pop-up shop in Prahran, we had almost no money.

We’d spent everything just getting enough soap made to fill the shelves.

We couldn’t afford printed packaging.

We couldn’t afford custom stickers.

So we worked with a designer to create our original round logo — something simple that could be stamped.

Then we bought an ink pad and a stamp.

Every single bar of soap was wrapped and hand-stamped.

At the time our shelves were filled with all sorts of experimental soaps Anthony had been making — some with carefully thought-out ingredients, others simply things he thought might be good for skin.

It was chaotic, but customers loved it.

That little stamped logo became the identity of the brand in those early years.

A few years ago we eventually rebranded and evolved the logo, but that original round mark will always remind me of those first scrappy days when we were stamping every bar by hand.

One of those early experimental soaps Anthony made had coconut oil in it, and it produced this incredible lather.

One day I tried washing my hair with it.

It worked beautifully.

So when we were stocking the Prahran shop, we set that soap aside and labelled it “Shampoo Bar.”

To be honest, we weren’t convinced anyone would buy it.

We actually placed it at the back of the store.

But something interesting happened.

And before long that accidental experiment became one of our best-selling products.

In the early days we took on any contract manufacturing work we could get.

One client wanted a bright pink beard soap.

We weren’t going to use artificial colours, so we ordered Australian pink clay and formulated the soap with macadamia oil.

When the batch was finished, the client rejected it.

It wasn’t pink enough.

Which left us with a lot of pink soap.

So we took it to our South Melbourne Market stall and started selling it ourselves.

Customers loved it.

What began as a rejected contract job quickly became one of our most popular soaps.

And it’s still one of our most recognisable products today.

Anthony started experimenting with liquid soap almost from the very beginning.

He absolutely hated body washes and gels — all those synthetic detergents in plastic bottles.

I still remember him standing there with mixers in our first warehouse, making small experimental batches of liquid soap, determined to prove that Australians could use the real thing instead.

Real liquid soap is far more labour-intensive to make than the sulphate and detergent formulas most brands use.

But Anthony was convinced it was worth it.

He wanted a liquid soap that was made the same way as our bars — from real oils, properly saponified.

That belief has never really changed. 

It takes more work.

But we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Looking back, it’s funny how many of our products began almost by accident.

A kitchen experiment.

A rejected batch.

A soap we didn’t even think anyone would buy.

Preparing for the Warehouse Clearance Sale has reminded me just how long the journey has been.

Clearing the warehouse has been a bit like walking back through the story of the brand.

And many of the products in the sale represent chapters of that story.

Once this warehouse stock is gone, those chapters will quietly close.

But it’s been lovely seeing some of these old favourites fly off the shelves again.

Soapy Hugs