Ethos
My ethos for Rushmere soaps is focused on four non negotiable pillars:
- Outstanding customer service
- Hand crafted products made with ethically sourced, premium ingredients
- Reducing the businesses' environmental impact
- Cruelty free: never tested on animals, and vegan as much as possible (the only ingredient occasionally used is beeswax and this is clearly stated on each product)
These things are easy to say, so more importantly, what am I doing to achieve them?
Outstanding customer service
As a customer, you aren't just a faceless order number, you actually matter to me as an individual.
I want you to be 'wowed' by the products and service you receive from me.
Your order will be packed and shipped out within one working day. I know for companies like Amazon that is the norm, but for a small business, turn around times can be anything up to a week. But I know how important it is to receive your order as quickly as possible.
Every order, no matter how large or small will receive a complimentary gift along with the items you purchased.
I will happily hand write a personalised message to go into your parcel at no extra cost to you. That makes it easy to send a gift directly to a loved one. Most companies either don't offer this service, or at the very least, they charge for it.
My aim is that you are delighted with your order, but on the rare occasion that something is amiss, I will always sort it out, going above and beyond to make sure you are satisfied.
Hand crafted premium products
I am meticulous about the ingredients that I use, never skimping on quality. I believe you get what you pay for and using cheap ingredients leads to ...... well you get the picture. That is why I won't compromise on quality.
I also ensure that I buy ingredients from companies which ethically source or product them.
I only make in teeny tiny batches and I don’t employ anyone else.
So every single product is made by me and it won’t reach you unless I am 100% happy with it.
Reducing my environmental impact
The product packaging
99% of my products are wrapped or packaged in 100% plastic free packaging including glass jars and aluminium tins.
Glassine bags are sourced from a company which makes them from trees harvested from sustainably managed forests.
The only plastic used is on bottles such as the facial oils and sprays like the pillow mist where there is currently no suitable alternative for dispensing the product.
I constantly undertake research and talk to packaging suppliers and if a cost effective alternative becomes available, rest assured that I will make the switch.
Shipping packaging
Your parcel is shipped in a cardboard box sealed with paper tape. The glue used on the paper tape is of vegan origin.
On the odd occasion if I do need to use a tiny bit of tape to seal something, I have switched over to using Scotch Plant Based, Solvent Free Adhesive tape
Packing peanuts are made from starch and are compostable
Planting trees
I pay to plant 25 trees per month in rainforests across the world. So far I have purchased 1250 trees.
There is an information page in this section on the website called 'planting trees' where you can see more details about this project.
I work hard on social media pages to raise awareness of the issue of plastics currently being used everywhere in the bath, body and cosmetics industry (tiktok and instagram).
Vegan & cruelty free
99% of the products I make are 100% vegan.
However, a couple of products in the range use a tiny bit of beeswax because other alternative waxes don't give the same finished feel. Where this is the case, each product is clearly labelled on the 'benefits' tab where it states 'vegan' yes or no.
If you are vegetarian these are fine to use, but if you want to completely avoid animal products then these two are not suitable.
It goes without saying that all of the products I make are cruelty free and are never tested on animals.