All is fair
CONVERSATIONS WITH CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEURS Being gifted a soap-making kit was the catalyst for Carly Low’s business Fair + Square, making cold-pressed soap on the Tutukaka Coast.
How did Fair + Square come to be?
To be honest, it was by accident. About 10 years ago someone gave me a soap-making kit as a present. For around five years I pottered, making soap at home and as gifts because I really enjoyed the methodical process involved and noticed the difference in my own skin. It never occurred to me that it could become a business. It’s been amazing that demand has continued to grow. I didn’t know anything about starting a business, but it’s been a really slow progression that’s grown with me, so I’ve been able to learn each stage as it comes.
How has the company grown?
It really has grown far beyond what I ever planned. We now have 100 stockists across New Zealand and around 30 others on a backlist. Huge department stores have approached us too, but we’re still small scale and want to keep it that way, so we need to find balance in our growth and output.
Are there any standout hardships you’ve come across?
Due to the slow growth of the business I was able to avoid usual small business pains and pressures. When we had our children, we’d shuffled our family finances so that I could be a stay-at-home mum, which meant when the business started, we didn’t have a huge financial strain where I had to be bringing in an income. It wasn’t like a lot of other companies where there’s a huge initial outlay.
What have been some key learning experiences?
When I first started, I really wanted to do everything myself. As Kiwis, we often have a lot of pride attached to that and a ‘do it yourself’ mentality where we can keep
things quite close. As a woman in business, I think there’s this added pressure to feel like you have to prove yourself and that you don’t need help. But it actually ends up being really unhealthy for you and the business when you try and do everything.
I slowly started to let go. I learnt to outsource things like packaging, branding and photography and I found it was super empowering to have this amazing team around me. It also gave me time to focus on making the soap and doing what I’m good at.
I’d also definitely recommend being vulnerable and asking for help. I learnt it’s about the community around the brand, not just about me.
What’s the difference between your products and regular soap?
I work with cold-processed soap. It’s a really old, traditional method where you combine an alkali substance called lye with oils or fats at a certain temperature, which causes a chemical reaction called saponification. Once these two substances have been combined at that temperature, there’s no trace of either oil or lye present in the compound, so it completely transforms into a new substance that’s essentially a salt or soap. It gets poured into moulds and sits for six weeks to cure and then we’re left with a hard mass. Another key difference is that I use natural therapeutic-grade essential oils, rather than synthetics and cosmetic-grade fragrance, and leave the glycerin in so it’s really nourishing and moisturising for your skin.
Commercial soap isn’t even classified as ‘soap’ as a compound. It’s usually just a detergent combined with chemicals and artificial lathering agents that are formed into a bar. They usually extract the glycerin from the soap because it’s a high value ingredient that they can add to things like moisturisers instead with a higher price point. If they were to leave that in the soap, it wouldn’t be profitable for them to sell it for a dollar per bar.
Palm oil is also commonly used within commercial mass-produced soaps and is super destructive for the environment. I use cocoa butter instead, which has really similar properties.
How does environmental sustainability spill into your personal life?
We live pretty self-sustainably here. A few years ago, I did a course in organic and biodynamic farming so that we could use these methods on our own eight-acre lifestyle block. We do things like beneficial planting and composting to help aid the environment, so we don’t need to use nasty toxins. We also grow most of our own vegetables organically, have horses and raise our own chickens and beef for meat, eggs and milk.
My husband built our tiny home and is really passionate about passive houses that are smart and functional. Our power bill is around $70 per month with a family of four – we’ve just installed solar panels, which will of course bring it down lots more. So it really does flow through everything that we do.
How do you find the work life balance with young children?
It definitely is a struggle with the kids. Rye is four and Quincy is three, so neither are at school yet. They go to daycare two days a week and initially I had a lot of guilt attached to that, but once I moved past my own ego I realised it’s actually so much better for them to have a few days away from me and off the farm. It also means the two days they’re there I can really invest myself into work, and then when they’re home, I can give them my all.
What does a better world mean to you?
More simplicity. There’s so much choice now and I think we can become a bit bombarded by that. Stripping it back to basics and slowing everything down is really beneficial.
How has running a sustainable business affected your immediate community?
People within our community take it on personally and feel really proud and attached to the brand and products. They feel really included because they’ve seen it from the ground up, which helps to create so much awareness around the quality and worth of the products.
What, in your eyes, is the company’s biggest success?
Probably the conversation it starts and awareness that it brings.
What would be your biggest sacrifice in running a small business?
“I believe you should be trying to stay away from harmful chemicals and synthetics any way you can.”
Time with the children, definitely. I really had this vision of being an all-encompassing mother that was theirs full time, but as life has evolved, this business has become another baby that demands my attention, too. I’ve had to split myself across both, which isn’t what I expected and has been a bit of a sacrifice at times.
What does success mean to you?
Being able to support my family and people within our community. .
Where do you hope to be five years from now?
For me, this business serves as something I can be passionate about and a way to contribute positively to society as well as have balance in my own life.
Ideally, if both my husband and I could work three days a week, and we’re able to employ a few others and give them support and opportunities, that’s a pretty ideal balance for me. That’s the goal. Progress for progress’s sake isn’t my game.