About the Makers: Herbivore

Herbivore began in the kitchen of husband and wife team Julia Wills and Alex Kummerow, when Alex bought Julia a soap making kit. So how did soap making in their kitchen turn into the most talked about and well received natural brand in years?Said Julia: "Growing up, my mum was an aesthetician, which meant she had her own day spa and always used a lot of natural ingredients in her treatments. I learnt from her and that had a big influence on me. Then I went to a natural medicine college called Bastyr University, which is outside of Seattle near where we live. At college I took a lot of classes on aromatherapy and Chinese medicine and that's where my interest in natural beauty really developed."Alex, on the other hand, was really into Dr Bronner, an organic soap brand. As his introduction into natural products, they were the only products he used. Julia was the one who opened his eyes to the possibility of other natural brands.After Julia quit her job "at the spur of the moment," Alex encouraged her to follow her passions. So she wouldn’t get bored, he bought her a soap-making kit as a spontaneous gift. After only a few weeks, she made some really amazing soap bars. “At the time, I was actually dealing with psoriasis and upon using the soap that Julia had made my psoriasis dissipated within a few weeks. I had been dealing with my skin condition for about three/four years at that point, so it was really quite eye opening."“As a result, every ingredient that we include in our products is there for a specific, therapeutic reason. We do not use fillers of any kind, meaning that almost every ingredient in our products is an active ingredient. This results in pure, highly concentrated, and effective formulas that are a rarity in the skincare and cosmetics world today. All of our formulas are original, created and tested by us, on real people — never on animals, and always from scratch. All of our products have an emphasis on organic, high-quality, and food-grade ingredients."In addition to creating products that give you noticeable results, we also create our products with personal rejuvenation and a little indulgence in mind. We believe that daily bathing and skincare rituals should be enjoyable — a way to carve out some much-needed downtime in your hectic routine. From thoughtfully designed packaging and labels that really allow our ingredients to shine through, to intoxicating scents and luxurious textures, we truly want you to love your skincare and bathing routines.”After only a few months of opening her Etsy store, Julia was overwhelmed with orders and trying hard to keep up. At that point, Alex made the decision to quit his job, too, and focus on Herbivore with Julia full time."I was working at Amazon at the time in video production and it was a scary move. That was the last of our security, but I was so inspired by Julia because I realized she had such a passion and so much drive. I just thought how fun would it be if the both of us could do it and make enough money to pay rent and our cell phone bill. It was definitely a struggle for the first few months but we pushed hard and got through it."When Julia and Alex were contacted via Etsy by Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, who wanted to stock Herbivore in their stores, it was the turning point. Now a major player in natural beauty, we can’t keep the brand in stock. It flies off the shelves. The Pink Moisture Cloud moisturizer sells out every time we get it in.