Burt's Bees Toiletries and History
The Eco Warrior Company of the Personal Care World
Burt's Bees was once a $200 venture selling candles on a craft stall to use up the beeswax produced by a bee farm and honey business.
Burt's Bees is an "Earth Friendly, Natural Personal Care Company." Everything they produce is completely natural and in environmentally friendly packaging. They make their products using beeswax, botanical and essential oils, herbs, flowers and minerals and do not use ingredients such as petroleum-synthesized fillers like mineral oil and propylene glycol or artificial preservatives such as methyl paraben or diazolidinyl urea. So committed are Burt's Bees to being environmentally friendly that they won the Triangle Business Journal Eco Hero award. They also celebrated their rise in profits in the early 21st Century by buying forest land to help conservation in Maine.
History Of Burts Bees
In 1984 Roxanne Quimby and Burt Shavitz began to make candles to sell. These candles were made from the beeswax produced at Burt's honey business. It was inevitable that the company would be named Burt's Bees. The Maine based duo first set up stall at a craft fair and sold $200 worth of candles. By the end of their first year they had made $20,000 worth of sales. Their attention to detail and quality ensured their success.
In 1989 a fashionable New York boutique placed a bulk order for candles. Burt's bees hired 40 employees and from an abandoned bowling alley they began production. In 1991, inspired by a 19th century personal care recipe book Burt's Bees developed their range to include soap, perfume and lipbalm. In 1993 Burt's Bees moved their production premises to North Carolina and after looking at their best selling products decided to no longer make candles and concentrate on personal products.
In1995 the first retail store was opened in Chapel Hill selling 50 products. Sales of Burt's Bees products were now worldwide. By 1998 the once $200 sales had sky rocketed to $8 million and the one line of candles had turned into 100 different items. As the mini travel line became the best seller many Burt's Bees products began to be made in smaller sizes. Soon after the online store was launched and 2003 saw the launch of the Baby Bee line.
The Ranges
- The Naturally Nourishing range is a skin and body range based around milk, shea butter and honey
- The Naturally Ageless range is an anti aging collection based around antioxidant-rich pomegranate
- The Radiance range is a radiance boosting skin care range which includes one of the best selling shimmer lip balms. A Radiance Kit can be bought including minis of exfoliating products, body lotion, day and night crème and a full size lip shimmer.
- The Thoroughly Therapeutic Range has a honey theme
- The Baby Bee range is for babies and has buttermilk and apricot as main ingredients. You can buy Mum and Baby TLC kit, a baby gist basket and starter kits. The starter kit has in it Apricot Baby Oil, Buttermilk lotions, bath milk and soap, diaper ointment, baby powder and shampoo.
- The Mama Bee range contains soothing products for pregnancy and beyond including belly butter.
- The Outdoor Survival range has all you need for camping, gardening or an outdoor life. It includes a heal all Res-Q Ointment, herbal insect repellent, miracle cream for dry skin and hair, muscle mend, rosemary mint shampoo, bug bite cream and poison ivy soap. This is another range in which you can buy a miniature sampler kit.
- The Natural Suncare range has non chemical sun creams and soothers
- For men there are the Natural Skin Care for Men range which includes a cologne and the Bay Rum for Men range which is infused with the scent of Bay Rum.
