Hero Supplier - Everkind

Everkind came from a personal journey to care for my body. They say, every body has a turning point – for me, I had a couple! I’d never given selfcare much thought, until I had another little body on board. When I was pregnant with our son, a friend encouraged me to think more carefully about what I was putting in and on my body. I soon discovered that when it comes to bodycare, things aren’t always what they seem. I started to seek out safer, more natural options – and my personal care journey began. A few years later, when we had two littlies under 2, we decided to move rural, step back from corporate life, and give our children plenty of time in nature with the quintessential big vegetable garden and free-range chickens. Unfortunately, we chose a small block next to a market garden, and we saw first-hand the massive amount of synthetic chemicals being poured onto the produce that feeds us. Until that moment, my wellness journey had been personal, but the market garden made it clear to me that the real problem was much bigger. I became passionate about creating a more natural and healthy way to live. Not just for me and my family, but for everyone. And the idea for Everkind was born.

Why are organics important to you?

Having lived by a market garden, we’ve seen the destruction of our land and water. That wasn’t the world we wanted our children to grow up in. So with Everkind, we’re doing our bit to make a change for good and hopefully we’re encouraging others to make the change too. We chose to only use certified organic ingredients because we believe they’re a healthier choice for our beautiful planet, and for the people who call it home. We also wanted to support more people growing organically. I’m a firm believer that consumers hold the power to change the way businesses operate. The more people want natural alternatives to mainstream products, the more alternative options there’ll be. It feels good to be able to offer our customers bodycare that isn’t just good for them and our world, but genuinely works too.

What Everkind product can you not live without and why?

This might be an over-share, but I’m a stress sweater who needs good long-lasting odour protection every day. So, I couldn’t live without an Everkind deodorant. When I’m not testing new formulas, my go-to formula is Refresh. When I started my journey to natural, the first thing I swapped was my deodorant. At the time, there weren’t many options, and the one I picked turned out to be not that natural and super ineffective, which became pretty embarrassing. I personally know how important it is that a natural deodorant works!

How do you live and work sustainably and minimize environmental impact?

Since we began Everkind, we’ve been on a mission to do no harm to people or the planet. When it comes to the planet, this has been a journey of progress, not perfection. Our starting point was a commitment to using only organic ingredients in our formulations to minimise the environmental impact from everyday products. We decided to become certified organic with AsureQuality for transparency and accountability in our supply chain. We also committed to regular waste audits. We use these to identify practical ways to reduce waste – both from production and for our customers. Initially we focused on recyclable materials, but we soon discovered how broken the recycling systems are. So in 2018, we pivoted to focusing on home compostable paper packaging. The first thing we swapped out was our courier packaging. We replaced the recyclable plastic courier bags with home compostable boxes, the standard packing tape for paper tape, and bubble wrap was replaced with corrugated cardboard. That year, we also introduced the home compostable deodorant tube and amber glass jars with tin lids for balms. The move to home compostable packaging is still underway; our latest innovation is our three-layer paper lip balm tube with a slide-down sleeve rather than a push up base. Last year, we participated in the first Sustainable Business Network Climate Action Toolbox course here in Taranaki. Over six months, we measured our carbon emissions, looked at how we could reduce those emissions, and explored ways we could integrate better practices into how we do business. It’s a big learning curve – and it really is a journey of a thousand steps. But it will be so worth the effort.

What's the most challenging part of working this way?

I’ve found the most challenging part of our sustainability journey is accepting that change doesn’t happen overnight. Technology takes time to catch up with new movements and desire for innovation, so patience and perseverance is key. For example, 200 million plastic lip balms tubes go to landfill every year globally. Everkind had an organic lip balm formula back in 2019, but we couldn’t find a practical home compostable tube for it. We didn’t want to use a push-up paper tube, because to get the tube wide enough for most fingers to be able to push the base plate up meant the application experience wasn’t great. It took until 2022 for us to find an innovative paper engineer who could help us create a world first three-layer tube with a slide-down paper sleeve. We couldn’t be happier with the innovation, but it took time. Being patient is definitely the biggest challenge for me. Shop the lip balms here.

Do you practice Selfcare?

I do prioritise selfcare each day, because I genuinely believe that you can’t pour from an empty cup. While this is a busy stage of life, creating routines and habits has really helped me build care into my day. My selfcare is starting the day with quiet time, a run, and a green smoothie. When those three boxes are ticked, I know it’s going to be a good day.

What does wellness mean to you, how do you practice this, especially outside of work?

For me, wellness is all about a life well-lived. My goal is not to be healthy for health’s sake, but so I can care for my loved ones and those around me. Life can be extraordinary and it can also be tumultuous, but through those struggles we build strength and with that strength we can help others. The stronger I am physically, mentally, and emotionally, the more I can do, and that makes me happy.

Words by Amanda-Jane Healy - Founder of Everkind.