My interview with the President of One Bath and Body

When I first spotted the new eco-friendly bath and body line, One, at Target recently, I was immediately drawn to it and I shared some photos with you. The response to those photos was amazing (click here to see my original post) and I quickly discovered that many of you are just as excited as I am about this new natural, affordable, paraben-free, plastic-free line of bath and body products.

So when I was given the opportunity a few days ago to conduct a phone interview with the President of One, Glenn Abrahamson, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to find out more about this line and ask him questions that might help us all to get a better understanding of this new and intriguing company. So I hope that you'll take a moment to read my interview (I'm not just saying this, but it's a fascinating and very informative story!).

Recessionista: So can you tell me a bit about your background and how you started One?


Glenn Abrahamson: Well I was one of those people who had been making bath products in plastic containers and tubes for 25 years...Until recently, we had been producing bath and body gifts sets for retail shops...I was producing 5-7 million units per year, and it was satisfying but it bothered me at the same time because I felt like I wasn't doing what was right for the environment and I wanted to make a change in the way we make products not only in the bath category, but in the way we make products throughout the store. So I came up with the working title One...I wanted to create a brand that eliminated all plastics...Only about 3.5 percent of plastics are recycled in this country annually, and the majority of the 3.5% are water bottles. The fact is, the majority of recycling centers won't take [plastic shampoo bottles]...and we all know where they are ending up: in landfills...And it takes thousands of years for them to biodegrade...Everyone thought I was crazy [telling me] "You can't do it. How you are going to do this? It's not going to make sense." And it took two years to do it, but it's there and I'm trying to make this thing grow.

Recessionista: Wait a minute. Are you telling me that it only took you two years to get from concept to Target stores?

Glenn Abrahamson: Yes. I have to say that I have a great team of people...they are just fantastic. I couldn't have asked for better partners from day one. I've been doing bath for so long, that we have all the best people in place to make my crazy dreams a reality. I couldn't do this without them.

[We're in the process of revamping our website and] I want to make it a source of information. In fact, I just got some feedback from a customer who asked if we could make the cap on our lotion a little wider so that people with arthritis can open the tube more easily. That's a great point, and now I'm working on it. It's important to understand that if you work with your customers as a family, then you can work together to make new products and improvements. Another customer sent me an email and suggested that we add SPF to our Lotion Massage Bar and I said, "That's a brilliant idea!" So we're looking into it right now and I want to make sure that she's thanked online on our website by saying, "Hey, this was your idea and I really appreciate it."

Recessionista: That's fantastic, because I know that not being able to communicate directly with manufacturers is a source of frustration for me and many other consumers. So tell me, how can you keep your costs so low when you're not using plastic packaging?

Glenn Abrahamson: Trust me, it costs a lot more for me to produce a tube of lotion than it does the other guys with their plastic tubes and plastic caps. Aluminum is costing me 10 times the amount [of plastic].

...My father used to shampoo his hair with a shampoo bar...Sometimes what is old is new again, and when I came up with the shampoo bar it was based on what my father and grandfather used to use...so that idea came from them. But I'm bringing a new spin to it that has nice scents, PH balance and most importantly, recyclables. And when we talk about the tin [that the shampoo bar comes in], 50% of aluminum is recycled in the US [as opposed to 3.5% of plastic], so I would rather take less margin and put things in an aluminum tin and use something that's right for the environment because I know that in the long run, as the company grows, I'll make it up someday. I don't have to make it up now or two years from now. I'm trying to do something that's right before I think about the money. We're just trying to, overall as a company, give something back.

Recessionista: Can you speak a bit about your process, in terms of how you create your products, choose your fragrances and come up with the name of your products?

Glenn Abrahamson: I've got a good team behind me but the whole concept of One, the products and the fragrances all came from my head...my wife, who is my best friend and who I depend on for everything, was right there behind me as we were going through pre-production...and I got help to execute my ideas.

...The Oh My Gosh Lotion Massage bar--it was funny how that name came to be...When the pre-production bar was brought to me, I smelled it and said, "Oh my gosh" and said, "Oh! That's the name!"

Everything in the line...people had asked me, "Why don't you come up with a theme? Like a vanilla line, a pomegranate line, whatever" and I said, "I don't want to do that." I wanted to make the line with things that are going to help you throughout your day. Whatever you need, you can get from these essential oils. When we say, I Need This [the name of the lemongrass Bath Fizzer], lemongrass make you feel better and can help you jump-start your day. If you need a little pick-me-up when you come home and the kids are driving you nuts, you might want to use Blue Earth...it will give you a relaxing bath.

Or Honey Please, which calms your spirit. What do women need at different parts of the day or night that is going to make them feel better? And as we create new scents, if one product runs its course, I don't have to change a whole "raspberry" collection, I can change out certain elements and replace them with something new.

Recessionista: Wow, that's a fantastic idea and a real departure from the usual way that manufacturers present their products to us. Are they any plans to make a body mist or perfume?

Glenn Abrahamson: I wanted to do a body mist, I really, really did. But I cannot figure out a way to make a 100% biodegradable package because, with a spray, you've got that tube that goes into the bottle to suck up the fluid. Then you've got the spring loader and the cap itself, which takes 1,000 years to biodegrade. How do you do liquids with recyclable packaging? I just need to come up with a new way to do this. Maybe come up with a gel, a clear gel that can be more concentrated and put into an aluminum can...these are ideas that are floating around in my head right now.

Recessionista: Wow, so right now there's just no current technology to fashion a body mist bottle completely out of aluminum?

Glenn Abrahamson: No, I could mold the cap out of aluminum, but the problem is that spring...it can't be aluminum, it's got to be stainless steel and it will end up in a landfill. I just haven't been able to figure out a way to do it yet. The only plastic we do use is on the Bath Fizzer, and that plastic film is 100% biodegradable.

The only reason it's there is because the ingredients that make the fizz in your tub dissipate over a matter of three weeks. So it has to be air tight. And that's the only reason it's there.

...I'm sure I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm counting on customers to keep me educated and keep me on my toes.

Recessionista: I love that you encourage such an open dialogue with your customers. Do you have any suggestions about what you might want to tell a potential customer who is thinking about trying One for the first time? Any recommendations about how to work your way through the line?

Glenn Abrahamson: I think it really depends on the customer. If you're a working mother, the first thing I'd do is go for the Bath Fizzers because I know what you're going through. You need that personal time. Tell hubby, "Hey, order pizza tonight...I'm taking a book and going to the tub with my Bath Fizzer and the rest of the evening is mine". It will help relax and rejuvenate you, because you know it's going to start all over again the next day. Go look at the product line and say to yourself, "What do I need?" and take care of yourself. We're trying to keep the price points so that, if you need something, it's there and you can buy it. It's not a luxury item where you have to say, "Do I deserve to spend 20 dollars on myself today?" You don't have to do that with our line. If you need something, and you want it, it's priced right.


Recessionista: I love that! Will the newly revamped website have a retail store so that we can purchase your products online?

Glenn Abrahamson: We're not going to do that because I support my retailers...In addition to Target, though, there are plans in the works for One to be available at select regional chains throughout the nation.

Recessionsita: I wanted to speak to you about Twitter for a minute. I know you already have a Twitter account, which is great, [click here for One's Twitter page] but I'm wondering if you have plans to do future giveaways, promotions, coupon codes, or that sort of thing?

Glenn Abrahamson: It's comin'. We first started off with the survey that you can take on our site and get a free lip balm. And another thing I'd like to do in the future is have customers do their own home videos about how they like and use our products. I'd like to post those videos on our website and then in return we'll send the person a little care-package. And we'd also like to have an area of our site where customers can write down their likes and dislikes about our products.

You know, one lady emailed me about how she wanted to take the One tins and recycle them into creative little trinkets in her house. And I said, "Send 'em over to me!" And I could easily see putting a little video on our site where we say, "Don't want to recycle our tins? Here's an idea about how to use them around the house or in your backyard." And of course, if we use your video on our site, we'll send you a care-package and a thank-you. I really want to make this fun.

Recessionista: Sounds great! A lot of my readers are thrilled that One doesn't use plastics in their packaging, but some people have criticized One for what they believe is excessive paper packaging. How would you respond to that?

Glenn Abrahamson: I did get comments from some people and I've written them back personally to let them know there's a reason for this. Let's take the Shampoo Bar, for example. In the container itself, if you take the tin out, there's a little cardboard "X" that kind of keeps the product lifted up about 3/4 of an inch.

The reason why I did that is, if I didn't put that there, it would make the container even smaller. And that means all the print and font would be even smaller on the packaging. Retailers are really concerned, especially on a new product launch, that the customers be able to know what your product is, and be able to read the package. When you're trying to explain a shampoo bar, well a lot customers aren't going to know what it is, or how to use it. So the instructions need more detail. And by law, it's a requirement for retailers that the font size needs to be a certain typeface. And if it's not big enough, the retailer will reject it. The UPC code has to be a certain size too. So by the time I met all of the requirements, I had no place else to cut [reduce] the packaging. Now, they can look at the lotion and say, "What a minute, that's a lot of waste in that cardboard box" which I agree. Well if I mold an aluminum cap that is wide enough so it can stand up by itself on the shelf, that's going to raise the price of the product by almost a dollar.


Here's the other issue: it's aluminum. If you're on the top shelf at Target and a bottle of lotion in a plastic tube falls on the floor, 99% of the time it's going to be fine. But if an aluminum bottle falls on the floor, it's dented. That would cause the retailer to take it and ship it back to us for return. And if you have a certain percentage of damages, the retailer won't want to do business with you. So the box was necessary to protect the aluminum tube.


Recessionista: Interesting! My hunch was that the extra packaging was just to avoid tampering. It hadn't even occurred to me that you might need to meet certain requirements by retailers, and I didn't even think about the damage that could occur if the aluminum tube wasn't protected. That totally makes sense, and it really speaks a lot about the time and care that you've put into this line. Thanks so much for the opportunity to be able to speak with you directly about One.


I hope you enjoyed my interview with the President of One, and please check back soon because I will be reviewing all of the products pictured in this post in the days to come. In the meantime, have you tried any One products yet? Is there anything in particular that you're planning to purchase the next time you're at Target?