The Somerset Toiletry Co.

AWARDS
2003 BEST NEW EXPORTER
2003 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AWARDS
2003 QUEEN'S AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISE



The Somerset Toiletry Company has been committed to producing beautiful, quality, and honestly priced luxury toiletries for over 20 years, when its founders Roger & Sakina Buoy identified a gap in the market for such products. Since then, they've been proud of providing the market with lovely body care products and fragrances, which are not only of great value, but are environmentally sustainable as well.

Due to the alarming environmental state of our planet, The Somerset Toiletry Co. is committed to taking on the most important journey at this point, which is to become as environmentally sustainable as quickly as possible. As innovative new materials continue to emerge, they have been using packaging that are either biodegradable or can be recycled, while doing away with unnecessary and excessive packaging. While deriving the best quality ingredients to create superior products, the company also strives to include natural extracts whenever possible. Everything Somerset Toiletry produces is tested in-house as they believe strongly against animal cruelty as well.

Trade Fairs all over the world have been used to build brand awareness and develop valued customer relationships. Over the years the company has been recognised for many prestigious awards for business and design, including the Queen's Award.


Brand Story

Sakina Buoy's love of fragrance is a vividly personal one, being rooted in her childhood. She grew up in Canada, where she would pick tomatoes with her father, an organic gardener. She would later on travel to India, where she spent most of her days in ashrams and on yoga and meditation retreats. This merged into an interest in aromatherapy and essential oils as a way to incorporate wellbeing into everyday life.

Her work with clients and in books brought her to the UK and to the attention of her Bristol-based husband Roger, a serial entrepreneur whom she met in 1992.

He asked her to work with him, and their story in life – and in business – kicked off from there, culminating in the launch of The Somerset Toiletry Co. in 1999. Sakina strives for absolute authenticity in everything she and the business creates. She says: “If you’re anybody with a conscience and you’re selling products, you want to be selling things you would use and you’d have your kids use”. This astuteness translates into how she wants her customers to feel.

Following the initial success of producing body care for other companies, the business developed their own distribution range.