A lot goes into the making and marketing of a product, so in the spirit and theme of full transparency, I wanted to dedicate a post very specifically to let you in on a very big part of my company, manufacturing. I promise it is not as boring as the word sounds! It is actually a very large part of our company and we do it with you, our beautiful customers, in mind.
The first thing I would like to tell you is the way we do things has nothing to do with cost. The second is, it does in fact make life and business easier, more inspiring, and trustworthy. But most importantly I want to tell you this third thing, this third reason why we do what we do is because it is personal, it connects us deeper to you.
When True North Beauty was just starting, I attended a conference in New York City. This conference was for independent beauty brands. I was surrounded by my peers and was so excited to learn and understand better practices to bring back to you. The topic of manufacturing came up and I was shocked at the conversation I was hearing. From the very beginning of my peers launching and growing their companies they never manufactured their products in house. These amazing women who were confident and intelligent, and innovative never once created the products they sold, which up until this moment I thought the majority did!
So in a little confusion, I began to share that I always formulated and created each and every one of my products in my in-house manufacturing site. Some with confused looks and others outright laughed at me. Many of them shared with me the pros versus the cons of keeping manufacturing separate and working with a manufacturer. The pros being, you can spend more time marketing and pushing products, it is more cost-effective, it expends too much time and energy to learn about all of the ingredients and how to effectively formulate, and the cherry on top, “it’s too hard”. There I was, the outlier amongst my peers. I left the conference in a fog of thoughts and felt pretty self-conscious.
Nevertheless, there’s nothing that some deep personal self-reflection and a meandering walk around the city can’t fix! Those comparison driven thoughts turned into a decision drenched with moxie and gumption. It is not about pushing products. It is not about how much it costs me to create the labels, bottles, or formulas. It is not about being able to formulate fast and push out new products the way I would if I outsourced to a chemist. It’s about my customers. It’s about knowing which ingredients are going in which products. It’s about understanding why each ingredient is going into each product.
I am not a chemist, but I have certainly learned an awful lot over the years, and my learning never stops! I appreciate the process and I am grateful for creating a community of customers who feel confident in letting me know what exactly it is they want in a clean, natural, and healthy beauty product.
I always want to have full control over what it is I place in your hands and your home. Every ingredient counts when it comes to the trust of my customers and their skin. I could never imagine handing that important part of my business off to someone else. Through this journey, I have realized that True North Beauty is different. This difference has allowed us to consistently deliver a product we are proud of.
So here are the facts on how we do just that!
At TNB we have an on-site manufacturing facility. We ensure good manufacturing 
practices, safety, and quality control every step of the process. My background is in working for a manufacturing organization and my partner was a Master Chief from the U.S. Navy with expertise in the gold standard of manufacturing. You can say, we spent the early years of our career unknowingly getting ready for TNB!
My partner and I both are qualified to run, and understand how to properly run our own manufacturing facility. More than that, we are passionate about taking full responsibility and owning every step of the process. The decision to maintain our manufacturing and not outsource it was solidified this year through the pandemic. While many of my peers’ independent beauty companies took a hit with their manufacturers, True North Beauty didn’t skip a beat. We were able to move forward without changing vendors or ingredients. We have been able to not only keep up with our orders but have also been able to grow.
We are proud to live and create our Chaga infused skincare products in Central Maine, an area that offers beautiful landscapes but not a lot of economic opportunities. Maintaining our manufacturing process in-house allows us to do our part in supporting the local economy. As we continue to grow with your trust in us, our products, and the way we do things we will be able to bring in more people. We are excited to teach and share with our employees our leadership, capabilities, and knowledge on how to continue to operate our manufacturing the True North way.
Maintaining our manufacturing in Maine gives us another advantage. It allows us to produce close to where our hero ingredient grows. Chaga is a powerful mushroom that is responsible for delivering amazing, skin-loving properties to
skin. Our hero ingredient is sustainably harvested in the pristine forest of Maine. We hand harvest every piece of Chaga from the beautiful birch trees during the winter months; from the first frost to the first thaw. This not only allows us to harvest when the rich properties of this ingredient are their highest concentration, but it is also when the tree is dormant and ensures less risk of adversely impacting the health of the tree. Chaga has so many wonderful benefits for your body and skin, which I cannot wait to share with you in a post coming soon!
We understand we are different from many brands on the market today. But, we believe different is good! This difference early on created doubt for me, but over time I have realized that this difference reinforced and continues to reinforce our commitment to confidence. Why do we do what we do? It gives us confidence in every step of our process and that in turn gives you confidence every time you care for your skin with True North Beauty. Everything we do and every way we choose to do the things we do is to provide superior results and superior satisfaction for you, the women of True North Beauty.
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