Lather Of Love For Pet And Planet

Lather Of Love For Pet And Planet

Auckland 19 June 2007 - Creator of ecopet organics botanical pet care, Elinor McEwan is as passionate about her pets as she is about the planet and is sharing the love with bottles full of beautiful botanicals for pooches.

Founded in 2001, ecopet organics started at the kitchen bench in Elinor's villa on the shores of Devonport on Auckland's North Shore. Filling the house with the heady aromas of lavender, peppermint and teatree, these early concoctions were the result of a lifetime of 'dabbling' with old fashioned remedies and botanical recipes.

Elinor's first formulations were for friends and family with skin conditions that were irritated by many commercially produced skin care products. The transition from people to pets was a swift one for this long time animal lover.

Originally marketed as a hard soap, which Elinor maintains is 'still a very good way to shampoo', ecopet organics quickly gained popularity with pet lovers wanting to pamper their pooches without stripping their coats of precious natural oils or damaging the environment with the discharge of harmful soap products.

"There are some very harmful ingredients around," says Elinor, who cites many surfactants used in commercial soap and shampoo products as being "highly toxic particularly to our aquatic environments, but which are shrouded in the secrecy of letters and numbers, making it difficult for consumers to distinguish between the good, the bad and the downright ugly."

With the kitchen bench production method proving unable to keep up with growing demand, Elinor set about the arduous task of first finding and then appointing a contract manufacturer who would uphold the integrity of the product and not compromise its environmental and beneficial properties in the commercial process.

After much searching and discussion amongst her peers, Elinor finally settled with a local manufacturer and uses, she firmly believes, the best plant-based cleaning agents in New Zealand. With the product base established, Elinor then sourced her organic additives that make up the seven different blends of ecopet shampoos.

Named after her beloved pets, past and present, there is a shampoo to suit each coat type: Suzie the bearded collie is for normal coats, Timmy for oily coats, Ben the Newfoundland promotes shiny black coats while Pola the Samoyed adds shine to white coats, Harry for dry coats and current poster pooch, Tumbles the Tibetan Terrier, promotes red coats.

Pet owners who fear over-washing their pooches will strip their coats of their natural oils can take peace of mind and enjoy a sweeter smelling dog with regular washing using ecopet organics that protects and supports a healthy coat condition without stripping natural coat oils and waterproofing.

Key considerations in the ingredient list demonstrate a thorough understanding of what is best for pooch and with a list that includes burdock root for sensitive skin, nettle for shine and condition and lavender oil and neem oil for its inset repelling qualities, all ecopet shampoos are both beneficial and hypoallergenic for pets; and of course all products have been rigorously tested on humans!

With a fabulous new range of products with production levels raised to meet growing market awareness for quality pet products, Elinor then embarked on a marketing programme to extend the current look and feel of the product. To do this, she had to look no further than just around the corner to Devonport-based creative powerhouse the Department of Doing.

The result was packaging that upheld the environmental integrity of the product with a recyclable brown card display box, recyclable dark brown bottles and labelling that demonstrates the special bond between people, their pets and the planet.

It's a year since ecopet organics went to market in its passionate new packaging and extended range which is being picked up by dog lovers and groomers countrywide. Next step: sharing her message in a bottle with a wider audience, Elinor is in the early stages of planning a botanical range of shampoo for cats and horses.

ENDS

© Scoop Media