Terressentials will continue working to clear marketplace confusion and raise consumer awareness in accordance with its uncompromising stance on "real organic," company co-founder Diana Kaye indicated July 28.

"Unlike many other companies, we have a philosophy that goes before our profits. It's not about seeing how big we can grow the company, how fast we can sell it out -- getting investors, taking it global -- that's not what we're about," Kaye asserted in an interview with "The Rose Sheet."

"It's not about the money, it's about the mission. And our mission is organic -- real organic," she said.

On the organic spectrum from dabblers to devotees, poseurs to prima donnas, Middletown, Md.-based Terressentials ranks among the purest of the purists.

"There are people in the natural personal-care products industry who have referred to us as organic extremists. I'm actually quite proud of that," Kaye said.

While debate rages around the issue of organic personal-care marketing and what exactly constitutes an organic formula, Terressentials is one company that holds the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program to be the definitive yardstick for assessing a product's "organic-ness."

The company has created a pro-organic hip-hop ¹ video -- posted on YouTube as well as its own Web site -- in which Kaye and other Terressentials team members flashing USDA medallions rap, "If it doesn't have the seal, it ain't the real deal!"

"Yes, I humiliated myself for the organic cause," Kaye joked.

Terressentials participated in stakeholder discussions that would eventually, in February, yield NSF International's certification criteria for products not quite up to USDA's standards.

While even organic stickler Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps greeted "NSF/ANSI 305: Made with Organic Personal Care Products" as a responsible compromise between "mainstream cosmetic industry and the organic consumer movement," Terressentials turned its back on the standard.

NSF touts its standard as industry-specific, addressing points in the food-focused National Organic Program that pose special -- some say exorbitant -- challenges for personal-care manufacturers (² Also see "Certifiers In U.S., EU Working On Mutual Recognition Of “Made With Organic”" - HBW Insight, 23 February, 2009.).

It also gives companies the opportunity to dress up products with at least 70 percent organic content (but less than 95 percent) with a certification logo. Under the National Organic Program, such products can claim to be made with organic ingredients but cannot sport the USDA seal.

Kaye maintains that "NSF/ANSI 305" emerged as "an industry-created standard that really wasn't there to benefit consumers; it was to benefit the bottom line of big manufacturers that really weren't interested in doing things differently or doing things better."

As for the notion of organic compromise, "I don't want compromises," Kaye said, quoting national radio commentator and populist activist Jim Hightower: "There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos."

The Business Of Creating Confusion

The Organic And Sustainable Industry Standards (OASIS) is another certification scheme that has been introduced as an alternative to the National Organic Program. OASIS members currently are embroiled in a lawsuit brought by Dr. Bronner's, which claims the "soft" standard assists organic "cheaters" in misleading consumers and creating an unfair business environment.

Marketers have options overseas as well, including the COSMOS and NaTrue standards (³ 'The Rose Sheet' June 15, 2009).

The standards vary in the percentage of organic content they require and in their permissiveness with regard to processes and ingredients allowed.

"Frankly, I'm really thinking that a lot of it is created to be confusing -- to create confusion in the marketplace," Kaye said.

Others of a similar mind maintain that the confusion acts as a smokescreen, clouding consumers' judgment and affecting their ability to zero in on "true" organic products.

"In order to take us to the next level as an industry, which is where so many enlightened consumers on a global basis want to go, we have to eliminate this confusion," Kaye said.

What complicates matters, she suggested, is that "a lot of the retailers are happy with the marketplace confusion -- in the natural foods industry in particular."

Kaye noted that in natural product stores, personal care typically accounts for a significant chunk of profits.

"Foods are notoriously low-margin; we're talking well under a 100 percent mark-up here. And they have a very short shelf-life. Think about produce -- what, a couple of days? And they're very labor intensive. When you're in the produce department, how many people do you see there picking out the rotting vegetables, spraying, primping, adjusting."

With easier money to be made in personal care, retailers are not eager to cater to a brand simply because it is USDA-certified, Kaye suggested. They may be more interested in brands from manufacturers that can afford to pay a slotting fee, for example.

The Thing About Old Dogs...

Kaye's experience with retailers makes her less-than-optimistic about the Organic Consumer Association's planned boycott of organic "imposter" brands, which could launch this fall (⁴ Also see "Organic Consumers Group Preparing Boycott Of Non-USDA-Sealed "Organic"" - HBW Insight, 27 July, 2009.).

OCA intends to publish on its Web site a list of brands marketed as "organic" that lack credentials and a list of USDA- and NSF-certified brands -- as well as brands contractually committed to obtaining certification -- for respective boycott and "buycott" action.

The group's goal is to have consumers pressure retailers into stocking their shelves with favor shown to certified organic brands.

"I wish them the greatest success," Kaye said. "It will be excellent as an educational tool for consumers; the very sad thing is I [have] doubts. Given my experience of nearly 20 years, visiting hundreds of stores across the U.S. and talking to the owners of these stores, I have serious doubts as to whether or not the retailers will get behind the OCA boycott."

"It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks," she said.

Terressentials will continue doing its part to get the message out to consumers that "if you don't see the USDA Certified Organic seal," the word "organic" on product packaging "doesn't mean anything."

The company disseminates educational literature through its retail partners and holistic medical professionals, according to Kaye.

"Whereas a lot of other companies might have very glossy, colorful and expensive brochures -- product catalogs -- instead we publish brochures that talk about issues," she said.

Articles on the company's Web site include "The Truth About Parabens," "The Truth About Grapefruit Seed Extract," and "The Truth About Sunscreens."

Mineral Makeup Misconceptions?

Terressentials also aims to elevate consumer understanding of mineral makeup.

"What really bothers me is that today there's a huge rage for mineral makeup," Kaye said. "I think people need to see for themselves that these 'natural' mineral pigments are actually created in giant facilities like steel mills."

Consumers might think twice about purchasing mineral makeup if they knew its production involves more than "somebody with a mortar and a pestle grinding up rocks that they picked up on a pristine mountainside," she added.

Terressentials' organic portfolio includes Pure Earth Hair Wash, Flower Therapy face and body products, bath and shower products and baby care.

The company operates two stores in Maryland and is looking to add stores in the future. Terressential products also are available online and at select retailers nationwide.

- Ryan Nelson (r.nelson@elsevier.com)

Terressentials Organic "Extremists" Maintain USDA Seal Is "Real Deal"

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