Vico Deodorant scents success as it spreads its retail wings
Ben Breslin, founder of Vico.
While other people were using the covid-19 lockdown time to bake banana bread or improve their five kilometre run times, Ben Breslin created his own natural deodorant and established his very own company — Vico Deodorant.
Speaking to The Echo, Ben explained that the idea for his own natural deodorant came following a conversation with his girlfriend.
“One day, I was spraying an antiperspirant beside my girlfriend when she asked me not to spray it so close to her because it was ‘full of crappy chemicals’,” he said.
“I didn’t have a clue what she was on about.
“I gave it a Google and what I found took me by surprise.
“It turned out that a bunch of controversial chemicals are used in mainstream antiperspirants and deodorants,” he added.
“Not only that, but there’s also a heap of plastic waste produced by the industry each year.
“As if this wasn’t enough, it turns out that lots of the large corporations that own these brands have carried out animal testing for beauty and personal care products in the past.
“I made the decision there and then that I was going to swap to a natural deodorant.” However, Ben found it hard to find a deodorant that worked for him, shipped to Ireland and was available at a reasonable price.
“I decided to learn how to make deodorant in the kitchen of my rented house,” he said.
“It took me ages — over 100 formulas — but I finally made a deodorant that helped me smell great without the chemicals or plastic.” Ben officially launched Vico Deodorant in July 2021.
“It offers customers an Irish made, natural deodorant that is eco-friendly (plastic free), vegan and cruelty free,” he explained.
“We deliver the deodorant straight to your door!
“The deodorant is made from naturally derived ingredients like coconut oil, shea butter, fractionated coconut oil, organic essential oils and more.
“The packaging is made from cardboard.” Vico started off with a team of four working from their base in Currahaly.
The team includes Ben, his mother Martina, Filip, who helps make the deodorant, and Marta, who assists with quality control and packaging orders.
Ben said previously that he was surprised at the fast-paced success of the venture.
“I feel blessed by the amount of support that I’ve received.
“Every week, I receive dozens of emails and social media messages from people who love the product and want to support it,” he added.
For the last almost two years, Ben and his team have been busy making and shipping Vico directly to customers’ doors.
“One of the questions we get asked all of the time is ‘are you stocked in any shops?’,” Ben said.
“For close to two years I’ve wanted to say yes but things kept getting in the way.
“Now, I’m finally able to say yes we are!
“We launched into retail stores last month,” he added. “So many of our customers have asked us to go into retail since we started.
“I had planned to make the move lots of times but I had to delay it over and over.
“To be honest, I didn’t have the capacity, cashflow or knowledge to go into retail until now but we are finally ready.
“I’m over the moon happy.
“My mam, Martina (Vico’s first ever hire) is in charge of wholesale.
“She used to run her own small shop in Temple Bar, so she has lots of experience.” Ben explained Vico are taking things in the retail world on a “step-by-step” basis.
“First, we’re getting back to shops that have messaged us,” he said.
“We’re going to work with them and provide the best service that we can.
“We’re then going to start reaching out to other small retailers to see if they are interested in stocking Vico too.
“We are going to hold off reaching out to the large retail chains for now,” he added.
“We have lots of plans for the summer. I don’t want to risk taking on too much by possibly working with the big retailers.
“We also want to learn the ropes of retail a bit more first.” Ben added that, once those ropes are well and truly learned, Vico does have hopes to go into business with the bigger retail stores.
As of right now, Vico is stocked in over 26 stores, with plans to add more already underway.
“These are all retailers who have reached out to us over the last two years and waited patiently for us to get back to them,” said Ben.
“We’ve added a store locator for people to see exactly where we’re stocked.”
People can see it here: https://vicodeo.com/pages/store-locator
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