Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - Page number 37 - November/December 2021

sustainable brand. This is not just about the products we make. With the help of the initiative we have worked on an action plan that affects all areas of the business, from the energy suppliers we use, how we recycle waste materials, joining a tree planting scheme to becoming carbon neutral. We are also keen to become a B-Corp business and again this is challenging but it will benefit our business, customers, community, and our staff. What sets you apart from others in the market? We identify our competitors as some of the more niche beauty and quality perfume and skincare brands on the high street. What sets us apart is that unlike the majority of these we are an independently owned family business and we make all our own products using artisan small-scale production techniques, ensuring our products are freshly made and of consistently high quality. We also design and hand-finish all products ourselves. This hands-on approach I believe imprints our personality and our passion for the brand into the natural products we make and everything we do. More recently our focus is on sustainability, from the eco-certified ingredients we use to the FFC paper packaging and fully recyclable bottles, which means we are making a great product with an environmental message to share. In some ways, through the products we make we try to suggest solutions to some of the environmental issues which affect our industry, showing it is possible to make a long-term difference. In a way I feel we have repositioned our brand for the future, taking on positive cultural and social changes. For example, we are no longer defining our products by gender and this has been well-received. For example, we have recently dropped the title “for men” from our best-selling Spanish fig and nutmeg collection – this is now simply Fig and Nutmeg. There are still shaving and grooming products but also bathing, shower, and face creams, which are great for everyone to use. Ours are beautiful gifts creating a minimum impact on the environment, they are products, ingredients, and packaging that are sustainably sourced and made, and we have identified methods to make refilling and recycling and are clear and transparent about what we do and why. How are you finding the current climate in the UK is affecting business? Besides selling to some great independent wholesalers across the UK we also have six of our own physical stores in the Lake District, York, Knutsford, Ilkey and an online shop. So, we have quite a unique insight into the high street and sales. Our shops have generally bounced back from the lockdown – some having very good weekly trading figures, which are better than pre-pandemic. I think this has been because this year’s trend for staycations has brought customers to our stores, especially in the Lake District. We continued trading in- store with quite stringent limitations on numbers allowed in for the safety of everyone, products are still for display only and no testers are out. We have encouraged interaction with our beauty advisors, which has led to the potential for fewer sales but total sales value has been much higher. We also reopened with our new sustainable packaging, which I think surprised a few of our regulars but has had a great positive response. It has also attracted a wider demographic so we have been pleased with the changes made. A city-centre shop like York has had a slow start, but sales are returning to more expected levels. Our website did particularly well during the lockdown and while it has dropped a little with the reopening of retail we are trading considerably up and expect this trend to continue. Our wholesale side of things has reduced a bit with the change of our products and our move toward sustainability I think it’s like a new brand has launched, so it will take little time to settle into the right accounts. Our prices have also gone up a bit and our environmental message and the look of the product have all changed so in some ways Bath House as a brand is completely relaunching  37 COMPANY PROFILE