It all began in a Waikato garden shed before ending up on supermarket shelves worldwide and in our homes. 

Earthwise has now been pioneering eco-friendly products for 50 years across their Earthwise, Nourish and more recently launched Glow Lab brands. 

During this time their laundry, kitchen, bathroom and body products have been sold in more than 3,000 stores across New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe and America  

Across the Earthwise, Nourish and more recently launched Glow Lab brands. 

While the Earthwise range is created for the needs of families throughout the country and around the world, the company has a family history of its own.

Entrepreneurial founder Tom Robinson created his very first plant-based product in 1967, at home in the garden shed in the small Waikato town, Orini. 

It was a family affair with Tom’s sons Jeremy and Kayol helping after school and on weekends with formulating and testing the products.

“I remember staying up all night trying to make up one-off blends, thinking ‘why are we doing this, I could be out fishing!’,” Jeremy Robinson said. 

“Dad would just say, ‘It’s what we do’ and that would be that.”   

From his shed, Tom would hand-blends orders for customers who either couldn’t or wouldn’t use petrochemical-based products on their skin and clothing.  

Earning himself the nickname ‘yes man’, he would often be asked if he could create something, to which he always said “of course I can” – figuring out the ‘how’ afterwards.  

Tom’s philosophy was ‘don’t let your customers down’ and that care remains the cornerstone of the brand today.  

Although Tom sadly passed away in 2011, his legacy lives on at Earthwise, and his son Jeremy remains working for the family business.

Just like they did 50 years ago, Earthwise still hand-blend their products, although on a much larger scale now.

Managing director Jamie Peters, who bought into the business in 2010, said the company’s biggest challenge over the years was growing the environmental category and getting people to believe in their vision.

“We had a clear strategy from the start to create natural, safe and responsible products for the environment and Kiwi families that didn’t cost the earth,” Jamie said.

“To many, we became the entry to using natural based products. These values still hold true today, through our commitment to delivering effective, natural, accessible alternatives to mass-produced chemical products.”

Earthwise is committed to being environmentally sustainable. Jamie explains they accomplish this vision by being grey water and septic tank safe by use of plant-based components, only using biodegradable ingredients, recyclable packaging, and they’ve made a continuous improvement by removing plastic bags from their laundry powder production by the end of 2018.

In addition, they have also made a pledge to move to packaging made from recyclable materials.

These efforts have earnt the company Environmental Choice certification from the New Zealand government, which recognises manufacturers actively reducing their environmental impact. 

Jamie said Earthwise has the only Environmental Choice certified shampoo and conditioner products in New Zealand and offers the biggest range of household cleaning and toilet products that are environmentally certified.

“Today Earthwise is one of New Zealand’s most trusted and leading health and wellbeing company’s, and we are really proud of what we have managed to achieve with the Earthwise brand,” Jamie said.

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