BOTMA & van BENNEKOM

Pro­duc­ti­on locations

• Arn­hem, Net­her­lan­ds – All pro­duc­ts are han­d­ma­de in Bot­ma & Van Bennekom’s stu­dio, allowing the small team of four to clo­sely over­see ethi­cal pro­duc­ti­on whi­le com­plying with EU wor­k­pla­ce standards.

• Buiten­pla­ats van Siza, Net­her­lan­ds – The brand col­la­bo­ra­tes with this soci­al enter­pri­se for cer­ta­in manu­fac­tu­ring, pac­ka­ging and tran­s­por­ta­ti­on needs, whe­re people with a dis­tan­ce to the labo­ur mar­ket work, sup­por­ting inclu­si­vity and soci­al welfare.
• Den­mark – Pac­ka­ging is prin­ted at Pure­Pack, sup­por­ting con­s­ci­ous pac­ka­ging initiatives.

Sour­cing Locations

• Cor­do­ba, Spa­in – Orga­ni­cal­ly grown oli­ves are sour­ced from local far­mers’ cooperatives.

• Gha­na – Shea but­ter is obta­ined direc­tly from the Savan­nah Fru­its Com­pany, which pro­mo­tes women’s empower­ment and sup­ports rural communities.
• Nieuwe Ton­ge & Har­lin­gen, Net­her­lan­ds – Sun­flower seeds are pre­ssed orga­ni­cal­ly, sour­ced from the­se local facilities.
• Viet­nam – Coco­nut oil
• Bur­ki­na Faso – Orga­nic Shea Butter 
• Moroc­co – Argan Oil
• Ukra­ine – Sun­flower Seed
• Fran­ce, Por­tu­gal, Alba­nia – Other ingredients

Wor­king Con­di­ti­ons & Living Wages

With pro­duc­ti­on cen­tred in the Net­her­lan­ds, Bot­ma & Van Ben­ne­kom adhe­res to EU wor­k­pla­ce stan­dar­ds. By part­ne­ring with Buiten­pla­ats van Siza, the brand not only sup­ports ethi­cal pro­duc­ti­on but also pro­mo­tes inclu­si­vity by employing indi­vi­du­als dis­tan­ced from the tra­di­ti­onal labo­ur mar­ket. The brand’s direct sour­cing from all the­ir sup­pli­ers exem­pli­fi­es its com­mit­ment to ethi­cal and soci­al­ly res­pon­si­ble prac­ti­ces, con­tri­bu­ting to com­mu­nity empower­ment and sus­ta­ina­ble live­li­ho­ods.

Alt­ho­ugh the brand’s sup­ply cha­in invol­ves mul­ti­ple sour­ces, its tar­ge­ted part­ner­ships reflect a focus on soci­al­ly and envi­ron­men­tal­ly res­pon­si­ble prac­ti­ces, with direct sour­cing from com­mu­ni­ti­es that uphold ethi­cal standards.

Ingre­di­ents

Bot­ma & Van Ben­ne­kom uses a well-defi­ned set of natu­ral ingre­di­ents free from palm oil and plas­tics. The brand pri­ori­ti­ses ingre­di­ents that are orga­nic and sus­ta­ina­bly sour­ced whe­re­ver possi­ble. The ingre­di­ents lis­ted here are from a sam­ple set, and do not reflect the true sus­ta­ina­bi­lity of the brand. Key ingre­di­ents include:

• Jojo­ba oil (Sim­mon­d­sia Chi­nen­sis Seed Oil) – Dro­ug­ht-resis­tant with mini­mal envi­ron­men­tal impact; mimics skin sebum, ide­al for hydra­ti­on.
• Inu­lin – Deri­ved from chi­cory root with a low envi­ron­men­tal foot­print; acts as a pre­bi­otic, sup­por­ting the skin’s micro­bi­ome.
• Ras­p­ber­ry seed oil – A low-impact bypro­duct of ras­p­ber­ry far­ming; rich in fat­ty acids, pro­vi­des anti-inflam­ma­tory bene­fits.
• Vac­ci­ni­um myr­til­lus seed oil (Bil­ber­ry Seed Oil) – A bypro­duct with mini­mal envi­ron­men­tal stra­in; anti­oxi­dants and omega‑3 soot­he and hydra­te.
• Oryza sati­va bran wax and oil (Rice Bran Wax/​Oil) – Bypro­duc­ts of rice far­ming with mini­mal impact; nouri­shing and pro­tec­ti­ve for sen­si­ti­ve skin.
• Bora­go offi­ci­na­lis seed oil (Bora­ge Seed Oil) – Far­ming prac­ti­ces vary but gene­ral­ly low impact; con­ta­ins gam­ma-lino­le­nic acid, hel­ps res­to­re the skin bar­ri­er.
• Sea buc­k­t­horn oil – Far­ming prac­ti­ces vary by regi­on, with some impac­ts; rich in vita­mins, sup­ports skin rege­ne­ra­ti­on and elas­ti­city.
• Car­t­ha­mus tin­c­to­ri­us seed oil (Saf­flower Oil) – Mono­cul­tu­re far­ming can affect soil heal­th; con­ta­ins lino­le­ic acid, hel­ps repa­ir and pro­tect the skin bar­ri­er.
• Heli­an­t­hus annu­us seed wax (Sun­flower Wax) – Pro­du­ced from sun­flower far­ming, gene­ral­ly low envi­ron­men­tal impact; cre­ates a bar­ri­er to lock in mois­tu­re.
• Glyceryl Ste­ara­te – Impact vari­es depen­ding on oil sour­ce; smo­ot­hs and hydra­tes skin, pro­vi­ding a soft textu­re.
• Lecit­hin – Deri­ved from soy or sun­flower, far­ming impac­ts vary; emol­li­ent, hel­ps sof­ten and mois­tu­ri­se skin.
• Maca­da­mia inte­gri­fo­lia seed oil (Maca­da­mia Oil) – Far­ming has mixed impac­ts, possi­bly affec­ting biodi­ver­sity; rich in fat­ty acids, hel­ps reta­in mois­tu­re in skin.
• Butyros­per­mum par­kii but­ter (Shea But­ter) – Often ethi­cal­ly sour­ced, impact vari­es; deeply nouri­shes and hel­ps repa­ir dry skin.
• Sodi­um Hya­lu­ro­na­te – Syn­t­he­ti­cal­ly pro­du­ced via biofer­men­ta­ti­on, con­trol­led envi­ron­men­tal impact; power­ful humec­tant, enhan­ces skin hydra­ti­on and elas­ti­city.
• Tocop­he­rol (Vita­min E) – Some­ti­mes deri­ved from palm oil, depen­ding on sour­ce; anti­oxi­dant, pro­tec­ts skin from free radi­cals.
• Glyce­rin – Sour­ced eit­her syn­t­he­ti­cal­ly or from palm oil, envi­ron­men­tal impact depen­ds on sour­ce; acts as a humec­tant, drawing mois­tu­re to the skin.
• The­obro­ma cacao seed but­ter (Cocoa But­ter) – Sour­cing can lead to defo­res­ta­ti­on in some regi­ons; deeply hydra­ting, impro­ves skin elas­ti­city.
• Iso­propyl pal­mi­ta­te – Lin­ked to palm oil pro­duc­ti­on, often asso­ci­ated with defo­res­ta­ti­on; smo­ot­hs skin and enhan­ces pro­duct spre­ada­bi­lity.
• Pen­tyle­ne glycol – Syn­t­he­tic, petro­le­um-deri­ved and non-biode­gra­da­ble; bin­ds mois­tu­re, enhan­cing hydra­ti­on.
• Hydro­ge­na­ted Vege­ta­ble Oil – Often inclu­des palm oil, lin­ked to defo­res­ta­ti­on con­cer­ns; pro­vi­des a smo­oth textu­re, sof­tens skin.
• Tetra­ca­pra­te – Frequ­en­tly deri­ved from palm oil, lin­ked to defo­res­ta­ti­on; gives pro­duc­ts a lig­h­twe­ig­ht, sil­ky feel.
• Vita­min A – Syn­t­he­tic ingre­di­ent, envi­ron­men­tal impact depen­ds on pro­duc­ti­on; pro­mo­tes cell tur­no­ver, impro­ves skin textu­re.

Whi­le the brand does not have the­ir own cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­ons, they only work with veri­fi­ed sup­pli­ers, using orga­nic, cer­ti­fi­ed ingre­di­ents. The main cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on they look for is SKAL, which is an inde­pen­dent cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on orga­ni­za­ti­on com­mit­ted to verify reli­abi­lity of orga­nic pro­duc­ts in the Netherlands. 

Pac­ka­ging

The pac­ka­ging is cli­ma­te neutral and crad­le to crad­le cer­ti­fi­ed. They use car­d­bo­ard paper, and the ink is also sup­po­sed to be biode­gra­da­ble. The car­d­bo­ard is made from more than 85% agri­cul­tu­ral was­te and is sup­po­sed to be 29% more sus­ta­ina­ble than recy­cled paper. Some of the pro­duc­ts are sour­ced from Paperwi­se, which is B‑Corp cer­ti­fi­ed, ensu­ring the­ir dedi­ca­ti­on to sus­ta­ina­ble activities. 

Water usa­ge

Bot­ma & Van Ben­ne­kom uses mini­mal water during pro­duc­ti­on, limi­ted to the soaps. The brand also advi­ses cus­to­mers to avo­id dis­po­sing of soap direc­tly into natu­ral waterways, as the soaps degra­de best in soil. This prac­ti­ce hel­ps pre­vent pol­lu­ti­on of natu­ral water sour­ces, alig­ning with the brand’s sus­ta­ina­bi­lity goals and pro­mo­ting envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­s­ci­ous water usa­ge. The­ir pac­ka­ging sup­pli­er also has to fol­low strict regu­la­ti­ons regar­ding water usa­ge, as veri­fi­ed by the C2C cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on. Sour­cing of orga­nic ingre­di­ents also keeps water pol­lu­ti­on to a minimum. 

NOTE: Water usage/​pollution down to the raw mate­ri­als is gene­ral­ly impo­ssi­ble to track for cosme­tic products.

Cir­cu­lar pac­ka­ging design

The brand’s pac­ka­ging incor­po­ra­tes car­d­bo­ard made from over 85% agri­cul­tu­ral was­te, enhan­cing its cir­cu­la­rity by repur­po­sing mate­ri­als that would otherwi­se go to was­te. The­re is cur­ren­tly no refill or take­back ser­vi­ce for used con­ta­iners. The­ir pac­ka­ging mate­ri­als are all said to be desig­ned for easy recy­cling. The pac­ka­ging is all Crad­le to Crad­le cer­ti­fi­ed, assu­ring us of the­ir circularity.

Dis­tan­ce & com­plexity of the sup­ply chain

HQ and Pro­duc­ti­on Locations:

Arn­hem, Net­her­lan­ds – Pro­duc­ts are deve­lo­ped and made in the brand’s own stu­dio, and some pro­duc­ti­on also takes pla­ce at anot­her faci­lity in Arnhem.

Sup­ply Cha­in Complexity: 

The brand ope­ra­tes a sim­ple sup­ply cha­in with loca­li­sed pro­duc­ti­on, keeping the pro­cess stre­amli­ned and easy to moni­tor. Sour­cing is limi­ted to Euro­pe as much as possi­ble, with the excep­ti­on of some ingre­di­ents sour­ced from Viet­nam, Bur­ki­na Faso, and Moroc­co. 

Sales & Export: The brand exports the­ir pro­duc­ts worldwide.

Tran­s­por­ta­ti­on

E‑commerce Tran­s­por­ta­ti­on: Bot­ma & Van Ben­ne­kom col­la­bo­ra­tes with Cyclo­on, a ​“gre­en” and soci­al deli­very ser­vi­ce wit­hin the Net­her­lan­ds. Pac­ka­ges are pic­ked up daily from the stu­dio in Arn­hem, then tran­s­por­ted to a local hub by gre­en gas vehi­cles. From the­re, the pac­ka­ges are deli­ve­red to cus­to­mers pri­ma­rily by bicy­cle couri­ers in urban are­as. Whe­re bicy­cle deli­very isn’t ava­ila­ble, the pac­ka­ges are sent with DHL couri­ers alre­ady en route, mini­mi­sing addi­ti­onal CO₂ emi­ssi­ons.

Sup­ply Cha­in tran­s­por­ta­ti­on: The brand’s sup­ply cha­in uses car­go truc­ks for deli­ve­ri­es to the ate­li­er, and ship for deli­ve­ri­es internationally. 

The brand does not use any ani­mal ingre­di­ents, making it vegan fri­end­ly. 

Pro­duct design

Bot­ma & Van Bennekom’s pro­duct ran­ge is rooted in five core valu­es: Quality, Sus­ta­ina­bi­lity, Tran­s­pa­ren­cy, Natu­ral Beauty, and Mini­ma­lism. They design pro­duc­ts for everyo­ne, from babi­es to adul­ts, with cle­ar ingre­di­ent lis­ts on each pro­duct page. This ensu­res cus­to­mers can easily iden­tify poten­ti­al aller­gens, par­ti­cu­lar­ly due to the mini­mal ingre­di­ent for­mu­la­ti­ons.

The brand avo­ids sales peri­ods, reflec­ting its com­mit­ment to slow con­sump­ti­on. Cus­to­mers are enco­ura­ged to tre­asu­re and use pro­duc­ts min­d­ful­ly, with well-desig­ned con­ta­iners that pro­mo­te long-las­ting use. For added per­so­na­li­sa­ti­on, they even offer soap-making wor­k­shops, allowing cus­to­mers to cre­ate unique, cus­tom soaps.

Bot­ma & Van Ben­ne­kom’s pro­duct care ins­truc­ti­ons reflect the­ir natu­ral ingre­di­ent appro­ach. Sin­ce the­se pro­duc­ts lack syn­t­he­tic pre­ser­va­ti­ves, cus­to­mers are advi­sed to sto­re them in a cool, dark pla­ce to pre­ser­ve quality.

The­ir ethos is to avo­id impul­se buys, and deve­lop a com­mu­nity of cus­to­mers based on trust and tran­s­pa­ren­cy, making the pur­c­ha­ses abo­ut the pro­duct rat­her than the­ir story. 

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy on product

Bot­ma & Van Ben­ne­kom demons­tra­tes a high level of tran­s­pa­ren­cy on its pro­duct pages by lis­ting all ingre­di­ents for each pro­duct, along with cle­ar, easy-to-under­stand expla­na­ti­ons. They also have a dedi­ca­ted ingre­di­ents page whe­re main ingre­di­ents are hig­hlig­h­ted and fur­t­her infor­ma­ti­on is pro­vi­ded, allowing cus­to­mers to under­stand the brand’s sus­ta­ina­ble efforts wit­ho­ut reading thro­ugh enti­re ingre­di­ent lists.

The­ir open ate­li­er and soap-making wor­k­shops fur­t­her enhan­ce tran­s­pa­ren­cy, allowing cus­to­mers to see fir­st­hand the ingre­di­ents and pro­cess used.

Tran­s­pa­ren­cy on processes

The brand sha­res pro­duc­ti­on loca­ti­ons and pro­vi­des an over­vi­ew of the soap-making pro­cess in the­ir stu­dio, offe­ring insig­h­ts into the­ir manu­fac­tu­ring. They have pro­vi­ded COSH! with exact sour­cing loca­ti­ons for each ingre­di­ent, as well as cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on deta­ils. They make an effort to main­ta­in tran­s­pa­ren­cy thro­ug­ho­ut the sup­ply cha­in, acti­vely redu­cing the num­ber of midd­le men to 1 for each sup­pli­er. This way they have direct access to the pro­duc­ti­on deta­ils of the ingre­di­ents, and can ensu­re ethi­cal pro­duc­ti­on acti­vi­ti­es. They also cla­im to not bot­her with cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­ons for the­ir own brand, as they beli­eve in tran­s­pa­ren­cy of the­ir ingre­di­ents and pro­duc­ti­on pro­ce­sses instead.