Ira Kaganovsky wants people to know that smelling good doesn’t have to involve a lot of chemicals. Reaching back to her Eastern European roots, Kaganovsky formulated a line of deodorants made of natural ingredients, human tested for efficacy and safety. They’re so natural, she says, you could eat them — though it’s not recommended, she adds, they don’t taste very good.
In the past year Freedom Deodorant has gone from a part-time endeavor for Kaganovsky to a full-time team effort. Building a business that advocates for breast cancer patients and survivors, Freedom brands, and their five scents of deodorant and three scented body sprays, was recently picked up by LuckyVitamin, an online retailer focused on vitamins, supplements, and health and beauty products. Read on to find out how RangeMe helped this startup gain another retailer under its belt—naturally.
Starting Right
When a good friend was diagnosed with three different types of cancer, her doctor recommended staying away from typical, aluminum-filled antiperspirants. This resonated with Ira Kaganovsky, founder of Freedom Deodorant, who had had her own cancer scare, and she set out to develop a natural deodorant that actually worked.
Natural deodorants often get a bad rap for not working they way they should—they don’t keep people smelling fresh, Kaganovsky says. So when she developed her line of natural deodorants, she knew she had a tall order to fill. Finding the right ingredients was tricky, but ultimately successful—but that was only the first step.
Knowledge is Power
Besides nailing the right ingredients so people would smell good, Kaganovsky knew that a big part of making her product a success would be educating consumers, particularly on the harmful ingredients lurking in many of the existing deodorant lines available.
“We put educational pieces on our website,” she says, “and our products come with paperwork. Because not everyone will be able to wear our product, it’s not one-size-fits-all. But while our deodorants aren’t for everyone, if we can change one or two people, those one or two people are going to be so much happier.”
What’s more, Kaganovsky sees the educational pieces behind her products as an opportunity for people to try something different. “We want them to know what they’re buying,” she says.
And “them” isn’t just consumers. The biggest group the Freedom team is educating are the retailers putting their product on shelves.
“We educate them on why natural deodorant is necessary,” she explains. “And when you get retailers excited it can really bring about change, because they commit to educating their consumers.”
Natural deodorant is one of the largest growing body care segments, Kaganovsky adds, and without the antiperspirant in the deodorant, the product falls under the cosmetic segment. “And that gives us opportunity.”
Connecting Through RangeMe
Kaganovsky signed Freedom Deodorant up to RangeMe in December 2016, and at the time, Kaganovsky was still working full-time at her job running her financial firm. It’s only been in the second half of this year that she’s been able to step away and devote herself full-time to continue to grow Freedom Deodorant.
Getting discovered on RangeMe and listing eight of their SKUs on LuckyVitamin’s online store just adds to their momentum. “It’s extra brand awareness, and it’s another place our brand can be seen,” Kaganovsky says. “The whole point of starting a business is to get out there. LuckyVitamin is a partner in that, and it’s fantastic.”