For many years Ben Breslin, founder of personal grooming products company Vico Naturals, didn’t give the aerosol deodorant he used every day a second thought. Then a friend commented that the product was “full of nasty chemicals” and this stopped him in his tracks.
“I had never heard this before, so I decided to give it a Google,” he says. “I was shocked to find that there are tonnes of controversial ingredients in mainstream deodorants and antiperspirants, and that the deodorant industry has a massive impact on the environment as it generates a huge amount of plastic waste every year.”
Breslin began looking for a natural alternative that was equally effective and came in environmentally friendly packaging. Unimpressed by what was available, he starting researching the market for natural deodorants and pondering if he could fill the niche with something better.
Like many people during the pandemic, Breslin had time on his hands and, in January 2021, he started experimenting at the kitchen table with different combinations of ingredients. “Having found it very difficult to find a sustainable, natural deodorant that ticked all of the right boxes, I decided to take matters into my own hands,” he says.
“In my experience most natural deodorants didn’t work; they used plastic cases and often smelt kind of funky. So, thanks to the level-five lockdown, I started spending all of my free time creating a natural deodorant that worked. I spent all of February and March getting feedback from friends, family and email subscribers who had volunteered to try out our deodorants.
“After over 150 different formulas, we finally created a deodorant that works great, smells amazing and uses sturdy, colourful sustainable packaging that is 100 per cent plastic free,” says Breslin, who tapped into the expertise of a chemist specialising in natural product development to nail Vico’s final formulations.
Breslin has a primary degree in history and politics from UCD and a master’s in international relations from DCU. Always interested in volunteering, in 2014 he joined Global Brigades (an international student volunteering agency) as a project lead, managing teams in Ghana and Honduras.
In 2017, he moved to Canada to work with a company focused on improving the quality of healthcare in British Columbia and, in 2019, he returned to Ireland and joined PFH technology group in Cork as a project manager in healthcare. Two years later he joined PwC as a project specialist working on the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out programme.
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Breslin is now working full-time in Vico Naturals, which supports five jobs. The company produces its deodorants by hand in small batches and has recently added soap to its range. More products are on the way, including a natural body wash in refillable containers.
“I feel we’ve really begun to find our feet in the last year but it’s been a long process,” says Breslin who estimates start-up costs at around €40,000 with support from South Cork Local Enterprise Office which also sent him on a lean-manufacturing programme to learn about maximising productivity.
He has yet to look for outside investment for the business but the possibility is now on his radar to accelerate sales of the expanded range.
Vico’s products are available online and in 180 stores around the State. “Looking back, we should have gone into retail sooner, not least because online marketing began getting more and more expensive.
“I should also have been more confident about pricing and charging for postage. I went in too low initially because I didn’t want to put people off but when we put the prices up, there was no fall-off in sales,” says Breslin who adds that, having built traction with buyers in the 30-plus age bracket, the company’s focus now is on making the products equally attractive to Gen Z and younger.
