Dr. Bronner’s Creates Special Label on Soaps to Promote Book About the Company and Its Progressive Business Practices

Dr Bronner's
March 18th 2021

VISTA, CA – Dr. Bronner’s, the family-owned maker of the top-selling natural brand of soaps and body care products in North America, is proud to announce the release of the first-ever book about Dr. Bronner’s, Honor Thy Label: Dr. Bronner’s Unconventional Journey to a Clean, Green and Ethical Supply Chain. Written by Dr. Bronner’s Vice President of Special Operations, Dr. Gero Leson, the book published March 9, 2021.

Dr. Bronner’s CEO, David Bronner wrote the foreword, and the company has created a special limited edition “Honor Thy Label” soap label to adorn approximately 3 million bottles of its 32oz. Castile Liquid Soap, now available in over 1,500 retailers nationwide. To learn more about the book, go to: https://www.drbronner.com/about/our-suppliers/honor-thy-label/.

“Our take is that everyone can choose to consume and produce products in a way that regenerates communities and ecosystems rather than degenerating them. In fact, our planet depends on it. Conventional capitalism—with its brutal devotion to profit above all—has wreaked havoc on the natural world and created incredible wealth disparity and kept millions locked in poverty. It’s on all of us to turn this tide—to regenerate our planet and create true social justice and rewarding livelihoods for all. For those of us in business, we have the responsibility to remake the market and create alternatives to a status quo of corporate greed that benefits few and robs so many of the joys of life and the beauty of Earth.”

– Excerpt from the book’s foreword by Dr. Bronner’s Cosmic Engagement Officer David Bronner.

 

Read the Book!

Honor Thy Label is now available at booksellers nationwide, Penguin Random House online, as an audiobook wherever audiobooks are sold, and at drbronner.com. The MSRP for the hardcover book is $28.00. A special discounted bundle of the book and a special limited edition “Honor Thy Label” Castile Liquid 4oz. soap is available now on Dr. Bronner’s website through March 22, 2021.

Honor Thy Label is a fascinating and inspiring read for entrepreneurs, environmentalists, engineers, and conscious consumers alike, who seek to better understand Dr. Bronner’s model of Constructive Capitalism and how business can truly be a force for good in the world. Noteworthy topics in the book include:

  • The German-Jewish history of the Bronner family from its early soapmaking days in 1858 Germany, through the tragedy of the Holocaust, to Emanuel Bronner founding the Dr. Bronner’s brand in the US in 1948, and on to the fifth generation that guides the company as an activist vehicle to this day.
  • An inside look at creating organic, fair and regenerative agriculture projects—from farming to processing to financing, while funding social change and community programs.
  • The history and economic relevance of major crops to Dr. Bronner’s products such as coconut, olive, palm, hemp and mint oils as well as cocoa, lavender, and others.
  • The Constructive Capitalism model—how Dr. Bronner’s business model deviates from traditional capitalism and defies the logic that a company can only profit if it pays workers less or spends fewer dollars on raw materials.

 

About the Author

Dr. Gero Leson joined Dr. Bronner’s in 2005, at a time when the company was making concerted efforts to restructure its supply chain to become Organic and Fair Trade certified. At the time, such ethical supply chains did not exist at the scale needed to supply the volume of coconut and palm oil for Dr. Bronner’s Castile Liquid and Bar Soaps. Gero thus became the architect behind the creation of Dr. Bronner’s sister companies Serendipol in Sri Lanka and Serendipalm in Ghana, to source these ingredients according to the highest-bar regenerative organic and fair trade standards. Gero and his team were also instrumental in helping the company’s regenerative organic and fair trade olive oil and mint oil suppliers, Canaan Fair Trade in Palestine and Pavitramenthe in India, to scale and grow their operations. Leson speaks regularly on business, sustainability, fair trade, and regenerative organic agriculture. He was born in Germany and lives in Berkeley, CA.

 

Advance Praise for Honor Thy Label

“A compelling story about the kind of moral, life-giving decisions that businesses can make to do good while doing well.”

– Mark Bittman, author of Animal, Vegetable, Junk

 

“People often ask us if there are any companies Patagonia looks up to. We’re proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Bronner’s for the work they’ve done to pioneer a socially and environmentally responsible supply chain. For the past fifteen years their special ops chief, Gero Leson, has spearheaded these efforts. His new book is required reading for those who are serious about transforming business to help save our home planet.”

– Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and author of Let My People Go Surfing

 

“Dr. Bronner’s extraordinary success upends every truism and belief about what a business could be, starting the with proposition that a company does not exist to make its ‘owners’ wealthy, but to make the world healthy and whole, from economics to ecosystems, from places to people to products. Gero Leson has been key in expressing those values in supply chains around the world. His story is fascinating, profoundly original, and true to the principles that are the basis of Dr. Bronner’s.”

– Paul Hawken, author of Drawdown and Blessed Unrest

 

“Dr. Bronner’s is a true pioneer in the movement for a more regenerative and just future for all. This book shows the business world what’s possible when leaders put people and planet first.”

– Elizabeth Whitlow, Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance and     Regenerative Organic Certified

 

“This book, like Dr. Bronner’s, shines a spotlight on the fact that how we care for the planet and one another are intertwined and that the issues can’t be siloed.”

– Danielle Nierenberg, President and Co-Founder of Food Tank and 2020 Julia Child Award Winner

 

“Dr. Bronner’s is a comet of light proving that a business can be a powerful and positive force. Gero Leson illuminates how the brand focuses that trail of light on ecological and social issues important to all of humanity around the globe.”

– Jeff Moyer, Executive Director of Rodale Institute

 

“We can all learn from Dr. Bronner’s work to reduce its footprint and engage its whole value chain in its regenerative journey. This book explains what it takes to make a deeply sustainable and ethical company, but it also provides inspiration for how to craft a career and path that builds upon your principles and passions.”

– Erin Callahan, Executive Director of The Climate Collaborative

 

“What would it look like for a major company to take the climate crisis seriously, with a commitment to organic, fair and regenerative agriculture that can ripple outward to its customers and to other companies? With conversational accessibility, this engrossing book illuminates what makes Dr. Bronner’s so special.”

– Jonathan Safran Foer, bestselling author of We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast and Eating Animals

 

 

About Dr. Bronner’s

Founded in the U.S. in 1948, Dr. Bronner’s is the top-selling natural brand of soap in North America and a leading brand worldwide. The company is an independent, family-owned business based in California, committed to honoring the vision of founder Emanuel Bronner by making socially and environmentally responsible products of the highest quality, and by dedicating profits to help make a better world. Dr. Bronner’s commitment to social justice, environmental sustainability, and progressive business practices is part of the company’s mission to put into practice the “All-One” philosophy printed on the company’s iconic soap labels. The company caps executive salaries at 5 times its lowest paid fully-vested position and donates all profits not needed for business development to causes and charities it believes in. Dr. Bronner’s generated over $190 million in revenue in 2020 and donated 40% of profits to activist and charitable efforts, totaling 8.6% of revenue. A bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap was sold, on average, every 1.51 seconds last year, and a bar of Dr. Bronner’s soap was sold every 2.83 seconds. For more information, please visit: http://www.drbronner.com.