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ARTS+LEISURE The Addison Independent
October 6, 2016
Larry Plesent, owner and founder of Vermont Soap in Middlebury, has been creating and introducing new organic soap products to the nation and world since its founding in 1992. INDEPENDENT PHOTO/TRENT CAMPBELL
Vermont Soap: Thinking outside the bar
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BY EMMA COTTON
aying a visit to the Vermont Soap factory off Exchange Street in Middlebury is a bit like visiting the orderly, fragrant and incredibly clean lab of a mad scientist. Lining the shelves of the factory are company founder Larry Plesent’s creations: the world’s first organic pet shampoo, the first cleaner for yoga mats, “top shelf” organic deodorants, toilet cleaners and a powdered toothpaste alternative whose first ingredient is salt.
On a table near the rows of bar soap stands a meat grinder, which the team uses to grind up soap scraps to create “Sudzy Putty,” the world’s first totally recycled soap product, with the tagline “Sculpt it! Play with it! Wash with it!” “This one is for cleaning your food,” Plesent said, plucking a bottle from the rack, “which is a remarkably sane idea.” After Vermont Soap’s first facility caught fire in 2014, Plesent didn’t throw in the towel. Instead, he moved to a new factory down the street, increased production, and continued the company’s legacy as one of the largest organic soap producers in the country.
The new facility is fire-proof from its ceilings and walls to the product storage rooms. Though devastating at the time, the fire has given the company an opportunity to rethink its structure. It may have lost a few customers in the weeks following the fire, along with many of its products, but its expansive new space has allowed Vermont Soap to make up for the losses, plus some. “We went from dead stop to full production in four months. None of this existed when we came in,” Plesent said, gesturing around the floor of the factory to tall white plastic barrels, labeling machines and pastry carts full of thousands of bars of soap. And the now two-year-old factory is still under construction. Plesent has added several offices and a meeting room in a loft-like space on a second level overlooking the facility’s main floor. The new space has enough room for the company’s dynamic team, complete with lawyers, engineers and graphic designers. Entirely electric, the facility has enabled Plesent to consider installing solar panels on the roof, a decision that is permit-pending. If approved, the factory would run using 100 percent solar energy. SEE SOAP ON PAGE 13