Leading natural soap brand Dr. Bronners has announced the release of the first-ever book about the company – 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 charts the company’s very unconventional journey and mission to develop its own brand of ‘constructive capitalism’.
To mark publication this month, the company has created a special limited edition Honor Thy Label soap label to adorn approximately three million bottles of its Castile Liquid Soap.
Dr. Bronner’s cosmic engagement officer David Bronner, says in his forward to the book: “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.”
Honor Thy Label is described as a “fascinating and inspiring read for entrepreneurs, environmentalists, engineers, and conscious consumers looking 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 soap making 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.
