PUR Home is A Black-Owned Non-Toxic Laundry & Home Cleaning Company That Has Been Thriving During The Pandemic

We are about 6 months into the Covid-19 global pandemic and we’ve had a lot of discussion around how the pandemic has affected BIPOC sustainable brands and businesses. So many brands have gone through a vortex of challenges and in some ways were inspired to rethink more regenerative business models.

However, we want to spend some time chatting with a Black owned sustainable brand that has actually been thriving during the pandemic. We chatted with Angela Richardson 3 years ago about her brand non-toxic laundry detergent brand PUR Home. Since then, she’s made some beautiful upgrades and wants to share more about her story, experiences and the future of the home care industry!

How has the pandemic affected business as a small cleaning supply brand but providing essential products?

We are seeing a higher increase of online and wholesale orders. This is both good because we are able to be in more homes. It is also a struggle because we are purchasing ingredients and packaging and labels at a higher rate. It has become imperative to purchase equipment in order to keep up with the demand.

How do you see your brand and others similar to your taking up space in the future?

I think PUR Home as a Brand is connecting with our audience on social media more. Showing that we care about what we are all going through right now as most of us are under lock-down or shelter-in-place orders. I find myself as a founder wanting to give back to my community more as the burden of lost jobs and lack of income weighs heavily on so many people. I think brands similar to mine are in the right place at the right time to ensure brand exposure! People want black owned cleaning products that are effective at cleaning!

Do you see a shift in consumers buying indie made house-hold products?

I absolutely see a shift in consumer buying indie made household products. People are becoming aware of ingredients and frankly have so many choices to choose from. Small, woman-owned, black owned or minority owned companies have the perfect opportunity to pivot and take advantage of online buyers right now. But they must/we must do it correctly to garner long term loyal customers. Customer service, communication and transparency all have to be in place and active in the plan to build a brand that lasts beyond COVID-19. What's your analysis of this!

How has your laundry detergent (ingredients, packaging, etc) improved since the very first iteration?

We still have the same ingredients and our "classic" container that we launched with in 2017. One thing that the pandemic has forced us to do was create a new highly concentrated laundry detergent in an eco-friendly glass container. At one point, we could not get in contact with our container supplier at all for weeks. Even before we ran out of the "classic" container we would email and get no response so I had to create a new product that to me is really our best laundry detergent because it is waterless so it is 8 x concentrated with pure ingredients and it is eco-friendly from the cap to the bottle.

I know every race/culture/nationality/ethnicity purchases from you and that's fantastic - I also would love to know, as a Black woman owned brand - do you have any thoughts about sustainability from a cultural lens?

Black women are historically sustainable and incorporate sustainable practices. I never thought of it as sustainable but as a kid my grandparents were micro-farmers and leaders in sustainability. I would go to their house every summer to spend a few weeks. They had chickens, ducks, a massive garden on 1 acre of land. They would can and preserve their own food. They had sustainable practices throughout their whole existence that I thought was weird as a kid. Some of those sustainable practices I now practice as an adult. I believe that the experience is different across the race/culture/ethnicity line and then add to that class or access. For some it is a doable practice passed down through the generations if they are so lucky and to some it is a new learned experience. One that is very personal. I 100% believe that each person, especially people of color, should and can do something in the way of sustainable practices. One thing that is important to me now, especially now that I own my own home on 1 acre of land is to be as sustainable and conscientious as possible. In this way, I honor the old (my grandparents and my partner's grandmother who was a sharecropper) and the new modern ways of sustainability.