Squadron is no more.
A post from Andy Banner on the TAWSE Facebook page 19 Nov
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CLOSURE OF SQUADRON SOAP
Hey guys, after a good 7 years (almost eight) operating Squadron Soap, the time has come to put down the tools for the last time.
LOOKING BACK
I started Squadron back when I was still in the Air Force working as an Intelligence Analyst (yes, Ive heard all the jokes about military intelligence), my colleagues and I had only recently discovered wet shaving in the previous 12 months, and so started sharing around our latest artisan soaps (mostly from the US). I think at that time the only serious Australian artisan was Anthony's 'Shaver Heaven'.
My family originally put the idea into my head to start making soap. I think the comment was something about imagine if you put the amount of money you spend into shaving gear, into your own soap making, you'd be able to afford to buy more soap for yourself.
So I started trawling through forums, websites and I was lucky enough to have some artisans from overseas give me advice on formulas and ingredients.
I've long lost count of the amount of test batches I created until I settled on the one I have today. Which, unlike some artisans, has stayed exactly the same from the very beginning.
I had so many requests for Vegan, or scentless or some other strange concoction, but I stuck with the same recipe. My decision was that I wasn't going to treat my customers as 'Beta Testers' and put out 4 or 5 'version 1, version 2' - low fat, no fat, full cream, high calcium, high protein, soy, light, skim, omega 3, high calcium with Vitamin D and folate versions. I just wanted a good performing soap for Aussie wet shavers.
One or two of you who are still here from all those years ago were some of the original testers of my soap, other than my close circle at work. I thank you for your input.
My first attempt at selling was at a local farmers market here in Adelaide. I went halves in a stall with a friend who was a local barber, and he was selling beard oil. I sold out within the first 2 hrs, and came home with an encouraging amount of money. Some of you may remember for the first year all my soap was in metal tins. I figured I might be able to actually make this happen.
So that week I set back into making more batches of soap, almost all of those soaps still exist up until today. The only ones that slipped away were 'Spitfire' (later renamed to 'Scramble' due to another artisan in the UK (P&B) naming one of their soap the same), and 'Sweetheart', which ended up making a reappearance from time to time.
My online presence began with a Facebook page, where I originally started selling online. I put a post or two up on the odd forum here and there, and my customers grew. Eventually I figured I needed a website. Shopify at the time was probably the easiest eCommerce system for a regular numpty to be able to sell online. So I bought a web address (squadronsoap.com.au) and got it happening.
BEHIND THE SCENES
All soap labels, art and imagery were done by myself, but printed professionally. I had a particular 'look' in my mind of what theme I wanted Squadron to have (wartime 1940's), and the only way to do that on a budget was do it myself. Thanks to youtube I learnt how to use Adobe Illustrator, photoshop and the like to get my imagery done. And just like that, Squadron went live.
Over the years in addition to my staple range of soap, a few limited edition soaps were released, and I did one collaboration with another artisan (APR) to release 'Australians All'. He produced the scent, I put it into my soap and aftershave base. Only a limited amount were produced, most of it pre-order, and it was sold out within about a day. It was a pretty hectic work schedule (Nick B knows what I mean), and I vowed never to do a collab again.
After a few years I was approached by a few stores overseas, and Squadron ended up being onsale locally in the UK, Russia and North America, as well as in brick-and-mortar stores and barbers within Australia. I didn't chase up any of those opportunity's to be honest, they contacted me, I was a bit chuffed that my name was out there internationally.
A few well known stores contacted me also, but were unreasonable with what they wanted to pay wholesale. If buying from overseas, directly support the artisan themselves from their own website if you can afford to, rather than one of the big stores.
Squadron continued to grow, and with that unfortunately comes some negatives. My pet hate were the 'scabs' of the internet. The ones constantly on the hunt for free or heavily discounted products. Most of those consisted of so-called 'influencers' who said they would trade positive feedback online, for free products. Somewhat amusing was that the majority of these 'influencers' had bugger-all followers when you checked them online.
Another common one was the 'potential customer' wanting free samples of all my soap so they could make a decision on whether they wanted to buy or not. The other was the annoying customer or two in Europe who complained that I had only given them 98ml of aftershave in their bottle, instead of 100ml - and if I didn't rectify it they would expose me online.
Neither the influencers or petty complainers were from AUS/NZ I can happily say. The 'influencers' were always kids from the US, and I can say proudly say that all reviews online from shaving reviewers were from product they bought themself.
Oh, and don't even get me started on all the online suppliers from the sub-continent and China wanting me to sell their cheap razors, brushes and nail clippers. Businesses promising me they can advertise my business in GQ magazine for $$$ was another one.
I was able to support a number of charities and fundraisers over the years as well, providing products, gift cards and discounts for raffle prizes. I only supported AUS/NZ charities, although was oddly contacted by charities in the USA and in one instance a little league baseball team - weird.
REALITY OF OPERATING A LITTLE SOAP BUSINESS
Operating a small home business isn't without its costs. I had to pay a 'chemical manufacturers' permit yearly, as producing soap is a chemical reaction, if I didn't have a permit I could be fined if found out. I had to pay insurance so that if I was sued because someone got a reaction to my products, I wouldn't lose my house (this scared the shit out of me once I started selling in the USA).
Shopify 'raped' me monthly for the pleasure of having an ecommerce platform (this was my biggest expense), I had to pay for a web address yearly, pay for a business name yearly, paypal fees on each sale, afterpay/zip pay fees on every sale, and absorbing as much as I could afford on postage and increasing costs of ingredients over the years.
As a business owner Australia Post is SHOCKING! The amount of new product I had to re-send to customers at my own cost because AusPost lost it, or destroyed it was ridiculous.
Proudly again I can say I think I didn't change my prices really that much over almost 8 years, keeping it affordable. I think someone here did an excel spreadsheet showing that I was the best value soap for the size of product you received.
I was once asked at a cafe catch-up we used to have here in Adelaide once a month (a couple of you used to be there too), if I could make a living just manufacturing shaving soap. I can whole-heartedly say no, definitely not here in Australia anyway. Like most small 'cottage' businesses, profit pretty much went back into the business so that it was self perpetuating, and for other little stuff here at home like paying for kids dance classes and the like. Oh, and while not having to be registered for GST, I still had to pay tax on everything come July. The ATO sees all!
WHAT NOW
Whatever is left in stock on my website is all that is left (at this minute all that is left is a single tub of '617').
However, I've got some random soap and aftershaves that have never been released on my shelves, as well as a matching aftershave for 617 I never got out. Most were going to be new releases, but just didn't happen. I'll be selling those in the coming days, so grab yourself some unobtanium. I'll advertise them here, and the sale will still go through my online store, so you'll still be able to pay via credit card, paypal or whatever you prefer.
For me, I'm relocating house up into a small town in the hills here in Adelaide (I think one of you live in the town, I'm sure I've seen it on an order). Downsizing from the acreage we are currently on onto something more manageable.
I parted ways with the Defence Force a few years back and am now the stay-at-home Dad, while my wife has her turn with a career after supporting me in a 20 year career across Australia. In my spare time I'll be continuing my work as a volunteer in the community with a non-profit, to keep my sanity.
Until today, Squadron Soap has been the longest continually running artisan shaving soap manufacturer in the country. I thank you all for helping make that happen, and for taking that chance on me when I began.
To the best of my memory, here are the soaps I've produced over those years. There may be 1 or 2 I've missed.
"The Warden" (Was always the most popular, and hard to keep in stock)
"Spitfire/Scramble"
"Ace" (second most popular)
"Dutch Resistance"
"Sweetheart"
"Group Captains Blend"
"Red Lead"
"Empire"
"Ad Astra"
"Coronet Fougere"
"Dispatch Rider"
"Australians All"
"Six One Seven"
Oh, and if you've read this far - where did I start with formulating my soap base? I reverse engineered Mitchells Wool Fat based on their ingredients and went from there, changing it each time to get to where it is now.
Cheers,
Andy
