Our ability to start working on new scents is a direct result of our effort to reduce the breadth of our daily work.

Unfortunately, we knew from the start that reducing our offering was bound to disappoint hardcore fans of certain scents who now wouldn’t be able to buy them year-round. (I’m sorry!) 

However, through helpful customer feedback and careful analysis of our operations over the past few months, we were able to make one change that should excite at least some of you.

Later this month, we will be making Lavender + Petals available year-round, both for subscribers and one-off buyers! 

This will afford everyone an extra option that has a completely different olfactive profile to Wood Cabin, our existing signature scent. About a third of customers expressed to us that this addition would make a difference for them. My hope is that this proves to be true!

Let’s talk about circularity ☯

Another opportunity that streamlining our offering has made possible is around our glass returns program.

Some of you may remember our beta tumbler recycling program that ran from 2018 to 2021. That experiment, while not viable in its initial construction, taught us a number of lessons.

In 2021 and 2022 we invested time and money researching a different direction: an innovative refill system using an exciting new plant-based packaging material. We got far into the prototyping phase, but had to pause. This is mainly because our ongoing proprietary wax development will end up requiring a different refill cup design, depending on the final wax’s chemistry. 

Meanwhile, this year a new returns program possibility arose. In our survey, we shared an outline of what that might look like and this was the response:

It’s exciting to hear that there is significant appetite for a glass returns program, targeted specifically at folks who already have accumulated a collection of glasses. While there is a little more R&D we need to do to ensure our plan here is viable and definitely carbon-negative, we are optimistic about launching this in 2024.

I’m curious—do you have any products that you buy that are package-free, either through a “milkman” model, refillery or otherwise? I would love to hear what’s available to you.

Have an excellent week!

 — Harry from Keap, Steward-Owner