SAN FRANCISCO — Laura Peck’s favorite pastime throughout her college days was concocting her own rosemary bath salts and lavender lotions in her kitchen.
Her interest in natural scents didn’t falter after spending much of the Eighties as a stock analyst, and it occurred to Peck to merge her hobby with her business background.
In 1989 she started Essentiel Elements de la rue Verte, named in part for her Green Street address here, with a $50,000 personal investment. She began testing early product prototypes on family and friends.
The venture turned out to be solid: This year, the aromatherapy and fragrance company is expected to post a $2 million volume at retail.
Essentiel Elements offers natural-based products with what Peck refers to as a “purity guarantee.” The 40-item line, which carries whimsical names like Wake-Up Rosemary bath salts, Orange Fleurtation shower gel and Reveil de la Rose face & body mist, carries prices ranging from $2 to $10 wholesale.
Peck said her products are priced low in order to entice repeat shopping, adding that she decided not to raise prices this year.
“I want people to incorporate these items into [consumers’] lives, not just purchase them once on a splurge,” she said.
Her accounts include major retailers like I. Magnin, Macy’s, Bullocks, Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel, as well as about 1,000 spas and small specialty stores nationwide.
And the list is growing. In February, Saks Fifth Avenue added the Essentiel Elements line to 10 of its units.
Peck is also shooting for global expansion. In June, a French retailer that Peck described as a “prestigious department store” will introduce the line in Europe.
The 35-year-old entrepreneur said she was especially excited because 90 percent of the essential oils used in her products are distilled in France.
Peck, who already has distribution deals in Canada and Singapore, said she plans to sign more European agreements in 1995.
In addition, her merchandise will be peddled later this summer on Q2, Barry Diller’s new home shopping cable station.
Even though its distribution and cachet are growing, Essentiel Elements remains small, with only 10 employees manufacturing and shipping the products out of a 5,000-square-foot former canning factory on Third Street.
Related Articles
In order to keep up with the demand that Peck said has doubled annually, the company has turned to automation — investing in packaging and labeling equipment instead of hiring more people.
Peck also works with a stable of 60 independent sales representatives and relies on freelance consultants to advise her on specific aspects of the business, such as marketing.
Meanwhile, on the product front, Essentiel Elements will launch a soap line early next year that will contain olive oil and feature scents like lavender, Peck said.
Her latest items, added to the roster in March, were two body moisture lotions, imbued with the scents Joie de Lavender and Chaleur du Sahara — a warm and spicy scent derived from 22 essential oils, including sandalwood.
Peck added that in a year or more, the company will branch away from fragranced products with a skin care line that will include a moisturizer, night oil, eye cream and facial cleanser.
She said she regards only a handful of small French companies, notably L’Herbier de Provence, as her equals in natural-based quality. Minneapolis-based Aveda — the only U.S. firm producing comparable body-care items, according to Peck — is not a big competitor because its products are only sold through its own shops and salons.
Through it all, Peck has maintained her passion for purity and fascination with the derivation of natural scents and oils.
“I was so shocked when I first smelled pure rose oil,” she said. “I was overwhelmed by its clarity. Did you know that it takes 300 pounds of rose petals to make one ounce of rose oil?”