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Every brand has an origin story. Ours doesn't start with a business plan or a market opportunity, but with a batch of handmade soap and a desperate desire for creativity. This is the Solette brand story.
Hi, my name is Caitlin, and I’m the founder of Solette. This is how we got here.
It Started with Soap
In 2017, I started making bar soaps at home. It really started because one night I was researching clean beauty and started to go through my own bathroom cabinet, flipping over bottles and jars to read the ingredients. I found that most of my favorite body are products had "bad" ingredients and started to panic. That's when I discovered a recipe for homemade cold process bar soap.
There was something immediately compelling about the process. The natural oils and butters formulas. I have always loved cooking and baking, and this was a similar process except the end result was a beautiful and bubbly work of art.
It didn’t take long for the hobby to turn into something more. In 2018, I started selling at farmers markets. I’d load up a table with my handmade soaps, stand behind it on Saturday mornings, and talk to strangers about what was in them and why it mattered. Those conversations changed everything.
What the Farmers Market Taught Me
Farmers markets are an interesting place to learn about what people actually want. At the time I started, Instagram wasn't really a thing for businesses. So I got to see customer feedback right in front of my eyes, and for the most part it was wildly positive.
What I heard, over and over, was that people loved the treat themselves with body care products like my bar soaps that made their everyday a little better. It was an affordable luxury to have a beautifully handcrafted bar soaps, made with skin loving oils and butters, and wrapped perfectly in a little floral wrapper that made you smile.
I was smitten with the idea of running my own soap store, and the dream started to unfold as the years went on.
Leaving Corporate Life Behind
For a long time, the soap-making and the corporate job coexisted. Weekdays at a desk, weekends at the market. It was a lot — but I loved the contrast. I remember taking a red-eye home from a 5 day business trip in Barcelona, rushing through the door, changing my clothes, packing the truck, and going to setup my booth at a market in a field in the middle of nowhere. I had a 2 day market and although I was running on zero sleep...I was happy.
But eventually the two started to collide. My responsibilities at work were getting larger, hours were demanding, and my customers wanted more from my beauty brand. I was scared to leave behind a job that paid really well, but I wanted to build something real — and something for myself that would make someones life a little prettier.
I wanted to make products that brought genuine joy to people’s lives. So in July 2021 I quit my steady, high paying, corporate job and have never looked back.
The Rebrand: From Fiorella to Solette
In September 2023, Fiorella Soapery became Solette.
The rebrand wasn’t planned. It really came down to a trademark issue where we couldn't get the trademark for Fiorella Soapery so we were forced to change names. At the time of the re-brand our product line had expanded beyond bar soaps and our best seller was our whipped soap. I dreamed of seeing our products on store shelves across the country, so I took the chance during the re-brand to create a full body care line starting with a body wash, a body scrub, and a luxurious body butter.
The name Solette carries that coastal identity. It’s a nod to the sun and the salt and the particular quality of light you only get on the New England shore in summer. It’s the feeling we want every product to evoke.
What Solette Is Really About
At its core, Solette exists because I believe body care should feel beautiful, and look beautiful. I believe small acts like taking a shower with a REALLY nice body product can set your day up to be a good one.
Every product we make is an answer to a frustration I experienced myself or heard from customers at that farmers market table. Too much plastic. Too many hidden ingredients. Too little transparency. Too few products that actually felt luxurious and clean at the same time.
Solette is my attempt to close that gap — to make the products I wished existed and put them in the hands of people who care about the same things I do.
Thank You for Being Here
If you’ve been with us since the Fiorella Soapery days — thank you. You were part of this before it had a name worth putting on a label. If you’re new to Solette — welcome. We’re really glad you found us.
We’re just getting started and have lots to add to our Solette brand story.
— Caitlin, Founder of Solette
Read about what we are currently up to as the life of a Rhode Island beauty brand here
Shop Solette’s full collection of vegan, clean body care — made with quality ingredients, packaged with the planet in mind, and rooted in the Rhode Island coast
