As Pure and Fragrant as the Earth meant it to be: Respectfully Served by SOiL
Nature’s botanical healing, bottled under Fair Trade Certification.
Essential Oils Safeguarding Human Rights
Fair Trade Aromatherapy
Certified Organic Business Ethos
Rock-solid Quality
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 6 February 2023: Rooted in delivering wellness for mind and body, SOiL, the first organic aromatherapy production farm in South Africa since 2004 continues its sustainable approach to business supplying 100% pure organic aromatherapeutic essential oils and nature’s aroma essences with trade certification from Fair Trade, EcoCert, Animal Anti-Cruelty and South Africa’s Vegan Society to protect the ethics of this organic farming stakeholder.
In a world where trade is a driving force for positive and sustainable change benefiting people and their environment, SOiL’s Fair Trade standards protect workers’ rights, encourage safer working conditions and ensure fairer pay in agriculture, manufacturing and trade, implementing good economic, social and environmental practices and responsible supply chains that ensures the resilience of each link through partnerships, and fixed prices and volumes in sales and supplies.
Today, SOiL a family owned and proudly African company is part of the community of more than 700 certified companies and organisations in over 70 countries in certified products sales. With a close knit team, this vertically integrated labour-intensive company farms, processes, distributes and markets essential aromatherapy oils direct from the earth and into your hands from its fertile soils in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Everything we do, we do organically and with eco-ethical self-sustainability” says Founder Grant McMurray. “Our labour intensive, and certified organic agricultural process, where we grow, distil, package and market our oils meet international quality standards for export and each product is guided by integrity and complete traceability, which gives SOiL an educated voice within the aromatherapy and wellness industry.
“Since we first began the SOiL journey there has been huge demand from consumers that realise the difference in purity and quality especially when it comes to the health and beauty market,” he adds. “The quality of essential oils is affected by many factors, including altitude, soil type and climate and we are fortunate that our pioneering approach to organic farming on our fertile soils and our moderate climate ensure that the oils we produce are of rock-solid quality which forms the foundation of our success. Unfortunately, a downside to using aromatherapy is that many of the oils on the market are not pure and this is why it is so important to be ethical.
“Sourcing our oils from the plants’ most ideal point of origin secures its quality aromatherapeutic function, while organic farming ensures oils that are free from petro-chemicals, parabens, synthetic fragrance and colourants. Every decision is made with a green conscious to minimise plastics and reduce our footprint. Simply put, we are earth friendly!”
FAIR TRADE
Fair for Life Certification ensures that human rights are safeguarded at any stage of production, workers enjoy good and fair working conditions and smallholder farmers receive a fair share. Fair trade improves the livelihood of thousands of smallholder farmers and workers by providing the means for social community projects and empowerment of people. It focuses on sustainability towards
local economic growth, employment creation and the utilisation of local, renewable resources.
“We grow and source locally first. Where plants thrive best in alternate locations, we call on our trusted certified organic and fair-trade network of producers throughout Africa and beyond to supply oil,” confirms Grant McMurray. “Our Fair for Life certification confirms our commitment to ensuring these communities benefit from the trade we do with them. It shows our commitment to the ethical treatment of our suppliers by providing on-time payments at fair prices. Growers and harvesters are encouraged to form cooperative groups to share collective benefits and bargaining power while improving skills and capacity.”
ECOCERT ORGANIC CERTIFICATION
SOiL aromatherapy products are certified organic by ECOCERT and undergo rigorous annual audits by third party international organic certifiers.
“The beauty of our organic certification is the complete traceability to the source of our oils and the approval of all raw materials and packaging. All avenues of the business are scrutinised keeping our key values in place and our standards consistent. We believe our Ecocert certification, is your guarantee of a high quality, pure and therapeutically beneficial product.
“For a field to be certified organic, it must have been free from chemical fertilisers and poisons for at least three years. We are fortunate that our fields have been free from chemicals for more than a decade
Safe to Use Essential oils are the highly concentrated active ingredients of plants. They should always be diluted in a base before use and should not be taken internally without professional recommendation. One of the advantages of aromatherapy is that it has few side effects, however, one of the disadvantages is you can have an allergic reaction.
How can you verify if an essential oil is 100% pure? Read the label. The label should also specify that it is “100 percent pure essential oil” and list the net contents (including metric measurement). If it says “essence oil,” that’s not a pure essential oil but typically a premixed blend of essential oil(s) in a base of carrier oil.
One of the pros of aromatherapy is that it has few side effects. However, it is always sensible to err on the side of caution when delving into a new practise. Sense of smell is very subjective and can have completely different effects on consumers. Skins can also be sensitive. At the first sign of any reaction, it is advised to discontinue use.
SOiL’s 100% pure aromatherapeutic oils stand as a commitment to high quality and purity which resonates through SOiL’s standard of practise in providing aromatherapy as an appropriate way to improve mental and psychological health.