HomeHerb.com

The Tom's of Maine Story

The concept of natural personal care—products made without artificial or animal ingredients or chemicals—is one whose time has come. Tom's of Maine has been at the forefront of this innovative idea since our founding in 1970, and thanks to this early leadership, today we are the number one Natural Care brand, with nearly 200 employees and 90 oral and body care products found at more than 40,000 retail outlets across the country and world.
We could hardly have imagined all this when we started out, just the two of us, with a $5,000 loan and a single product. At the heart of our story and the growth of Tom’s of Maine is the fact that, now as then, the work begins with a set of beliefs and values. Those beliefs and values guide us every day in how we create products and build relationships—with our coworkers, retail customers, vendors, and consumers. Values, a relationship-building model, and safe, effective natural products: these are the keys to our success in growing a profitable company while behaving in a socially responsible and environmentally sensitive manner. We hope you enjoy learning a little more about Tom's of Maine. Thank you for your interest!
Tom and Kate ChappellCofounders, Tom's of Maine
The History of Tom's of Maine
In 1968, Tom and Kate Chappell left Philadelphia and corporate America to move to rural Kennebunk, Maine. As part of their goal to "move back to the land," they used natural, unprocessed foods and simple, unadulterated products. Unable to find natural personal care products for themselves and their children, they decided to create and sell their own.
With a $5,000 loan from a friend, Tom and Kate began making products for home use that would not harm the environment. Our initial product, Clearlake, was the country's first non-phosphate liquid laundry detergent. The refillable containers were labeled with a postage-paid mailer so that our customers could send them back to be reused. From the start, our company grew and developed into a "different kind of company" based on the belief that people and nature deserve respect.
During our first five years the company's product line graduated from non-phosphate laundry detergent to natural personal care products. In 1975, we premiered the first natural toothpaste on the market. Shortly after Kate gave birth to Eliza, we developed the first natural baby shampoo. Natural deodorant, mouthwash, and shaving cream soon followed.
By 1983, Tom's of Maine was well established in the health food channel with annual sales fast approaching $2 million. In order to grow, however, Tom realized we would need to distribute through supermarket and drug store chains. Progressive Distributors and CVS were the first to agree to stock Tom's of Maine next to the "big name brands," and today many additional drug and food chains show strong support for the company's vision.
Our success in the mass market hasn’t made us lose sight of our strong health food heritage, however. While growing American awareness of health issues has supported the successful "mainstreaming" of several natural brands, it has also provided for explosive growth in the health food retail channel. It is important to us to work closely with our health food retail partners because we are stakeholders in each other’s success.
All of our products are made with the highest quality natural ingredients. Our products are safe and effective thanks to our advanced non-animal testing methods and reliance on ingredients based on plants and herbs. For example, we use sage and lemongrass in our deodorant to control odor, pure flavor oils in our oral care products, and a mixture of rosemary and Vitamin C as a natural preservative for our bar soap.
Just as important as what we put in is what we leave out—artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, preservatives, and animal products. For example, our toothpastes contain no saccharin, our mouthwashes no alcohol, and our soaps no EDTA.
Our company has grown a lot since 1970! In 2006, we entered into a partnership with Colgate (read Tom and Kate's letter explaining how and why this decision was made) and are now an independently run division of that company. But nothing else has changed. Tom and Kate remain CEO and vice president, and our approach remains simple and direct. We listen to what our customers want (and don't want) in their products, we learn how it can be done, and we respond with intelligent natural alternatives.
The people of Tom's of Maine
Having a strong set of company beliefs, a sense of purpose, and a mission are only some aspects of what makes Tom's of Maine a special place. Just as important as what we are is who we are: the people who make up the Tom's of Maine community.
Since our company was founded in 1970 by Tom and Kate Chappell, our sales have grown impressively, but our family orientation has endured. This is still the kind of place where people know each other, where you notice the new faces in the crowd and can take a moment to welcome them to the community.
In that spirit, we'd like to introduce some of the people of Tom's of Maine.