0Our Story
About Charlie’s Soap
Charlie’s Soap has been a family-owned and operated North Carolina institution for three, going on four generations. What started as a simple solution to a problem, is now one of the leading natural laundry soap brands in the country.
Click below to learn more about:
THE CHARLIE’S SOAP PHILOSOPHY
Our Philosophy makes us different. Three simple words sum up what we believe: Efficacy. Sustainability. Family.
EFFICACY.
Charlie’s Soap is tough on stains, yet gentle on sensitive skin. The secret is in the science! Our natural formulas are free of the perfumes and dyes found in other detergents. With Charlie’s Soap, you can count on getting a deep clean that’s simply pure.
SUSTAINABILITY.
We were green before green was cool. Our products have always been biodegradable and made with natural mineral ingredients. Our promise to you is that they always will be. Live Green – Deep Clean. That’s what we believe now, and always.
FAMILY.
We believe family is everything. No one in this world matters more, and nothing can convince us otherwise. That’s why family ownership and leadership is a hallmark of Charlie’s Soap. We believe in making detergents that are good enough for the most precious people in your life. Anything less than the best won’t cut it.
OUR COMMITMENT TO
You & The Earth
Naturally derived products, an all-natural clean.
Our ingredients surpass standards for biodegradability. You could say we’re “natural”. We were green before it was cool.
Green Ingredients
Charlie’s Soap NEVER tests on animals. Let’s repeat… Nope. Nada. Never!
No Animal Testing
Our cleaners work on a wide variety of soils. Someone has to do the dirty work. Ours is a simple game, played to a higher level.
Effective
Charlie’s Soap rinses completely, leaving nothing behind but the sweet smell of clean. Just plain clean is what we do!
No Residue
Safe. Gentle on the skin. Charlie’s Soap is nothing to sneeze – or itch – about. Our soaps are itch-free.
Hypo-Allergenic
Customers Love Us
History of Charlie’s Soap
It all started back in 1976 when our founder, Charlie Sutherland Sr. made his living selling yarn lubricant to textile mills throughout North Carolina. When Charlie’s customers began asking about a cleaner for their machines, he could think of only one solution – his son, Charlie Jr. With a background in chemistry, Charlie Jr. invented a cleaner so good that the textile employees started sneaking it home for personal use. Soon enough, people began asking for the cleaner by name – Charlie’s Soap
Charlie’s Soap originally offered industrial cleaning solutions only, but have expanded our product line throughout the years to environmentally-friendly
- Natural Laundry Powder
- Natural Laundry Liquid
- Stain Solutions
- Indoor and Outdoor Cleaner
- Kitchen and Bath Cleaner
- And much more!
Each of our products has been and always will be carefully crafted to get the best possible clean while maintaining the integrity of your fabrics, your washer, and the environment. Charlie’s Soap has come a long way since 1976. However, one constant has remained: our commitment to our formulas, the environment, and you – the customer
Take a stroll down memory lane.
Letter from Charlie
Hello there!
That handsome fellow in the photo over there is me, Charlie Sutherland Jr. I am the founder of Charlie’s Soap. When I started the company back in the late 1970’s, I never expected that our simple but powerful cleaner we be the center of an international operation some 40 years later.
It all started when I was working for my dad, Charlie Sutherland Sr., at a textile lubricant plant in North Carolina. One day, word came down that we needed to find a good cleaner for the textile machines – and quick! Not only would it have to clean up the oil on the machines, but it could not harm the little old ladies whose job it was to clean them. It also had to be acceptable to local wastewater treatment.
Well, my background is in engineering, chemistry, and a bit of mathematics. I knew how to make the oils we used in the plant so I reverse engineered a formula to break those oils down in water. Wouldn’t you know it, the stuff worked even better than I expected. Originally, the whole goal was just to keep the machines clean, but soon we discovered that the soap cleaned fabric really well too. I even named it ‘SB-2069’ to make it sound like I knew what I was doing. Not bad for a first try.
Unsurprisingly, folks working with the cleaner loved the stuff and started calling it “Charlie’s Soap” after my dad. Soon, we knew a demand was growing for Charlie’s Soap because the employees kept stealing the stuff left and right! That’s when I knew it was time to quit my day job, take a leap of faith, and buy our little soap plant outright. The local Winn-Dixie agreed to be our first outlet and Charlie’s Soap was officially born.
In the early years, I was on my own, adrift in a sea of suds and uncertainty. We tried many ways to grow the “Soap.” Some worked; many didn’t. Marketing was really not my forte. But my family never stopped trying. My kids get the credit for our success. As they grew older, they joined the business and helped make us into what we are today.
My youngest, Morgan, and I created the Laundry Powder. Today he runs IT and Quality Control. Taylor, the oldest, took on sales and marketing. James specializes in engineering and international sales. My daughter Jenny is chairman of the board. And my wife Jane is our treasurer. Thanks to them, today we sell in thousands of mom-and-pop specialty shops, major hardware chains, supermarkets, and through the largest online retailers around the world.
But through it all, we have always operated Charlie’s Soap with a dedication to producing the highest quality biodegradable, environmentally safe products possible. Over the years, they have been tested against the best and they have always won, hands down. The combination of good science, environmentally friendly ingredients, and a darn good soap is one that still gets me excited. It is a combination that none of our competitors can claim, and it is something that I am very proud of.
Thanks for visiting our website, and please try our Charlie’s Soap. We’ll keep making it the best product.
-Charlie Sutherland Jr.
