From Layoff to Luxury: How Old Soul Soap Company Began
From a Sears Layoff to Building Old Soul Soap Company
In 2013, life took an unexpected turn for Old Soul Soap Company founder Robin Vienneau. After spending years working in retail and administrative roles, Robin was laid off during the closure of Sears Canada.
Like many Canadians during that time, the future suddenly felt uncertain.
But what started as a difficult chapter eventually became the beginning of something completely new.
Starting Over
After the layoff, Robin began focusing on homesteading and learning how to make household cleaning products and eventually natural soap. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a passion for creating simple, handcrafted products made with ingredients people could actually recognize.
One of the biggest motivations behind Old Soul Soap Company was the desire to create cruelty-free products. As longtime beagle owners, animal welfare mattered deeply to the family. Beagles are one of the most commonly used breeds in cosmetic testing, and creating products that aligned with compassionate values became an important part of the company’s foundation.
There was another goal too:
making self-care affordable.
Luxury bath and body products often came with luxury price tags, and Robin believed women should be able to enjoy a beautiful handmade bar of soap without spending a fortune.
Soap Making in the Basement
Like many small Canadian businesses, Old Soul Soap Company started in a basement with small test batches, simple molds, and plenty of trial and error.
Robin spent countless hours learning the science of cold process soap making, experimenting with recipes, and slowly building confidence one batch at a time.
But Old Soul Soap Company was never built alone.
From the very beginning, Trevor was there helping make the dream possible. At the time, Trevor worked as a maintenance supervisor with Xstrata in Sudbury. While working full-time in the mining industry, he supported the growing business however he could — using his engineering mindset to solve problems, helping move heavy equipment and supplies, building displays, and encouraging Robin every step of the way.
Most importantly, he became Robin’s number one fan.
In those early days, there were no warehouses, production lines, or large retail accounts. There were just long nights, curing soap racks, folding tables, market prep, and the belief that maybe this little soap business could become something bigger.
The Sudbury Market Years
By late 2014, Robin took a leap of faith and signed up for a first market event at 45 years old.
The response was overwhelmingly positive.
After a few more events, every single bar of soap sold out.
In the summer of 2015, Old Soul Soap Company officially began selling at the Sudbury Market on weekends. Those early market days became the true foundation of the company — connecting directly with customers, listening to feedback, and building a loyal local following one bar at a time.
Back then, Old Soul Soap Company only sold soap. Bath bombs, lip balms, candles, and body care products would come years later as the business continued to grow.
The market setup was simple:
tables, handcrafted displays, handmade soap, and a lot of determination.
But customers connected with the products and the story behind them.
Building a Canadian Soap Company
What started as a basement hobby slowly evolved into something much larger than either Robin or Trevor imagined.
Today, Old Soul Soap Company has grown into a Canadian soap manufacturing company producing handcrafted bath and body products for customers and wholesale partners across Canada and the United States.
Even with that growth, the company still holds onto the same values it started with:
- Cruelty-free products
- Handmade quality
- Affordable self-care
- Canadian manufacturing
- Honest ingredients
- Community connection
The journey from layoff to entrepreneurship wasn’t always easy, but it proved that sometimes the most unexpected life changes can lead to something meaningful.
And every bar of soap still carries a little piece of those early Sudbury Market days with it.
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