Few know the remarkable story of a Cornishman who left his farming roots behind for London where he built an empire off of one unique product. The famous Pears soap became so iconic it transformed the industry with parents lining their daughters up as they were desperate to become the face of the brand.
While soap has been around for thousands of years, it was the mind of Andrew Pears who created the very first translucent soap - a soap still recognisable to this day. Created in 1807 by the Mevagissey man, at a factory just off Oxford Street in London, he put this type of soap into the mass market for the first time.
The son of a farmer, Mr Pears actually left his native port to travel to London and become a barber. But soon took a very different path in life. Completing his barber apprenticeship aged 19, he established his own barber shop in the then-residential Soho part of London and also started producing various cosmetic products for the extremely wealthy.
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It is said that the products he was producing were being purchased all the time by exclusive clientele as a way to cover up damage caused by the harsh soaps that were on the market at the time - often containing arsenic and lead.
From here he experimented with his own soap formulation. This led to the creation of the world's first transparent soap that is still popular to this day - and you have probably used it before.
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Famous for its unique appearance and its English garden scent, Pears soap was set completely apart from all its competitors when it first hit the shelves in 1807. At the time, Pears only sold to an exclusive customer base and before long his shop had moved to Oxford.
It was described at the time as a "curious chemical process by which soap is separated from all the impure and noxious substances”. When Andrew Pears finally retired, his grandson took over and expanded the business to compete with the increasing number of rivals in the soaping world. In 1862, his son-in-law, Thomas J Barratt, became a partner in the business.
Known as the "father of modern advertising", he single-handedly came up with the extensive advertising campaigns for the Pears brand that are iconic to this day. The Pears soap empire was once so desired that it held an actual 'Miss Pears' competition with parents all over entering their daughters in the hopes they would become the next face of the brand.
The soap is no longer made in England, having become part of Unilever in 1929, and is now made in India by Hindustan Unilever and can be purchased around the globe. In 2016 the brand made a comeback in the UK when the product was relaunched with a new formula.