A story of freshness
Früty began as a happy accident on my first trip to Thailand.
It was my first time traveling outside of the United States. I was going to be arriving a couple of days
ahead of my partner, but we’d booked a condo in Bangkok and made a plan and I was excited for the
trip; I figured everything was settled.
After 26 hours of traveling, however, I found myself in the backseat of a taxi at 3 AM, exhausted and
disoriented, with no cell service and a taxi driver who didn’t speak English and didn’t recognize the
address of the condo we’d rented. “Well, at least it’s warm out,” I thought dimly, wondering if I was
going to spend my first night in Thailand sleeping on the streets of Bangkok.
I was losing hope when an idea swam up from the depths of my jet-lagged brain. I gave the driver the condo owner’s phone number, praying he’d pick up despite the late hour. Relief washed over me as we finally pulled away from the curb where we’d been idling and sped toward my refuge for the night. I began to anticipate how good the waiting hot shower, food, and bed would feel.
There was no food or soap in the condo, but there was a convenience store next door. I wandered the aisles and spotted a bright orange bar of soap. Lifting it to my nose, I inhaled the aroma of a freshly sliced orange. The clean citrus scent was so good I almost forgot about finding food.
Once in the shower, the steam and citrus smell enveloped me. This was, honestly, the best soap ever! It smelled amazing and it lathered like no other soap I’d used before. I was hooked. From then on, every time we traveled to Thailand, my partner and I would stuff our suitcases with bars of the orange soap so we’d have enough to last us until our next trip.
After a few years of this, we started to think, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could actually bring this to the United States?” We tracked down the manufacturer, which turned out to be a truly awesome multigenerational, family run business with over 50 years of soap-making experience. We were so impressed with their kindness and integrity, and we were thrilled when they agreed to work with us to reformulate and rebrand their signature soap for customers in the United States.
And that is how Früty came to be—from the misadventures of my first international traveling experience and a lucky find on a convenience store shelf. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.