Five Dot Botanics a London based beauty start-up has launched a free community hand sanitiser with alcohol secured from a Kent distillery.
The beauty and the drinks industry don’t usually come together in the distribution of a product, however Covid-19 has seen different industries work together to solve problems for those in need.
With hand sanitiser in short supply, Five Dot Botanics wanted to offer free hand santisers to the community. They found they were at the back of the queue against much larger companies in the wait for raw ingredients needed for manufacturing.
Zaffrin O’Sullivan co-founder of Five Dot Botanics says “we initially didn’t think to look outside of the beauty industry for a solution but a chance conversation with someone from the drinks industry made us see that there was a way we could secure the alcohol needed to launch a free hand sanitiser”
Five Dot Botanics secured the alcohol needed from Greensand Ridge Distillery, an artisan distillery in Kent, that have been using the alcohol-based byproducts from their distillation process to make sanitiser. The hand sanitiser followers the WHO formulation.
The first batch of Five Dot Botanics hand santiser was delivered to St Christopher's Hospice in South East London, who provide 24/7 palliative care to patients.
Five Dot Botanics will continue to distribute the santsier for free to other community groups. Zaffrin O’Sullivan says, “as a start-p we have limited funds, however we wanted to show that it is possible to help, small actions can make a big difference”.
Founded by Zaffrin and Brian O’Sullivan, Five Dot Botanics launched in July of 2019 offering gender neutral minimal ingredient vegan skincare.
The brand is primarily sold direct-to-consumer and in UK retailers such as Holland & Barrett and Farmdrop.
The brand launched with a capsule collection of 5 products that focus on essential skin care. The product range has picked up a range of beauty awards.