In early 2006 Kate Moore-Gordon, a chartered accountant, dreamed of change. She had a stable job in a well-respected company but wanted to do something more meaningful with her time, energy and passion. During the development process of a diabetic footcare product in another brand she was involved, Kate’s eyes were opened to the use of natural and organic products, and it was here that her passion for natural and organic skin care products was born.

Newly married, and anticipating starting a family, Kate saw a gap in the market for an organic baby skin care range. She envisioned creating an attractive and fun skin care brand which was organic and free of potentially harmful chemical and synthetic ingredients.

For a long period, the brand was limited to small independent health stores, but thanks to ongoing product development, by 2012 Pure Beginnings had a full baby, kids and adult range. This brave decision to expand the brand from purely baby products to kids and adult ranges, led to significant growth. With improved prices on organic ingredients, and larger volumes being requested, pricing was now more competitive.

This formula was a winning one, and after 6 years of dedicated work, South Africa’s largest baby retailer, Baby City opened their doors to Pure Beginnings. Baby City provided a countrywide retail platform and allowed Pure Beginnings to target consumers who traditionally would not shop at health or wellness stores. Pure Beginnings was finally available in the mainstream retail environment! This was a huge victory (and big relief) for this family run business.

In 2011, Pure Beginnings was listed in John Lewis (a high-end department store in the UK). It was here that Bruce and Kate learned that, to compete in an international market, organic certification was essential.

While the brand has always been organic, it was in 2014 that Pure Beginnings made the decision to certify with Ecocert. An international inspection and certification body, Ecocert’s strict standards for natural and organic cosmetics made it the perfect company to give our products the ‘stamp of approval’ required by consumers that were becoming aware of ‘greenwashing’. It also provided us with the checks and balances to ensure that we were doing the right thing.

While the South African market continued to expand, Bruce and Kate had their eyes on a bigger goal – going global. In 2016 the brand became compliant with EU cosmetic regulations, and a warehouse was established in the Netherlands. Having promoted Pure Beginnings at numerous international trade shows, various retailers and distributors who had previously expressed interest in the brand, were now able to purchase it conveniently from a European Warehouse. Pure Beginnings is now successfully exporting to over 10 countries across Europe as well as South East Asia.