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•T h e IF P • H alto n H ills, Thursday, D ecem ber 12, 2013 13 Jordan Wickett of Georgetown has developed his own eco-friendly shaving cream-- Natu- rally Dapper. Photo by Eamonn Maher Looking for a healther and eco-friendly alternative to his favourite name-brand shaving cream, local resident Jordan Wickett decided to use his background in marketing and sales to come up with his own all-natural product that's just been launched. Wickett, 32, loved the feel of the shave, but as a father of two young children, he wasn't crazy about the potentially harmful chemicals that were getting into his nose and mouth. He tried other organically formulated gels and creams that just didn't match the clean shave of his favourite brand, so, hav- ing worked for four years for multi-nation- al marketing firm Reckitt Benckiser, Wick- ett had the experience of launching literally hundreds of new products and decided to go out on his own to find the elusive healthy-yet-satisfying feeling on his face. After finding a supplier in York Region that has been formulating natural prod- ucts for more than 25 years, Naturally Dapper was created and the initial on-line sales have been brisk for Wickett, a newly converted health nut who has shed more than 60 pounds in the last 11 months. "I've always wanted to do something en- trepreneurial, so my wife and I put away some money and this is my full-time job now," said Wickett, a native of Chatham, who attended Western University's Ivey School of Business. "I'm going to give this product the full shot it deserves and really try to make it go. It's not about the money for me. I wanted to do something I was proud of. My pas- sion is the environment and healthy living and this really fit into that plug." Wickett has had especially good feed- back from men with sensitive skin and credits the smoothness and lack of after- burn to ingredients such as Vitamin E, aloe, olive oil and jojoba oil extracts. It retails for $11.99 a bottle and Wickett feels he's well positioned in the all-natural product market, which in the past couple of years has had a growth rate of eight per cent. Also, in recent years, as Wickett pointed out, green startup companies have enjoyed success against the big brands due to the emergence of e-commerce and because savvy consumers tend to seek out products made by smaller companies that use high- er-quality ingredients. "I've started conversations already with distributors for specialty retail, but in terms of getting into some of the big retailers, like Wal-Mart or Loblaws, it's a matter of being able to have a massive war chest to find a proper entry into a chain like that," added Wickett, who has two young children. Wife Lindsay is a doctor who just opened a practice in Georgetown earlier this year. It's not a coincidence that Naturally Dapper was introduced Nov. 1 with Mo- vember in mind. Wickett is donating 10 per cent of November's sales to the cause and grew a mustache of his own. Naturally Dapper was showcased in a booth at the Modern Man Show in Toronto in early No- vember and Wickett was thrilled with the response from the product's exposure, at- tracting some interesting cross-promotion- al leads as well. He has thought about approaching CBC's hit TV series Dragons' Den about pitching his product, but says it might be too soon in the Naturally Dapper's devel- opment. "The question they always ask on Drag- ons' Den is, 'Do you have any sales?' I've been doing well with it on-line, but we're going to need a few more before I can go on that show. I'm in a nice spot right now in that I don't need a ton of money to keep going. I've been able to partner with a lot of people to fund the launch." Wickett also writes a blog on his Natu- rally Dapper website www.naturallydap- per.com that offers shaving, health and financial tips. Local man develops eco-friendly shaving cream By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer