We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shela Adams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shela below.

Shela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission from the start has been to bring eco-friendly skincare & home products to our customers without the use of fragrance oils or unnatural, chemical-based ingredients. We strive to be a source of handmade goods that brings customers back to using simple, natural & effective products. When our small business was still just a hobby, it was founded on the same principles. We were determined to bring natural products to our friends and family without using wasteful, plastic containers. As Cosh grew, we continued to stand by those pillars of belief.

Although using plastic lip balm containers or plastic lotion jars would be cheaper, both to get in hand, but also to ship, we pride ourselves in choosing more eco-conscious options for our customers. We use compostable cardboard tubes for our lip balms & deodorants, and glass containers with metal lids for our jarred products, like lotion & body scrub. Our soaps are unpackaged, so we’ve eliminated the use of shrink-wrap & plastic containers. This has always felt like the right decision for us, but we have seen how many businesses adjust their practices to cut corners, while painting themselves as “green” companies.

As the co owners of Cosh, my husband and I don’t just make eco-friendly & natural choices for our small business, we make these same choices in our home. Practicing what you preach is important when your mission is so close to your heart. We are not perfect in the choices we make, but we make thoughtful decisions about what type of food & products we want to bring into our home, and moreso, what we want to keep out of it.

As a mission centered business, we make the big decisions, along with the every day decisions to support our customers in making more eco-conscious & healthy choices when it comes to skincare & home products. We partner with many bulk refill shops throughout the country. These shops often share our mission of creating a world with less waste. We offer our products in half gallon & unpackaged options so refill shops can encourage their customers to bring their own jars to refill products. We offer money back to customers who return their jars to us. This allows us to clean, sterilize & reuse the jars. Our mission is, and always has been, the foundation of our business, but has also become part of our lives.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Cosh was founded in 2019, when we became aware of the very real & scary world of toxins hidden in household products. Often categorized under the umbrella term “fragrance”, we learned that chemicals are hiding in so many of our food, household & skincare products. Determined to create our own natural products, using only eco-friendly materials & toxin-free ingredients, we set out on a new hobby.

Cosh, which stands for Clean Options for Self & Home, slowly transformed from a hobby to a small business. We attended countless markets & fairs, pursued online advertising, & continued to explain to customers why we believe in the products that we make.

Over the span of 4 years, while maintaining our core values that got us started, Cosh has grown. Our products are all eco-friendly, using recycled, recyclable and/or compostable packaging. We are proud to continue to make all of our products ourselves, in small batches, using only 100% pure essential oils.

We’ve added new products and scents along the way, but our products remain all-natural & toxin-free. We specialize in artisan soap, made with olive oil, shea butter, & coconut oil. Our line-up also includes specialty products such as shower steamers, body scrubs, & beeswax candles. We make personal care products, like deodorant, lotion, salve, & shave bars, along with shampoo & conditioner bars. Our products are available to ship throughout the entire US on our website.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Our small business began as a hobby, turned side hustle, & now has grown into our full time career. Over the past 4 years, Cosh has been ever-so-slowly growing into what it has become today. Over the span of 3 years, it transformed from a once-a-week hobby, to a second full-time job. In the Winter of 2022, we experienced a holiday rush that threw us for a loop. We called upon family to help us when we didn’t think we could possibly do it. In that month, we worked so many hours, slept so little, but also had the time of our lives. It was invigorating to think that this small business could grow into something sustainable, not just for me, but also with my husband. Taking the leap in early 2023 has changed our mindsets. We believe in ourselves, but know that anything can happen to a small, young business. Overall, we are grateful for the opportunity to bring our mission to our customers. We are excited to see what the next 4 years holds for us & Cosh!

How’d you meet your business partner?

HA! Well, we met in college & got married in 2018. As you can tell, our story starts off differently than many business partner relationships. Cosh started in 2019, when my friend and I began to experiment with making all-natural skincare products for our friends and family. As it grew from a hobby to a small business, my friend had a career opportunity that he couldn’t turn down, which left me with a decision of what to do with the small business. If you know me, I am a very all-or-nothing thinker, so I decided I’d go all in. My husband joined me this past year & we’ve continued to grow the business together. Maybe not the advice that everyone would give, but I 100% would suggest working with your spouse. As a couple, we have the same overarching goals and that is what helps motivate us and keep the business moving forward. Being married to your business partner allows you to communicate easier, as you’ve been practicing communicating for years. We have learned (and are always learning) our strengths and weaknesses in the business, and that helps us divide tasks. Although when we met in college, we did not expect to end up owning a business together, we are so glad that we took the path that lead us here.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coshfactory.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/coshfactory
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/coshfactory