Tina Robinson and Kevin Lynch of Airmid. Photo courtesy Atlantic Geoparks Project / Eamon Ward
Airmid Soap, a handmade soap company based in Kilfenora, was founded by Kevin Lynch and Tina Robinson in 2012 when their son was born with eczema and they struggled to find a gentle and effective soap for him which was kind to the environment.
By Tadhg Holland
This led to Kevin, a natural horticulturalist, making his own pure Camomile soap to help his son’s condition.
Since then they have greatly expanded their range. They now sell over 40 products including body oils, perfume oils, lip balms, beeswax lotion bars, shampoo bars and shaving and grooming products all with a focus on natural and organic ingredients.
“Our unique selling point is the quality ingredients,” said Kevin. “We grow all the flowers and herbs ourselves, we collect the beeswax from all the beekeepers locally, everything is as Irish as possible. We are genuine manufacturers we don’t buy anything in which sets us aside from the rest.”
Despite their success, Airmid was hit hard by Covid-19. When lockdown came Airmid lost all the shops and hotels which stocked their products. Yet Kevin and Tina have remained resolute. “We’ve re-invented ourselves and we just got leader funding to put up a new factory pre-Covid so that’s finished and we’re back in higher production then we have ever been.”
Kevin admits the Local Enterprise Office trading online voucher was “a huge help” with their website and online sales have been a major player in Airmid’s recovery – Kevin estimates sales from their website have risen by about 80 per cent this year.
Kevin thanked local suppliers and the LEO Clare for help them overcome the various struggles the pandemic has posed, and he has belief that Airmid will now be able to wash away the difficulties of this year and keep selling their natural handmade products long into the future.
This article has been brought to you as part of our Click for Clare series. To shop at Airmid, click HERE. To browse our Click for Clare directory, click HERE.
