Pangea Organic's line of natural skin-care products is growing

— -- Making soap with your mom can be simple family fun — or the seed of one of the fastest-growing organic skin care businesses in the country.

For Joshua Onysko, it turned out to be the latter.

He is the founder and owner of Pangea Organics, whose soaps, facial muds and skin care products can be found in Macy's, Whole Foods and other retailers. Sales in the USA and four other countries reached $5.4 million in 2008, double 2007 sales.

Not bad for a boy from Warwick, R.I., who dropped out of high school at 16 and traveled the world with little more than a backpack. At 23, he returned to Rhode Island to visit his parents and saw a book about soapmaking at their home.

He and his mother made a small batch of soap.

"At the time, we didn't think it was going to amount to anything," says his mother, Carol Onysko. "But it has been an unbelievable journey. I look back, and I still can't believe it."

He would leave again soon, taking some of the soap with him abroad. But it wasn't long before he was back in the U.S. with no money. Still itching to travel, he decided to make and sell organic soap. In 2001, he headed for the West Coast with 1,000 bars and sold them in the parking lot where a concert was being held.

Pangea Organics was born, at least in idea form.

By the next year, he had set up a shop in Boulder, Colo. Today, Onysko is working on a seven-year business plan for Pangea. It's one of the fastest-growing organic skin care lines in the country, says Parry Andvik, whose brokerage company, Natural Rx Brokers, helps organic products get into food and pharmacy retailers.

Pangea sells what it calls "ecocentric bodycare" products: cleansers, scrubs, creams, toners, masks, lotions and soaps, among other items. Its niche is in its claim that it uses only "whole organic herbal extracts and whole organic essential oils." Products are advertised as chemical- and additive-free.

Onysko says that hundreds of competitors claim to be 100% natural or organic, but only a few, Pangea included, actually are. The company backs its claims by transparency in ingredients use.

If a shopper is browsing the Pangea website, for example, listed next to a product's description and price is a link to the product's ingredient list. All 20-plus ingredients that make up the Egyptian Calendula & Blood Orange facial cleanser ($28 for a 4-ounce bottle), for example, are a click away. The website also features an extensive ingredient glossary that details what is in each product.

Pangea also promises natural packaging in its products. Consumers are told that if they remove the label from a box, soak the box in water, then plant it, a basil, amaranth or other plant will grow.

When Macy's started working on its eco-friendly Beautiful Planet shop, it noticed Pangea's presence in the marketplace. "We were impressed with the products, and it was clear that Joshua is a leader, a visionary and a very strong voice for the whole organic and natural lifestyle, particularly in beauty," says Christine Johnston, senior vice president of cosmetics and fragrances for Macy's East. "He became very instrumental in guiding us to really be the first department store chain to globally recognize this category."

The organic skin care industry is small compared with the traditional skin care business. But sales have been growing. In 2006, personal care organic sales totaled $350 million, according to the Organic Trade Association. Although it doesn't have final numbers for the past two years, it estimates sales were $445 million for 2007 and $564.5 million last year. Growth may have slowed because of the economy, but it is still robust, the association says.

Last year, the billion-dollar beauty industry saw a 3.3% decline in sales, said market researcher NPD. But the firm's recent report about organic beauty products said it has the greatest opportunity to expand. It found that 64% of women who use beauty products say that they use natural beauty products.

The problem Pangaea faces is that many companies call their products organic, but there is no national organic standard. "I have heard that there are 3,000 companies that sell organic skin care lines," Andvik says. "The competition is fierce."

Onysko hopes to influence the dominant companies in skin care by taking business from them.

"He is one of those people in the world that is literally on his own path, and nothing is going to get in the way," says Laurence Spiewak, the company's general manager.

Onysko says — and his mother echoes him — that his goals as an entrepreneur move far beyond selling products. "I measure success on how much we influence the world that we are in," he says.

He starts with his Boulder facility and his 32 employees: Pangea's 10,000-square-foot facility is wind-powered; the carpeting and paint are non-VOC (volatile organic compounds); the company property has a 3,000-square-foot organic garden where employees are paid to produce organic food six months of the year; employees are given a free Colorado public transportation pass.

Onysko also has established the non-profit Pangea Institute, which is aimed at providing research and education about sustainable business practices. He hopes to create an education center and small-business incubator where classes can be held on socially responsible living and business practices.

Onysko says he can stay true to the Pangea mission because of the way his company is funded. He says Pangea has not accepted outside investor capital. The company is owned by him and a number of friends and family investors.

"The goal of Pangaea is to remain independent forever and not sell the company," he says.

Sales are about flat from last year, Onysko says, but the company won't stop introducing products. "The way I see it, a brand in a recession is like a climber in an ice storm," he says. "If you slow down too much, you die. Innovation must remain the backbone and driving force of any brand in any economic climate."