When we began Gilden Tree in 1990, we made a commitment to do things the right way, for the environment and for the people who make, sell and buy our products.
Our first product was the Footscrubber®, a terra-cotta tool that works like a pumice stone to remove dry skin and calluses from feet. But unlike pumice, our terra-cotta Footscrubber never wears out. This traditional tool is common in the Indian sub-continent, but was virtually unknown in the United States at the time.
Footscrubbers are made in Pakistan by a group of women, who’d never had the opportunity to work outside the home. Within a couple of years, it became clear to us that the Footscrubber had struck a chord here in the US, and we wanted to give something back to thank these women for their amazing work. We began to pay for the education of their children, and later for the women themselves.
In 2003, with the encouragement of friends, we began to talk about our efforts, and the response has been pretty extraordinary. We were honored to be featured in a TIME Magazine article in December of 2005, focused on companies that worked with artisan groups around the world, with a focus on giving something back.
Today, Gilden Tree’s line includes deeply healing foot, hand & body care products, each the best we can possibly create, as well as a beautiful line of natural cotton robes, towels and accessories. We’re proud to be encouraging environmentally-friendly textile manufacturing in Pakistan, where, as in many developing countries, ground water is often contaminated.
Our commitment to the environment remains as strong as ever, and our shift in 2005 to using many Certified Organic ingredients has been a great step forward. We continue to use minimal packaging and to recycle and reuse as much as possible.