The Stirling Reputation of Stirling - An Interview with Rod Lovan of Stirling Soap Co.

Stirling Soap Co.

When speaking of Stirling Soaps the words which come to mind are integrity, quality, variety, and affordability. The company built its reputation on a deceptively simple formula, but one which is hard to deliver: premium ingredients, consistent execution, thoughtfully crafted fragrances, and exceptional value. The business is a true Cinderella story, and one of the first in Wet Shaving. Rod and Mandy Lovan started the business on shoestring budget and a dream and have since grown Stirling into one of the most recognized and respected brands in the wet shaving world. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Rod and talk about some of the that journey and his plans for the future. Here's Rod…

Stirling was among the first artisan brands to gain widespread recognition in the wet-shaving community (circa 2012-2013). In hindsight, which strategic choices proved most pivotal to that early success, and what—if anything—would you approach differently if you were launching the company today?

I think there were two major factors. First, we kept our prices low enough that customers could take a chance on us without feeling like they were losing out if they didn't outright love a scent they bought. Adding in that we've had sample sizes since almost day one, and it made us very accessible to consumers. Secondly, I was active on reddit and the various wetshaving forums. I did my best to be helpful and get our name out there. I don't know that I would do anything differently. It was a learning experience and all the failures and successes taught me so many lessons about how to treat customers, humility, and how to stand out in a crowded niche market.

You and Mandy are both spouses and co-owners. How does this dual relationship influence your day-to-day decision-making, division of responsibilities, and overall work-life balance? What advantages—and challenges—arise from blending family and business?

I love Mandy. I can't imagine not having her running the business with me as she has since day one. We don't get sick of each other at work or at home. Most days, of course. Just like any married couple we have spats. Just like any business partners we have disagreements. But we've learned how to respectfully navigate disagreements. You have to for the sake of both the relationship and the business. In addition to the soap we have the coffee roasting business and a growing farm that we take care of with our sons. We both have our places in each of these ventures, and it's a pretty even share in terms of work and responsibility. The main challenge is just knowing when to shut it all off and leave work alone. It can be hard to do when you have so much going on, but sometimes you have to block everything out and just be a family relaxing and having fun, not just a family working. Our oldest son is 13, and he's started taking on some responsibilities around the farm, and as our other two sons age, they will do the same. 

Stirling’s soap base is renowned for its dense lather, cushion, slickness, and hydrated post-shave feel. What guiding principles shape your formulation process, and where do you see potential for further refinement or new performance attributes in future iterations?

We've always wanted to put out a product that leaves the customer feeling like they got more than what they paid for. That the quality of the product is higher than the price they paid. As for future iterations, there are none, barring raw material shortages. We've had the same soap formula since 2012, and I have no plans to change a good thing. 

The brand is celebrated for maintaining affordable price points without sacrificing quality. What operational or supply-chain practices enable you to sustain these prices, and why do you think other artisans struggle to do the same?

We started the business in central Texas outside of Fort Hood when I was still in the Army. We didn't need to turn a profit the first year as I was still receiving a paycheck from the Army. After I got out, we moved to rural Arkansas in 2014 and ran the business out of our master bedroom. We kept our prices lower than most businesses would, and operated on very thin margins with the mindset that if we were successful, it would pay dividends in the years to come as we grew and started buying larger quantities of raw materials at lower prices. That is exactly what happened. The cost of doing business in rural Arkansas is much lower than in many other parts of the country. So we have a very large space that we paid next to nothing for that allows us to buy our raw materials in very large quantities so that we are less susceptible to huge price fluctuations for the inputs to our products. Still though, a big part of it is that we just simply charge less. I look at what I would be willing to pay and that's what I charge. Probably makes me a bad businessman and means I'll likely never get rich doing this, but I feel like our pricing is a big driver of our success, so I'm okay with that. 

Many companies merge balm and splash into a single product, yet Stirling retains separate formulations. What drove that decision, and what distinct skin-care goals and key ingredients define each product type?

Splashes are old school. Manly. They burn. They wake you up and tingle your senses. I don't think a combo product gives you that full feeling that you get from just a splash. They give a connection to our dads and grandfathers and their dads and grandfathers who slapped on a fragranced high-alcohol splash after their morning shave and felt alive and ready to conquer the day for their family. There are ingredients in aftershaves now to help soothe and repair skin as well, but the addition of a balm adds even more skin repair and nourishment. Plus, the balm helps moisturize your skin to counter the drying effects of the alcohol. You can get by with one or the other, but I prefer both as separate entities. 

Your catalogue blends tributes to classic colognes with original, in-house compositions. How do you determine when an existing fragrance merits a “Stirling homage,” and what creative process underpins the development of wholly original scents?

Much of it depends on customer requests. If I get dozens of customers asking for an homage to the same scent, I do my best to find a way to make it happen because it's typically going to sell well. I also spend a ton of time on Fragrantica and BaseNotes as well trying to figure out which scents have greater followings. We sample so many fragrances and get so many requests that there is no way we can do them all, which sometimes disappoints customers. However, we simply don't have the ability to meet every request. There are also some times that we get  requests and then I smell the fragrance myself and think "Nope, no way. That has no chance of being successful in a soap." 

For the Stirling originals, they are all over the place. Sometimes they are months (or years, in the case of Stirling Gentleman) of planning and experimentation, and sometimes they are spontaneous creations just because I was bored and had an idea. Either way, the homages are the big budget blockbusters that allow me to experiment with niche original ideas that aren't likely to sell as well. I love our original fragrances and I am very proud of the work we've done to create so many, but we wouldn't be the company we are today without the cologne dupes. 

Beyond shave soaps, splashes, EDTs, and balms, Stirling offers an extensive range of items—from lip balms to bar soaps. Which non-shave categories have become standout performers, and were there any surprises—positive or negative—in consumer reception?

We sell more bath soap than anything else by volume and revenue. Part of that is due to bath soaps being used up faster than shave soaps. Our bath soaps are great though, and typically once customers make the switch to our bath soaps, they stick with us as they find that their skin doesn't feel right when they go back to their old store-bought soap brands. The solid colognes sold much better than I thought they would. I did not realize there was such a market for them, because I have always been a spray cologne type of guy. There have been some items that I wish had or would sell better, but nothing I would really consider a negative. Some scents have been panned, but that's normal. We have so many scents that everyone will be able to find some they just don't like. I will say that the positive reception to "I, Rich Moose" was not entirely expected. I completely underestimated how many people loved the original Irisch Moos.

Over more than a decade in business, how have consumer preferences, competitive dynamics, and product innovation within the wet-shaving space evolved? Which trends have had the greatest impact on your strategic choices?

To be honest, I don't have an answer for this. I really don't keep up with the "innovation" or the competition in the market, and haven't for years. I focus on providing a good product at a good price and let the rest work itself out. I'm good friends now with a number of the artisans that started around the same time as us, and I wish them nothing but the best of success. I don't see them as competitors. Wetshaving is still extremely small compared to cartridge razors and canned gel or foam. Collectively the wetshaving industry isn't even a wart on Proctor & Gamble's butt. There is so much room for growth that there's no need to fight over market share with other artisans. The best way to approach it is to congratulate others on their success as it is good for the overall growth of our industry.

The Stirling Roastery now lists ten coffee varieties. How rapidly has this venture scaled, to what extent do coffee buyers overlap with your shave-soap clientele, and what is your long-term vision for the roastery?

We could not have gotten into coffee at a worse time. Coffee is a super-saturated market. Green coffee hit all-time highs right after we opened thanks to covid, and have just gone up and up from there. We've still managed to grow, but it's been slower than I had hoped. Typically, when we get a customer to try our coffee out, they stick with it if they use us for just a month. When you get high grade coffee that is freshly roasted, it really makes you realize just how stale most coffee you actually drink really is. Most of our customers are getting coffee that was roasted within 2 weeks of them getting it, and often sooner. Something you pick up at the grocery store is going to be 2 or 3 months old at best, and coming from lower grade beans to begin with. A month of drinking our coffee makes it really hard to go back to the old stuff. It just tastes awful. 

Eventually, I hope the coffee is bigger than the soap, but that will take some work and likely some type of advertising to reach new customers. Coffee consumers are very loyal to their brands.

Having introduced more than 200 fragrances and numerous grooming products, are there new categories or markets you are keen to explore? Where do you perceive unmet needs that Stirling is uniquely positioned to address?

We've been holding off on pomades for two years now. We have them ready, but we aren't in a position to release them yet. We also want to expand our beard lineup, and offer more women's products. We have a large amount of female customers, but overwhelmingly our customer base is male. Women can benefit from and enjoy wetshaving as well, and even if they don't we have the lotions, bath soap, body butters, etc. I also hope to eventually do a cream in a tube, but that is a long way off. 

If you could convey a single message to the global wet-shaving community, what would it be?

That what is best in life is to crush your enemies; to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. 

Nah, just be kind to others. Wetshaving is not that serious. It's a fun hobby and a way to keep yourself well-groomed, smelling nice, and feeling confident.

Visit Stirling Soap Co.

Rod & Mandy Lovan