Cooki Haircare: Proudly Australian-Owned. Thoughtfully Made.

Hi, it’s Cooki’s owner Jaimee here.

At Cooki Haircare we believe in being upfront and transparent. Whether it’s the ingredients we use (or don’t use), how we package our products, or where they’re made, we know you’d rather hear it straight from us than have to guess.

Where are Cooki Bars made?

We are an Australian-owned small business operating out of Sydney, and while part of our range including our hair masks and oils are made in Australia, our shampoo, conditioner and body bar products are responsibly made overseas, in China and India.

We know this answer raises some questions, because a lot of us are keen to support locally made and are actively trying to shop more consciously. We can totally relate to this, and love to support local businesses ourselves, but the reality is there are a lot of reasons why making here is not as simple for all businesses alike. We’d love to give you the full back story here and bring you on the journey of how this decision was made and why, as people who care deeply about using business as a tool for social good. We want to give you as much info as possible below so that you’re armed with the info to shop based on your own values, too.

Why do you make your bars in Asia?

When we took over Cooki in 2023, we wanted to shift from the existing overseas manufacturer and make everything in Australia where we as the owners were based. It turns out, however, that solid bar manufacturing is rather niche, and there were (and still are) only a few manufacturers here who could replicate our Cooki bars. Unfortunately though, none were capable of doing so in a way that was sustainable for our business.

We reached out to nine different factories across Australia, and also in NZ. Here’s what we found:

• Most could only make liquid haircare — solid bar-making machinery is niche and not common here.
• Of the few factories we found who could make bars, we encountered the following hurdles:
  • We’d have to completely reformulate our existing products (and risk losing the performance and scents our customers had grown to love).
  • Manufacturing lead times in Australia were three times longer, meaning we’d have to sink significantly more cash into stock at all times, or risk products going out of stock if we grew too quickly.
  • They couldn’t produce the volumes we needed at our current size.

After a lot of thought and deliberation, we decided to retain our (excellent) existing manufacturers in Asia who could better support us with what we needed:

• Specialised bar-making machinery and decades of expertise — Chinese factories are world leaders in shampoo bar production.
• The ability to produce very quickly so we can meet demand without risking running out of stock.
• Smaller minimum order quantities per product, which as a small business gives us the flexibility to trial small runs of new products at a time.
• Sustainable and low-tox formulations that meet our strict ingredient standards (no phthalates, parabens, silicones, palm oil, phenoxyethanol or synthetic fragrance).
• Plastic-free packaging and a willingness to innovate with us to reduce waste in the supply chain wherever we can.

These things meant we could build a sustainable business model and offer great quality, environmentally responsible products at competitive prices.

Will you ever move manufacturing to Australia?

We are definitely open to this if we can. We’re constantly exploring local options, and as we grow, our influence increases. That means we can help shape the infrastructure needed to make premium bars here at scale, without compromising on performance, sustainability, or price.

Making bars locally would mean lower transport emissions, and supporting local manufacturing jobs. We’re not there yet, but it’s something we will continue aiming for as we scale.

But what about supporting Australian jobs?

Cooki’s growth has created jobs across Australia in:

• Our own small but mighty HQ team in Sydney, across marketing and operations.
• Our Australian warehouse team, who pick, pack, and ship every order.
• Our network of local creatives, photographers, designers, and marketing specialists.

The more bars we sell, the more jobs we can support locally — and as for production, we’re still optimistic that local manufacturers will become a viable solution for us. If eventually we can make products here swiftly, at volume, using the right materials, in factories closer to our warehouse, then we would certainly aim for that.

Don’t you think manufacturing in Asia is unethical?

What matters to us is who we work with and how they operate - it’s about finding people who share our values, regardless of where in the world they live. For us, the key issue here is not just where our bars are made, but how they are made.

We have close working relationships with our makers and are actively involved in the production process - from where raw ingredients are sourced from, to packaging sourcing, to formulation. Quality and ethics aren’t “nice-to-haves” — they’re non-negotiables for us.

What about the environmental impact of shipping products from overseas?

One important thing to know about making shampoo bars is that the ingredients and manufacturing process make up the vast majority of their environmental footprint — not the shipping.

Because each bar is super concentrated (one bar = roughly three bottles of liquid shampoo), you’re already saving big on plastic and transport volume compared to liquid products. And when it comes to emissions, the biggest gains come from choosing sustainable ingredients, reducing waste in production, and making sure the process is efficient — which is exactly what our manufacturers do best.

Shipping our bars from overseas makes up a surprisingly small slice of the total footprint, especially compared to the benefits of not sending heavy bottles of liquid around the country in the first place. So while ‘closer’ might sound better, the truth is that what we make and how we make it matters far more than the extra kilometres travelled.

That’s why we focus first on:

• Low-tox, natural ingredients that are better for your hair and the planet.
• Concentrated formulas — one bar replaces up to three bottles of liquid shampoo or conditioner.
• Plastic-free packaging to keep waste out of landfill.

We are definitely not perfect, but we are committed to the journey of improving our sustainability metrics every year - and we are grateful to have a community who challenges us any time they see something we could be doing better, differently or more sustainably.

We’re Australian-owned, with products designed here and made to our standards — whether that’s in Australia, China, or India. Our bars are made by experts with the machinery and skill to do them justice, using sustainable ingredients and ethical practices, and they travel to you plastic-free and performance-ready.

Thanks for taking the time to engage with us on this topic - and if you’ve got other questions we haven’t covered here, we’re all ears: email us at hello@cookihaircare.com.