About BRADFORD

Over 140 years of helping companies build great brands

For more than 140 years, Bradford has helped companies build great brands by creating innovative personal care products that contain little or no water. We are the world’s leading manufacturer of specialty bar soap, cleansing poufs, and anhydrous products, including moisturizers, cleansers, shave sticks, and much more.
 
We create original formulations through our vertical integration and kettle soap process, which allows us to customize our products to each brand and customer. Our broad customer base and extensive market research give us the ability to identify and predict trends in real-time. We use this knowledge to innovate and deliver products and formulations that are on brand and on trend.
 
Headquartered in Rhode Island, Bradford also has facilities in Indiana and California as well as a strategic partnership with a facility in Mexicali, Mexico.

Our Heritage

Our company was founded in 1876 by two men from Bradford, England. Initially, the company supplied flake soap for scouring wool to the many textile mills which once dominated the New England landscape. In the early 1900s, Bradford moved into other industrial soap applications, including servicing the numerous paper mills in the northeast.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Bradford expanded its product line to include value-added finishing products for sale to the same customers who bought the company’s soaps. For example, flame retardant treatment for textiles and polyethylene emulsions to impart a glossy finish on paper stock.

In the 1960s, with the paper industry moving to the northwest and the textile industry moving south, Bradford shifted its focus to personal care products. The company upgraded its base soap making operation to produce fine toilet soap base and added a down-stream bar soap processing capability.

With a legacy of innovative formulations, patents, and industry firsts, Bradford co-developed many of the leading personal care brands currently available on the market. We were the first US soap manufacturer to receive organic certification—that happened in 2002! In 2012, we were the first company to work with The Rainforest Alliance on sourcing 100% traceable, sustainable palm oil from their certified plantations. We source clean, sustainable ingredients that allow brands to share their story without sacrificing efficacy. 

Our legacy of innovation continues in the areas of formulations, products, manufacturing, and sustainability. Look for many exciting things come…