Clean-cut

Klar Seifen is the oldest soap manufacturer in Germany. Founded in Heidelberg in 1840, the company was in family hands for five generations. Then it nearly came to an end and the succession was unclear—until Jan Heipcke took over the factory in 2011 and has been maintaining the balance ever since: between traditional craftsmanship and modern production, between old recipes and new trends.

There is one aisle with high shelves packed with loads of cardboard boxes. At first glance, it’s just another warehouse in Plankstadt. Nothing unusual for the eye. All the more for the nose, though. Every breath and step past the shelves reveals a new scent. Step, lavender. Step, lemongrass. Step, orange. Step, Christmas. Wait, Christmas? One step back. That’s right, leftovers from the Christmas season are stored here—soaps that smell of candied apple, cinnamon or vanilla biscuits. Just who came up with that one? Jan Heipcke, managing director of the Klar Seifen company is laughing. He doesn’t consider the scent of vanilla biscuits to be odd. “There’s no better scent around Christmas than freshly baked biscuits.”

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Klar Seifen is still keen to experiment, even though production at the new site in Plankstadt is no longer carried out entirely by hand. “We always try out new things, develop old products further and add new products to our range,” Jan explains. The Hamburg native took over the long-standing Heidelberg-based company in 2011. At the time, Klar Seifen was facing an uncertain future. The company had been in family hands for five generations, but it was not clear who would take over. Today, there are over 200 Klar products sold in the company’s own shops in Heidelberg, Berlin and Düsseldorf, among other stores.

The story of Klar soaps began back in the 19^th century. Philipp Klar was the first in his family to learn the art of soap boiling. As a journeyman, he went travelling, which took him as far as St. Petersburg. He returned home with a wealth of experience and knowledge. The master soap boiler finally opened his own craft business with a shop in Heidelberg’s Hauptstraße, the main road, in 1840. The generations that followed him expanded the business and increased production. “However, Klar Seifen was hardly visible as a brand at that time,” says Jan. The Klar family usually produced their soaps to order for others.

The story of Klar soaps began back in the 19^th century. Philipp Klar was the first in his family to learn the art of soap boiling. As a journeyman, he went travelling, which took him as far as St. Petersburg. He returned home with a wealth of experience and knowledge. The master soap boiler finally opened his own craft business with a shop in Heidelberg’s Hauptstraße, the main road, in 1840. The generations that followed him expanded the business and increased production. “However, Klar Seifen was hardly visible as a brand at that time,” says Jan. The Klar family usually produced their soaps to order for others.

Most soap manufacturers roll their soaps three times, we roll them five times

Jan Heipcke

Jan was convinced that the long-standing company had a future and, above all, wanted to strengthen the Klar Seifen brand. It came in handy that the image of solid soap changed fundamentally at the turn of the millennium—from being a product that had been superseded by liquid soap and was at best still familiar from grandma’s bathroom to becoming a trend-setting item that is sustainable, long-lasting and plastic-free. Solid shampoo emerged and Jan realised it was the start of a new trend. Klar Seifen developed its own product line.

“We tested and trialled a lot because we wanted to develop a solid shampoo that was easy to use and didn’t need an acidic rinse,” he explains. Normal soap is not suitable for washing hair due to its high pH value. Later, solid conditioners, washing-up soaps and cream deodorants in jars were added. With the Covid-19 pandemic, soaps became a sought-after virus killer and Klar Seifen quickly switched its production from fine soaps to simple hard soaps and gave away 200,000 of them; to the homeless aid organisations in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, the Caritas welfare association and the THW civil protection organisation, among others.

Klar Seifen still uses the company’s two oldest hand-powered machines to create new products and new fragrances. The recipe for the new Swiss stone pine soap has just been tinkered with in the old sample machine. A few grass-green pieces of soap still peek out of the end of the machine. Recipes for special requests, such as black soap, a product with beer or one with old coffee grounds that give the soap an exfoliating effect, are first tested by hand. And the old stamping machine made in 1953 is used again for soaps that are to be given an exceptional shape. “We can’t use industrial processing methods to make an elephant or a ball with the Frog Prince on top out of soap,” says Jan.

It happens, on the other hand, that a recipe from the 19^th century is stirred together in the very modern machines, with one important adaption: the raw material used to be animal fats, but today’s soaps are completely plant-based. The basis of the soap is made from Greek olive oil. It is delivered to Plankstadt by the tonne in large sacks—as small, thick noodles. These soap noodles are then introduced into the mixer. Fragrant ingredients are added by hand: lavender, lemongrass, rosemary. Most of them come from organic farming and are always as regional as possible. “We even obtain the ginseng from a farmer in northern Germany,” Jan explains.

He has had some of his products certified in accordance with the COSMOS standard for natural cosmetics, and most of the soaps are now free of palm oil. For some products, however, the recipe has such a long tradition that the entrepreneur does not want to change the composition for the time being. “Our shaving products in particular have very loyal regulars so that it is rather difficult to undertake changes.” Theo Klar, a great-grandson of the founder, comes to Plankstadt regularly to see how his former company is developing, but above all to stock up on shaving soap.

The mixed ingredients are then rolled in a special soap mill; for a number of times. “Most soap manufacturers roll their soaps three times, we roll them five times,” as Jan explains, to further condense the soap and make it even more efficient. An endless piece of soap is then extruded from the machine, which is cut into small pieces on a conveyor belt and then moulded into its final shape in the stamping machine. Klar soaps are still packed by hand. “This also serves as quality control,” says Jan.

The most valuable treasure for him is the family’s old recipe books. “I found a recipe for soap with linden blossom and rhubarb. That kind of thing. It’s just great.” He finds the old illustrations that used to adorn the packaging of Klar soaps just as great. “Some of them were drawn by family members,” which Jan decided to use for today’s design, breathing new life into old illustrations on new products.

www.klarseifen.de/