Green beauty goes a step Further and greenlights grease

Ring ring, ring ring

Further hand soap

Good evening. Thank you for calling (insert name of high-end restaurant)…
Hi. Can we come to your restaurant and get your grease?
Click.
(laughter. laughter.)

It seems like the perfect crank call for a group of mischievous kids or those ultimate phone pranksters, The Jerky Boys. Only when husband-and-wife team Marshall and Megan Dostal of Further products call up restaurants asking for their grease, they really mean it, and they actually get it.

Further products, of which there only three at the moment, convert the grease from some of the finest eating establishments into glycerin, which then goes into their fragrant hand soap, lotion and candles scented with essential oils of bergamot, olive and exotic grasses.

To be more exact, the grease first goes into the making of biofuel, which Marshall was (and still is) using to power his 1984 300D Mercedes. Glycerin is the by-product of this process. When wife Megan, a former event planner at Vogue, discovered the many vats of glycerin Marshall had been squirreling away it led to their a-ha moment. Well, OK. Not at first, maybe. Alarm would be more accurate. But eventually it did, and Further was born.

Further candle made from grease taken from Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton's famed Mozza eateries

Their latest product is the Further candle, which retails for $24 and was made using the grease from Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton’s famed Mozza restaurant on Melrose in Los Angeles. So at least if you can’t score a reservation there, you can bask in its grease. Some of the other notable restaurants Further has taken grease from include: Comme Ça, Grace, Tavern, Gulfstream and Houston’s in Los Angeles; Pure food and wine and Lupa in New York; and many others.

“The restaurants are usually pretty gung ho about it,” said Marshall. “They seem to enjoy the whole idea of us taking their waste and making into something they can use.”

Having the restaurants in turn use Further products in the bathroom is the last step in the sustainability chain. And many do, including the Fairmont hotel in Santa Monica. The soap and lotion retail for $12.50 each, and all products are biodegrable and are not tested on animals. Customers can purchase the products online (www.furtherproducts.com) or at stores such as Apothia at Fred Segal, Mozza To Go, Tyler Florence Shop, Green Depot and more.

While there’s been an overwhelmingly positive response to the product, Marshall said the company is being cautious about its expansion.

“We’re trying to make sure we grow properly and carefully expand our distribution,” said Marshall who added that they are in the process of inking a deal with a large retailer.

While they are trying to grow strategically to avoid the crash and burn typical of start-ups that enjoy a sharp spike of initial growth, Marshall said they admire the success of other green beauty and lifestyle companies such as Burt’s Bees and Method.

“We’d like to take [Further] to the moon,” he said. Albeit carefully. And Fashion Trends Daily definitely sees a whole line of products in their future. Grease is the word.

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Author:Michelle Dalton Tyree

Fashion Trends Daily is the brainchild of Michelle Dalton Tyree. She is the former West Coast Retail Editor for Women’s Wear Daily, Fashion Editor for The Japan Times, and founder of former L.A. luxury boutique Iconology. Michelle is frequently quoted about fashion retail trends in major media outlets such as NPR, KPCC, The Inside Source and the New York Times. She has developed content for many luxury brands and retailers and has written for Allure, Worth Global Style Network, Footwear News and other media outlets.