AKT – THE STORY SO FAR
If you’re new here, welcome to the AKT Community! We’re Ed and Andy, the founders of AKT London and we’re here to get you up to speed as new members of The Cast.
Our journey to showstopping, natural, plastic-free Deodorant hasn’t been easy but it's a story that’s made us far more famous for deodorant than we ever were as actors (and we’re okay with that).
Clearly AKT was BORN TO PERFORM!
So, let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start):
We met performing in a musical in London’s West End. It was here, under hot lights and heavy costumes, performing eight shows a week, that we realised our deodorant just wasn’t making the cut. We had tried everything: the big brands would stain our clothes and we’d leave the stage feeling (and smelling) less than fresh. We had to do something about it.
After three years of formulating on the hob in our tiny Camden kitchen,
The Deodorant Balm was born: a natural and aluminium salt free formula.
The packaging wasn’t always plain sailing though. We knew from the very start that being plastic free and natural was a non-negotiable for us.
We went through glass jars and metal tins to find the perfect receptacle, and it dawned on us why being 100% plastic free was rare in the beauty industry: it’s really difficult!
We made a break-through with our aluminium tubes (with the first ever aluminium cap) and could feel that opening night was upon us.
We put AKT to the ultimate test and gave a sample to every performer in the West End…
Unlike some of the shows we’ve been in, AKT was a HIT!
Since launching AKT in the UK in 2020, we’ve received more press and awards than we ever dreamt of. Thinking back to the two people who wanted to solve a problem, it's overwhelming to see how far we’ve come.
We’ve been ranked number one in Vogue, GQ, Esquire, POPSUGAR, Marie Claire, Stylist; the list keeps growing. And it’s not just about the glitz and glamour. We’ve received 1000’s of five-star reviews from the people who matter the most: our Cast of customers.
Having come from a background in theatre, the switch to business has been transformative and a big learning curve. These days we are much more focused on underarms than understudying and it’s been the most incredible challenge. I (Ed) now live in Berlin while Andy still calls London home and we’ve been cultivating AKT London full time for the last 4 years.
Since launching we’ve steadily grown our team; tweaked our formula; explored ideas for new products; made a lot of mistakes and become the UK’s most awarded deodorant. Full stop..
As of writing this, we’ve just returned from New York where we hosted the official launch of AKT on Broadway. That’s right, we’ve gone global!
We now have over 20,000 subscriptions and counting, and hundreds of thousands happy armpits across the globe. Despite looking back at how far we’ve come it also feels like the beginning. The potential for real change in the beauty industry is in our sights.
We’re so happy to welcome you onto the (next) stage of our journey. Let’s see what kind of show we can put on together.
Ed and Andy x
