The Lekker Company

The Lekker Company is a Dutch natural body-care brand based in Utrecht, best known for cream deodorants sold in a jar and made from kitchen-cupboard ingredients such as baking soda, coconut oil and cornstarch. It was founded by Dewi van de Waeter, who started the business under the name "lekkerineenpotje" (later "Lekker in een potje") after growing frustrated with the complex terminology on ordinary cosmetics labels. Sources differ on the starting year: the brand directory COSH and several accounts place the founding in 2014 [6], while the business publication Change Inc. traces the company to a 2013 experiment that followed van de Waeter's participation in a vegan challenge, with the first major retail launch coming in 2014 [5].

The company describes its ambition in plain terms — "practically edible cosmetics" — and says it began with 200 euros, 100 glass jars and a Pinterest account at a kitchen table. The name "lekker" is a Dutch word for pleasant or tasty, and the current tagline reads "feels lekker, works like a tierelier."

According to the company's own account, van de Waeter's project grew out of a hobby and a wish to make personal care simpler and more transparent. Early products were mixed and jarred by hand and sold online and at markets alongside her marketing work. The turning point came in 2014, when the brand pitched to the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn and won placement in around 400 stores [5]. Feddo Tamminga later joined as a co-owner and strategic partner, an investment Change Inc. dates to roughly six years before its 2025 feature [5].

The Lekker Company makes body-care products from ingredients it describes as being of 100 percent natural origin. The range centres on deodorant — in its original cream-in-a-jar form and, since summer 2024, a stick format introduced after a two-year development process [5] — and extends to body wash, lip balm, hand cream, sunscreen and body bars. Hero ingredients cited by the brand include organic coconut oil and rapeseed wax.

The company positions itself around simplicity and transparency, saying every ingredient is listed in plain language on the packaging "so you know exactly what you're putting on your skin." Its products are marketed as vegan, cruelty-free, free of microplastics, water-free and refillable, with packaging made from cardboard rather than plastic. COSH notes that a single jar of deodorant is designed to last two to three months.

The brand is privately held; beyond founder Dewi van de Waeter and co-owner Feddo Tamminga, no parent company is documented. Its products are distributed through Dutch retailers including Albert Heijn, Holland & Barrett, Dille & Kamille and Etos, as well as stores in Belgium, Germany and Poland. Change Inc. put the total at around 2,500 sales points in 2025 [5], while COSH describes availability at more than 1,750 shops across Europe. In a 2025 feature, Change Inc. described the brand as the second-largest natural retail deodorant in the Netherlands after Happy Earth [5], with projected annual revenue passing one million euros, up from about 800,000 [5].

The Lekker Company became a certified B Corporation in 2022 [5]. Since July that year it has run a reforestation partnership with the Dutch organisation Trees for All, to which it donates one percent of revenue; the brand reports having planted 4,402 trees, split between the Netherlands, Borneo and Bolivia [4]. The company frames this as a natural extension of its cardboard-based packaging, and says customers contribute to the tree-planting through their purchases.

Founder Dewi van de Waeter was a finalist at the TEDx Amsterdam Startup Awards in 2019 [3], and the brand has been nominated in Fonk Magazine's Coolest Dutch Brands selection [7]. The company has been covered by Dutch and international outlets including Change Inc., MT/Sprout [8], De Ondernemer and Men's Health, and reports having sold its one-millionth deodorant jar [3].

The brand is active. Its most recent documented milestones include the 2024 launch of deodorant sticks and continued retail expansion into 2025 across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Poland [5].