Urtegaarden

Urtegaarden is a Danish natural-products company founded in 1978 and based in Allingåbro, in eastern Jutland [1]. It makes and sells its own natural skincare, haircare and body products, and also runs a purchasing central that supplies raw materials for people who want to make cosmetics and confectionery themselves. The company remains active, with a webshop, a shop-in-shop in Frederiksberg, and wholesale distribution through Danish health-food retailers.

The dual character is the brand's defining trait: it is at once an own-label maker of finished natural products and a supplier of the ingredients — essential oils, vegetable base oils, emulsifiers and soap bases — from which customers build their own creams, salves and shampoos.

Urtegaarden began with a parent's question about what was going onto her children's skin. According to the company, founder Sumo Lotus examined the products her family used and set out to make healthier natural alternatives; her first product was a baby salve [2]. Demand for that salve, and for the courses she began teaching family and friends, created a wider need for natural raw materials that were then scarce in Denmark. To meet it, she established the Urtegaarden purchasing central (indkøbscentral) [2]. Her interest in aromatherapy later drew essential oils into the skincare range and, in parallel, into natural candy-making ingredients, linking the two sides of the business.

Gitte Busck joined the company in 1985 and Mette Fischer in 1986 as partners [2].

Ownership passed through several hands over the decades. Sumo Lotus departed in 2005; Busck and Fischer continued the business, with Busck becoming sole owner in 2007 [2]. On 1 April 2016, Vibeke Estrup — who had worked at Urtegaarden as a product specialist since 2007 — acquired the company from Busck [2].

Under Estrup, the company drew several business awards. In 2018 it received a Børsen Gazelle, given for sustained growth, and the Djursland Business Prize (Djurslands Erhvervspris) [2]. In 2019 it was named a "Success Company" (Succesvirksomhed) by SparNord and BDO, among 1,000 Danish firms so recognised [2]. In November 2024 it achieved B Corp certification [3].

The company sums up its approach in the Danish phrase "Rene varer og ren besked" — pure goods and honest communication. Alongside selling natural products, it frames its purpose as giving customers enough transparent information to make their own informed choices about ingredients and packaging. Urtegaarden describes responsibility as concrete action rather than attitude, and states that it has written its environmental and social commitments into the company's legal foundation [3].

Urtegaarden's finished range covers skincare, haircare and body products, offered alongside private-label options. Its earliest product, the baby salve, is the item on which the business was built. Beyond finished goods, the purchasing central sells fats, emulsifiers, minerals, gelling agents, preservatives and soap bases for people making their own creams, serums, scrubs and soaps, together with recipes and courses. Essential oils and vegetable base oils sit at the centre of the assortment.

Sustainability is central to how the company presents itself, and it structures the effort around three areas: responsible assortment, responsible operations and a responsible workplace [3]. In practice this includes sorting waste into 13 fractions and prioritising raw materials carrying eco-labels such as recognised organic certifications, RSPO, FSC and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel [5]. The company keeps climate accounts covering direct and indirect emissions and, having set a baseline in 2023, has defined short-term goals to 2028 and longer-term goals to 2035 [3][5]. Owner Vibeke Estrup traces the path to certification to an "SMV Grøn" project in the winter of 2022–23 [3].

Urtegaarden is an active Danish company. It operates from its Allingåbro headquarters and a Frederiksberg shop-in-shop, runs an online store, and distributes wholesale through Danish health-food retailers. Its most recent notable milestone was B Corp certification in November 2024, and it maintains an active customer-review presence [3][6]. Its stated ambition is to lead the Nordic market in the sale and use of pure natural raw materials, though its operations remain centred on Denmark.