Sabater Hnos. – Not Just Froth

That aroma!

Visitors to Sabater Hnos. in Buenos Aires are greeted by a blend of aromatic, fruity, and fresh scents before they even enter the shop. Just how any soap shop would smell? “I could identify our shop out of hundreds,” declares Martin Sabater, one of the founders as well as the managing director of the family business. The narrow space is laid out like a grocery store, with goods displayed in wooden crates on either side. But instead of apples and avocados, the boxes are filled with colorful and fragrant soaps in just about any shape imaginable. As children, the Sabater siblings always smelled freshly scrubbed because their father manufactured soap at home. He had in turn learned the trade from his father. But after finishing school, the siblings decided to seek their own callings first. Martin became a professional BMX rider and started a cateringservice. Eliana studied geography, and Sebastián went to a technical school.

Ultimately, they were reunited by their passion for soap – and in 2002 the “hermanos Sabater” (Sabater siblings) opened their first shop.

Soon, the little shop in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires became a crowd-puller. Tennis balls, kittens, letters of the alphabet, confetti, hearts – customers will find almost anything made from soap alongside classic bars bearing clever sayings. “Won’t clean your conscience,” says a yellow one, and a red bar of soap asks: “Wanna take a bath?” Even heavy metal fans are catered to with a black square bar of soap embossed “Black Sabater.” The golf balls look so real that Papa Sabater likes to use them to play tricks on his golf buddies. He smuggles a soap golf ball onto the green and swaps it with the real item just before his unsuspecting opponent tees.

Their most emblematic product, however, would be the delicate soap flakes that are shaped like rose petals. One petal is enough to wash your hands once. “People also like to put them in a dish in their wardrobe or on a bathroom shelf as a decoration,” says Martin.

Monday morning, 8:30 am in Buenos Aires and everything is in place to make the soaps. Charly, Matilde, and Ageda have already arrived. After donning their white coats and caps, the three employees look ready to assist in an operating room. Everything is sparkling clean, and the turquoise walls add a fresh accent. Martin greets the employees with a hug: “They’re like a part of the family to me.” For example, Ageda, who has been working for the Sabater family for 26 years – first as a maid and then making soaps. Once when the company was in financial straits, Ageda offered Martin to help out with her savings. “I know I can count on everybody here,” he says. “A brand doesn’t work without a good product. But to me, quality also means that the team is happy.” A large tank stands at the back of the hall. Thejaboneros, the soap makers, pour the liquid aroma over the crumbly raw soap, allowing the scent to soak in. Then Matilde empties the perfumed raw soap, which looks a bit like oily popcorn, into an oversized churning machine. In it the crude soap, colors, and oils are blended into a homogeneous mass which is then passed through a meat-grinder-like extrusion and comes out looking like roughly grated parmesan cheese. Another machine compresses the soap mass into a thick strand. The strand is cut up and processed in a further step into a long rectangular block that Matilde chops into squares for the final pressing. “Pffft!” go the machines that Charly uses to stamp the Sabater Hnos. logo onto the soap. The new, white jasmine soap bars will need to dry for another two days before they are ready for delivery.

Miracle soaps don’t exist

Nobody should expect miracles from a bar of soap, Martin Sabater tells us. “We use exclusive ingredients, ensure ecological production methods, and keep the pH values low, he explains. “But when customers ask whether our soaps are aphrodisiacs or whether they help combat depression: No, they can’t do that.”

The creative soap maker is extremely candid in everything he says and does. He even shows us the attic, though obviously embarrassed because he thinks “it looks like a flea market after a tsunami.” Martin tells us that, initially, the siblings hardly made enough money to eat, never mind to buy gas to deliver the soaps. He also reveals that the other two siblings don’t always like his soap designs. The soap with the saying “Use as a couple” made it into the shop. The one proposing its use by three people never went on sale. Hermanos Sabater have already produced soaps for the renowned Teatro Colón, for Apple, Skyteam, and Fox Latin America, as well as for Time Out and Metlife. The siblings have also been operating branch stores in Spain, Greece, and Italy for some time now. Eliana Sabater manages the shop in Barcelona as well as the local production there. Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Francis Ford Coppola, Ian Brody – the list with well-known customers is long. But Martin prefers not to name them. “Every customer finds something in our shops, no matter whether they can afford to spend three dollars on a red heart for their beloved or to buy up the entire shop if they wanted to.” Martin’s laboratory is located in another building, opposite the Chacarita cemetery where famous Tango singer Carlos Gardel lays buried. This small room is where Martin experiments with essences and aromas.

He believes the future of soap lies in the fragrance: “Less color, more bouquet.” Competition from the booming liquid soap market doesn’t keep him awake at night. “It simply underlines how unique we are.”