The Base Collective founders reveal why they rejected a $5 million deal to sell in to China

These are the Australian mums from Melbourne who gave up $5 million to sell their organic beauty range on the ground in China to stick to their morals.

Exclusive: These are the Australian mums who gave up $5 million to sell their organic beauty range on the ground in China to stick to their morals.

Cassie Sanghvi, 36, and Carly Pountney, 39, who founded The Base Collective, told News Corp Australia they rejected a five-year contract that would have allowed them to sell their magnesium skin care range directly into China’s $60 billion cosmetics market.

Both businesswomen said they had good reason — they don’t support China’s strict laws that require mandatory animal testing on foreign beauty products before they are sold in the world’s second largest economy.

“When it came down to the crunch we had to turn the contract down because we’ve built this brand on a clean, green, safe model and it’s built on trust,” Mrs Sanghvi said.

“We’re all about transparency, and it was just a non-negotiable for us.”

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The Base Collective business owners and mums Carly Pountney and Cassie Sanghvi. Picture: Tony Gough

Mrs Pountney, who is a pharmacist by trade, said she did not want to mess with their ethical, organic formula.

“I’m involved in all of the formulations of our products and we could have tested it on animals, and changed it to make it cheaper to make more money but that’s not what we wanted to create,” she said.

The savvy pair said they were “disappointed” by the loss of the contract, but they wouldn’t let it stop them from selling to Chinese customers.

Currently, they are using popular e-retail cross-border trade platforms like JD.com, Kaola.com, WeChat and T-mall to get to Chinese customers.

Thee Base Collective Magnesium Oil, which is popular with their Chinese customers. Picture: Supplied

When selling items on cross border e-commerce channels, no animal testing is required.

“We’re not adverse to digging our heels in and working hard, China was a big financial setback as they’d given us projections for the year,” Mrs Sanghvi said.

“It is a little bit disheartening fiscally. But we know it’s the right decision and we hope the business continues to flourish.”

Mrs Pountney added that their magnesium oil and baby range had been well received when they attended the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last year.

While Australia recently passed legislation to ban animal testing on cosmetics, it is still enforced in China to overcome safety issues and its reputation for selling fake brands.

But China is slowly softening its stance and is running a pilot program with some foreign cosmetic companies where they are not required to do it.

Carly Pountney, Cassie Sanghvi and their kids, Amelie Pountney, Zoe Pountney, Kaeleb Sanghvi, Beau Sanghvi and Teddy Sanghvi. Picture: Tony Gough

Mrs Pountney said they are hopeful of getting another chance to sell directly into China after the pilot ends.

“China is very important to us, and bigger brands are testing the waters without animal testing in the pilot, but at this stage there are no guarantees for anyone,” she said.

Since starting their business in 2016 after their two eldest children went to kindy together in Melbourne, Mrs Sanghvi said they are still moving towards turning over millions of dollars in profit.

The Base Collective is also stocked in the US at leading department stores Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters.

They have just started selling it in Malaysia, and are gearing up to launch their new dedicated sleep range in Australia through Priceline.

Originally published as The Base Collective founders reveal why they rejected a $5 million deal to sell in to China