Transparent By Nature

At PAN Aromatics, we share with our customers a completely transparent sourcing chain from the farms and/or regions where the plants are grown, the producers/distillers who convert the plants into essential oils as well as who we purchased each product from (when different from farmer/producer). Our goal is to educate our customers and to be a resource for consumers to learn where many essential oils come from (beyond just a country name), highlighting the key steps it takes to get an essential oil to the end customer.

Like any agricultural commodity, essential oils each come from a raw, plant-based material, which rely on specific climate, soil, and resources to survive. Due to the global reach of this industry, these plants are rooted deep within the traditions and cultures of the communities in which they thrive. Some essential oils, such as pine and citrus are a by-product of a different industry, which is sold as waste to a producer, who then turns it into a beautiful aromatic oil. Other crops are grown only to be harvested for their compositions such as Tea Tree or Immortelle. 

We will be using anecdotes and data points from each of our aromatic ingredients to help piece together the story of this fascinating agricultural industry in a way that consumers can participate in directly. We hope that our passion and insight help inspire you to learn more

More About Our Company

PAN Aromatics (Perfumer’s Apprentice Natural Aromatics) is a brand of Perfumer’s Apprentice that pays tribute to the rich, vibrant, and broadly overlooked agricultural communities and producers/distillers that are actually behind the essential oils and absolutes that have become a staple of our olfactory lifestyles.

Due to our strength as a supplier of fragrance ingredients, we joined the Trade Association, IFEAT (International Federation of Essential Oils & Aroma Trades) to learn more about where all of these products come from. We participated in their Study Tour in France in the Summer of 2015, where we met the farmers and producers in the heart of Provence (France) where acres upon acres of lavender, clary sage and lavendin of many varieties blanketed the countryside. We participated in the lavender harvest and distillation processes. These are the same lavender and clary sage plants which are annually processed into essential oils and sold by nearly every retail essential oil company around the world. 

What occurred to us during the study tour was that the large essential oil companies are marketing information to consumers to imply that they farm, distill and sell their vast catalogs of products. It is not possible for any single essential oil company in the industry to plant, harvest, produce, and supply the world's essential oil library. Surely there are companies who own farming and production of select products, but for the majority of their products, companies are purchasing essential oils from the same sources as everyone else. This revelation inspired us to create a brand that would both give consumers an unadulterated insight into this industry and disrupt the current essential oil market by transparently spotlighting the real industry behind these products.

Our vision for this company is to meld together three major market trends and apply them to essential oils; Farm to Table, Wine culture, and the Fair Trade Coffee movement. Our take on the farm to table concept is 'Farm to Nose,' which we outline in our 'Transparent by Nature' mission statement. From wine culture, we are adopting the expectation of varying sensory profiles based on the year and region that a wine was made, and applying it to essential oils. Essential oils are based on plants which are affected annually by climate and soil. These traits affect the profile of each essential oil, and although the essential oil industry has largely 'standardized' their products to be the same from batch to batch, we will be focusing on the differences based on year of harvest and the region expressed in each batch that we sell. Lastly, by utilizing the expectations and progress made in the coffee community of social responsibility, this awareness has empowered agricultural communities to move into the spotlight and thereby form co-operatives and unions so farmers can also benefit from this market.