Gently Soap Gears Up For Walmart Launch After “Shark Tank” And “Oprah’s Favorite Things”
In just two years, Atlanta native Kristen Dunning has gone from making soaps in her dorm room to seeing her brand, Gently Soap, featured on “Shark Tank,” spotlighted on “Oprah’s Favorite Things” and now landing at Walmart.
The whirlwind hasn’t just been about opportunistic growth. It’s also been about preparation. “I’m really happy with the sequence that everything has happened because ‘Shark Tank’ allowed me to better prepare my brand for what ‘Oprah’s Favorite Things’ did to it, which was even greater than ‘Shark Tank.’ And then ‘Oprah’s Favorite Things’—I feel like—had prepared me for this year, which was getting retail ready.”
Gently Soap’s five natural eczema relief bar soaps will land on Walmart’s website in the first quarter of next year, with the goal of expanding into a third of the retailer’s doors by spring 2027. Dunning participated in the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) Retail Readiness Academy, which is focused on increasing access for Black and brown entrepreneurs in Atlanta’s southeast region. The program awarded Dunning the chance to present her products to Susan Thomas, sourcing manager at Walmart International, during the retailer’s Road to Open Call pitch event. From the event, she was selected to go to Bentonville, Ark., to pitch Gently Soap at Walmart’s headquarters.
“I don’t have to convince them that eczema and sensitive skin is a growing, very powerful customer base and issue that customers are really leaning into,” says Dunning, who has suffered from eczema since she was a child. “They know it’s happening, and they’re looking for solutions.” She adds, “Being the No. 1-selling sensitive skin bar soap in the largest retailer would be really great. When someone thinks of a pioneer or an innovator in the sensitive skin bar soap space, I want Gently to be the first one that comes to mind.”
Walmart knows it’s happening because of the prevalence of the conditions. Around 31.6 million people in the United States, or roughly 10% of the population, have some form of eczema, according to the National Eczema Association. The market research firm Verified Market Research forecasts that the eczema skincare products market, valued at $12.5 billion in 2023, will advance at a 7% compound annual growth rate to hit $21.5 billion by 2031. A study by the skincare brand Aveeno in 2022 showed that 71% of adults identify as having sensitive skin, a 55% increase in the last two decades.
A big takeaway from the Retail Readiness Academy is to start small and proceed slowly with stores. “Retail is just one of those things that can make or break you, so it’s like, what decisions can I make to ensure that my brand has a solid foundation entering retail?” says Dunning. “We’re growing with metrics. We have KPIs that we want to hit, but we want to do it in a way that keeps the integrity of my brand, keeps the profitability of my brand, keeps the sustainability. I’m playing the long game.”
Currently, Gently Soap is available on its own website and Amazon. In 2024, it sold an estimated 180,000 bar soaps through those channels. On Amazon, the brand has appeared multiple times in the e-commerce giant’s top 10 ranking for bar soap. Gently Soap has a 70% return customer rate on its site.
Despite the high return rate, customers have been frustrated that they can’t get its products immediately at a store. “It got to a point where even a Prime Day wasn’t fast enough,” says Dunning. “So, I knew if waiting a three-day shipping period wasn’t enough for my core customer, retail was really the only solution to offer that type of access at scale.”
Dunning appeared on “Shark Tank” in 2023 and accepted an offer from guest “shark” Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcake, of $75,000 for 25% equity. Previously, the brand amassed nearly $200,000 in grants and won over 14 pitch competitions. Dunning plans on tapping Nelson’s expertise leading up to Gently Soap’s Walmart launch. Kevin Planovsky, co-founder of digital marketing and advertising agency Vert Digital, which sold to Croud in 2024, sits on Gently Soap’s advisory board. He also advises Duke Cannon, the men’s grooming brand the private equity firm Main Post Partners invested in five years ago.
Dunning unveiled Gently Soap in February 2021 during her senior year at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, where she studied horticultural science and agricultural communications. She leveraged her business know-how and agricultural heritage that stretches five generations to craft Gently Soap’s plant-based soaps. They’re made without essential oils. Gently Soap’s soap bars are priced at $12. Each bar costs about $2.38 to manufacture and box.
The brand introduced shampoo bars in August after fielding requests from customers following its “Shark Tank” appearance. Dunning interviews customers on a quarterly basis via Zoom calls, phone calls and surveys to gauge what they want to see next from Gently Soap. She redeveloped the bar soap to address scalp care and hair strength as well as eczema on the scalp.
“Some people were even telling me that they were already using the bar soap on their hair and stuff like that, and they really loved it. So, I was like, okay, let’s take what I’ve done with the bar soap and kind of make it more ergonomic,” she says. “I spent 18 months in the lab working on this, and I love them.”
