Olivü was founded in 2006 in the small city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It all started when a close friend of mine, Adam, was building a snowmobile track the summer of 2003. Adam was a semi-pro snowmobile racer. He was building a wood-chip track so he could practice racing in the summer. Using gasoline to burn brush away from where he would be building the track, a spark from another burn pile landed where Adam was standing. Adam was burned very badly and was taken by the flight-for-life to a hospital an hour away, St. Mary’s Burn Unit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
At St. Mary’s Hospital Adam was advised not to use store bought lip balm, as they wanted him to use a product that would promote healing, rather than just lubrication. A wonderful therapist named Eileen gave me a recipe for the lip balm and I eagerly got to work preparing it for him. By the time I was done following the recipe I received a surprise by the large quantity the recipe yielded, two large quart jars of lip balm! Imagine, what in the world would I do with all this lip balm! I decided I would find some tubes, fill them and I would give them away to my friends. I went online to find tubes and it was then that I was introduced to the abundant world of homemade cosmetics.
As the story goes on, Adam was unable to use store bought lotion that contained alcohol as it would irritate his grafted skin. I began researching various oils in hopes of finding one that would help heal Adam with minimal scarring. Olivü now had its second product, Whipped lotion. Freshly blended ingredients yielded remarkably light and soothing lotion to heal rather than just lubricate.
Adam went onto heal marvelously and was set to head out to Colorado to compete in the Snow-Cross X-games, when he tragically died in a single car accident July 29th, 2005.
I decided to leave town for a while, and went to live with my Aunt Marsha in Dallas, Texas. While I was there I attended Collin County Community College to obtain an entrepreneurship certification. I am a 2005 Business Graduate of Lakeland College, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I hoped the entrepreneurship certification would assist me to build a viable business. I moved back to Sheboygan with a vision of a new enterprise, and Olivü was born.
How did we get the name Olivü 426? Most of our products contain Olive Oil and Olivü sounds like “I love you”, of course (: The number 426 is a tribute to Adam and all the close friends he left behind. 426 is a significant number to us as it is Adam’s snowmobile racing number. Olivü 426 continues to keep Adam in our hearts and fortunately the name and number has brought me luck.
Thank you to all my loyal customers who have supported Olivü 426. It is my mission to bring the same quality ingredients to you and your loved ones that I sought out for Adam. I work hard to bring you products that work with your body at an affordable price. Each item in the store is hand-poured daily or weekly by our staff to assure a fresh, high quality product. Please know we are just a phone call or e-mail away if you have any questions or comments.
From all of us at Olivü, take care of yourselves and each other.
Caitlin Brotz & The Olivü staff.
Caitlin Brotz is owner of Olivü 426, located in Downtown Sheboygan. Devoted to improving the well-being of customers and the world around us every day, Olivü 426 believes in creating natural personal care products that are truly healing, non-harmful and affordable for everyday use. For more information about Olivü 426 and the benefits of natural personal care, contact Caitlin at Caitlin@Olivu426.com or 920.783.0809.