Why Kindred Essence?

JenSan Home and Body is now Kindred Essence and you may be asking yourself why the name change? Well, we made the decision to change our name for several reasons. 

We love the name JenSan Home and Body. After all, it was named after us. However, with the changing marketplace and the diversification of our product line, we recognized that we needed a name that more closely captured…well, the “essence” of our company.

It turned out that there is a company with a very similar name that kept being confused with JenSan. We thought we had the confusion sorted a couple of years ago but it kept coming up again.

We also wanted to branch out and offer candles and soaps with fragrances specifically formulated for men. In taking a deep look at our old logo, we realized that it was not quite the look for a masculine brand.  For all these reasons, it seemed to make sense to go for a name change.

So, why did we decide on the name Kindred Essence?

We knew that the name needed to be clear, concise, easy to remember and work as a brand. It also had to be a name that said something about us as well as our products. Like JenSan, which was an abbreviated combination of Jennifer and Sandra, it also had to convey a sense of family. 

In West Indian and Black communities’ writ large, we tend to introduce people to others that they may not know personally as kin.  It does not always have to be a relationship by blood. It can be one of simple friendship. It becomes, “this is Mavis, she’s kin to Shirley.” While we don’t know Mavis, we know Shirley and so our door is open to Mavis.

Kindred means family and essence means soul. Essence also means fragrance or scent and combining the two perfectly captures the spirit of not just our products but our company. For us, Kindred Essence is not just about a family of products. It represents immediate family, friendships, and relationships with our neighbors and our community.

Coming up with a new name and rebranding our products was two years in the making. We considered and discarded many different options before as a family, deciding on Kindred Essence. 

Once we decided on a new name, we had to design a new logo. Again, this involved the creation of several different logo designs.  After we decided on our KE branding, we then had to design labeling for all our different product offerings. With slight variations, we carried the KE design across all our product lines.

With the completion of the new packaging, we had to turn to the job of taking new photos of our entire product library. Thankfully, for this part of the process family friend and amazing photographer, Earle Holder of 31BT Media brought his talent to the table and produced our beautiful new product photos.  Thank you, Earle!

To celebrate the launch of this next chapter, we knew that we wanted to introduce some new products. Jennifer got to work and created some amazing new candle and soap scents, which we hope you enjoy as much as she did their creation.

We are thrilled about the future path of Kindred Essence and where this journey will take us and are just as excited to invite you along with us.

Jennifer and Sandra