J. R. Watkins

J. R. Watkins was founded in 1868 by Joseph Ray Watkins in Plainview, Minnesota — making it one of America's oldest natural-product companies. Watkins built his business on botanical remedies sold door-to-door, with a satisfaction guarantee that was genuinely novel in American commerce at the time. That founding ethos — natural ingredients, honest claims, direct relationship with the consumer — has persisted across more than a century and a half of operation. The company expanded from medicinal liniments and vanilla extract into a broad personal-care and household-product range, with fragrance emerging as part of body wash, lotion, and soap collections rather than as standalone perfumery. Scents are built on simple, legible naturalistic accords — lavender, lemon, peppermint, chamomile — that reinforce the brand's botanical heritage. J. R. Watkins sells through its own catalogue, natural food stores, and Target, occupying an unusual position: mass distribution combined with a heritage-natural positioning that distinguishes it from synthetic mass-market alternatives. The brand represents American artisanal tradition at accessible everyday pricing.