Vegan handbag brand Gunas to launch beauty line

US vegan handbag company Gunas has announced it will be launching a beauty line after receiving 250,000 dollars from a private investor in a seeding round.

The company said it will use the investment to produce 100 percent plant-based artisanal beauty bars, starting with pure olive oil soap in floral fragrances and volcanic ash. In addition to the money, the anonymous angel investor will provide Gunas with trademarking help, digital marketing and will help expand sales in Asia.

“Beauty soaps have a huge opportunity in terms of being animal-free and formulated with pure ingredients,” Gunas founder Sugandh Agrawal said in a statement. “This new direction is an extension of our core values of inner beauty inside and out, without harming any living being.”

Founded in 2009 by Sugandh Agrawal, Gunas creates cruelty-free handbags which are hand-crafted in South Korea, in sweatshop-free facilities. Over the past four years, sales of Gunas handbags and accessories went up by around 30 percent annually, the company said. In June last year, the brand won the Macy's Best Retail Bag Award in New York City at the Independent Handbag Awards.

Photo credit: Gunas, Facebook