🎙 Meet Peggy Fredric, founder of the Animaderm brand, now part of the offerings of Laboratoires Audevard, focused on 100% natural equine epidermatology.
👉 In fifteen years, she has turned her brand into a reference in the dermatology market and has recently begun a collaboration with Ekkia.
There are two key determinants in your life journey: your horse riding accident in competition and your horse's sudden dermatitis. Can you tell us about them?
I've been riding horses since I can remember, first in Lyon and then in Paris where I arrived at the age of 11. At 17, there was an abrupt halt due to a fall during a competition where I suffered whiplash from a bar. After three years off, and thanks to a meeting with a teacher who restored my confidence, I gradually turned to dressage. Time passed, and I left Paris, where I worked in advertising, for the Basque Country. This allowed me to acquire a horse, a three-year-old Frisian who, in 2005, developed a dermatitis for which treatments were ineffective. So, I searched.
It's an understatement to say that it was almost like a police investigation! I looked through my grandfather's notebooks, he was a pharmacist in the French army, and in books on medicinal plants until I expanded my investigations to ingredients used, notably in ancient Egypt. The problem: they were unavailable. The last distilleries in France had closed their doors in the 1980s due to a misunderstanding in European regulations. I found the artisans and convinced them to restart their stills. That's how, by testing various components, I created the product my horse needed. Owners then came to me, and quickly, through word of mouth, I helped many of them. Aware of the need and distress of the owners, as I had been, I then approached formulation laboratories to improve my composition. In 2007, I created the company Animaderm, in Anglet, and started selling my first product online, Derfen©, the first waterless and 100% natural lotion for equine scratching problems. Result: nearly €100,000 in turnover in just 5 months! And that was just the beginning.
Over time, how have you seen your customers evolve?
My customer has always been unique because they are distraught by equine itching problems. They are looking for real solutions. When I started, the condition affected about 1 in 20 subjects, whereas today I estimate that half are affected. Probably an incidence of diet. So, I sell them products with meaning, committed to equine well-being, but also advice to choose the right care, whatever it may be (products, dietary management, environmental management...). And with our promise: "non-chemical, silicone-free, phosphate-free, natural actives". Animaderm has nearly 30,000 direct customers, very loyal, with us from the beginning.
How did the meeting with Ekkia go?
In 2023, the regulatory, industrial, and commercial aspects became burdensome to manage for a small business like mine, so Animaderm approached Laboratoires Audevard in October 2023. This specialist in equine health and dietetics already collaborated with Ekkia, and the connection was natural. We signed a distribution agreement with EKKIA. So, at the beginning of this year, I trained the Padd and Ekkia franchisees and sales representatives on our products, and I continue!
What is the human quality you prefer in your counterparts?
Without hesitation, honesty. Since the beginning of Animaderm, we have always been completely transparent. About our products, their properties. This is probably why our customers are now our best ambassadors. Conversely, I struggle with people who lack frankness, regardless of the subject.
Your motto?
"Because we can always do it differently". You have to search, there is always a solution. If we can go to the moon, there's no reason we can't find a solution for an allergy problem! You have to be persistent and not hesitate to think differently.
Ekkia in one word?
Pros! Endowed with great open-mindedness and a real commitment to quality both in products and in human relations
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