As U.S. trade tensions mount and tariffs weigh heavy on cross-border business, Canadian natural skincare brand Three Ships is turning pressure into opportunity—with homegrown support fueling explosive growth.
Co-founded by Connie Lo and Laura Thompson, the Toronto-based company is finding success not just through innovation, but by leaning into its Canadian identity at a pivotal moment.
“Three Ships is a line of natural skincare products,” said Thompson. “Connie and I originally founded the brand when we were fresh out of school. I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering and Connie was a business commerce grad from Queen’s.”
The pair launched the brand in 2017 under the name Niu Body, with just $4,000—$2,000 each—hand-making products in a condo kitchen and shipping orders from a small apartment. “It was very humble. Bootstrap beginnings,” said Thompson. The company rebranded to Three Ships in 2020.
The mission? Offer high-quality, high-performance skincare made from natural ingredients—at an accessible price.
“We both loved natural skincare products but found that we struggled to find products that were actually natural—so truly from plants and minerals,” Thompson explained. “We realized that there was a gap in the market of products that were high quality, high performance, natural and didn’t break the bank.”
While the company initially operated solely online, it has since expanded to more than 550 retail locations across North America, including all Whole Foods stores in Canada and the U.S., Credo Beauty, The Detox Market, and Amazon, said Lo.
But rising tariffs under U.S. trade policy have created new challenges.
“It’s been a little chaotic—not going to lie,” said Thompson. “We actually started planning for this since back in November. As soon as Trump started talking about tariffs and threatening to levy them against Canada, we took it very seriously.”
To mitigate the impact, the company proactively sent three months’ worth of inventory to its U.S. warehouse in Chicago before the January inauguration.
“That really helped us to not be as impacted as other brands have been because we kind of could see this coming,” said Thompson. “We also made plans to do a price increase if the trade war or tariffs did start being a thing.”
Despite turbulence, a silver lining emerged: a surge in Canadian support.
“We’ve seen a groundswell of support from our Canadian customers and Canadians more broadly. The Made in Canada movement is truly game changing for us,” said Thompson. “Canada’s now just absolutely rocket ship type growth.”
The brand is embracing that momentum.
“One other thing that we’re doing to support our local audience is in Canada we’re actually keeping our prices the same,” Lo added. “We just know that it’s a really challenging time for everyone right now.”
Thompson emphasized how rare that decision is in the beauty industry:
“Most retailers will mandate that you have to increase the price in both markets. Luckily for us, all of our retailers are great and none of the ones that we’re in right now require that.”
Instead of passing on costs to Canadian consumers, the founders are doubling down on local marketing efforts.
“We proactively decided to take some of the budget from the U.S. for some events that we were going to do in L.A. later this summer, and we actually reallocated that to Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver,” said Lo.
The company is also working with its retail partners to highlight Canadian-made products more prominently.
“Reaching out to all of our buyers and letting them know you should be putting out signage of Made in Canada. You should be having a separate page on your website for Canadian brands,” said Lo. “And not only are they really grateful but who do you think is going to be top of the page when they create that page? It’s Three Ships.”
While some brands are struggling to navigate current uncertainty, Lo and Thompson see the moment as an opportunity.
“There’s been a lot of negativity,” said Lo. “But the way that Laura and I and our team choose to see this is like, how do you make lemonade out of lemons?”
“Our Canadian sales have grown so much… and we can really establish ourselves as the Canadian skincare brand.”
As for the idea of opening a flagship retail store?
“Probably not,” Lo said. “There’s a lot of overhead involved… maybe in 10 years or something. But for now, we love partnering with our retail partners. But not going to lie, Laura and I love going into stores like some of our retail partners and helping to sell once in a while. Being able to talk face to face with a customer, there’s nothing better.”
With tariffs, currency shifts, and retail disruptions in the headlines, Three Ships is focused on what’s next—and staying nimble.
For now, the ship is sailing full steam ahead.
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