Aleppo soap & natural care
Is your Aleppo soap supplier based in Türkiye, not Aleppo?
Yes, and we say so directly: our Aleppo soap comes from Nader Barakat & Sons, a family house that has worked in the Aleppo tradition since 1979 and now produces from Gaziantep, Türkiye. This isn't a workaround or a lesser substitute — it's how most genuine Aleppo ghar soap is made today. Soap houses carried the craft across the border with them, and Gaziantep's production keeps the same olive-and-laurel recipe, hand-cutting and hand-stamping UNESCO recognized in December 2024 as roughly 3,000 years old.
This page explains why Gaziantep specifically, what moving production did and didn't change about the craft, and why a supplier naming its actual production city is a stronger trust signal than one vaguely claiming ‘Aleppo’ without saying where the soap is actually made.
Why Gaziantep, specifically
Gaziantep sits close to the Syrian border and has long-standing trade and family ties to Aleppo, which made it a natural landing point for soap houses displaced from the city over the past decade of conflict. Producers didn't invent a new soap in Türkiye — they moved workshops, equipment and, most importantly, the people who knew the recipe and the curing process, and kept making the same product under the same family names.
That continuity matters more than the address on the export paperwork. Aleppo soap has always been defined by its two-oil recipe and its craft process — olive oil (metraf) and laurel oil (ghar), cooked, cut by hand, hand-stamped and air-dried for months — not by a legal requirement that it be manufactured inside Aleppo's city limits.
Nader Barakat & Sons, as a working example
Nader Barakat & Sons has worked in the Aleppo tradition since 1979. Production today runs from Gaziantep, and the range we import — 23 soaps spanning everyday stamped bars, premium laurel-forward lines, scented specialty bars, and by-weight cartons — carries the family name on every hand-stamped piece, the same authenticity marker the craft has always relied on. See the Aleppo soap category for the full range.
A buyer evaluating any Aleppo soap supplier should ask the same question regardless of address: is there a named house standing behind the bar, and does the soap show the process — a hand-stamp, an aged gold-brown crust, a green laurel-rich core? Real vs fake Aleppo soap covers those signals in detail.
What moved, and what didn't change
What moved is the production address. What didn't change is the recipe, the hand-craft process, and the roughly six-to-nine-month drying period UNESCO's December 2024 inscription describes for the craftsmanship of Aleppo ghar soap (UNESCO, 2024) — olive and laurel oil brewed together, cut by craftsmen, hand-stamped with a family name. That inscription itself is a recognition of the craft and its history, not a claim that only soap physically made within Aleppo today qualifies.
For laurel content specifically — the detail buyers ask about most after origin — see laurel oil percentages in Aleppo soap, explained, which covers how the figure is stated and why there's no official standard behind it.
Sourcing from Türkiye through Levant Direct
Ordering the Barakat range works the same as any product in our catalogue: build a list of bars and cartons into an inquiry, and a written quotation follows, typically within a business day. The soap is shelf-stable and genuinely improves with age, so it quotes well for buyers across Canada, not only the GTA.
For the fuller retailer picture — formats, laurel tiers and the Canadian cosmetic-labelling basics — see Aleppo soap wholesale in Canada: a retailer's guide.
Related questions
Is soap made in Gaziantep still authentic Aleppo soap?
Yes. Authenticity in this craft has always rested on the two-oil recipe, hand-cutting, hand-stamping and long air-drying, not on a legal requirement that production happen inside Aleppo. Many Aleppo soap houses, including Nader Barakat & Sons, now produce from Gaziantep while keeping the same process.
Why did Aleppo soap production move to Türkiye?
Ongoing conflict displaced soap houses from Aleppo over the past decade, and Gaziantep's proximity and long-standing trade ties with the city made it a natural place for producers to rebuild workshops and continue the craft.
How can I confirm a Gaziantep-made bar is genuine?
Look for a hand-stamp naming the soap house, a short two-ingredient recipe of olive and laurel oil, and the characteristic gold-brown exterior with a green core when cut. Our guide to real vs fake Aleppo soap covers the specific checks.
Is Nader Barakat & Sons a long-standing house or a new producer?
Long-standing — the family has worked in the Aleppo tradition since 1979, carrying that history and process forward into current Gaziantep production.