In-Cosmetics Global 2024 edition was the biggest show so far, and with it went the expansion of the Sustainability Zone area, making it convenient for visitors to get up to speed with the latest innovations and meet with experts in sustainability from all over the world, and to find out about consumer trends. The amount of current investment and research the cosmetic industry is putting into sustainability is impressive and it was great to see the news on the results of many of these efforts over the three days.
In this article, I share a few key takeaways.
Cultural shift, transparency and trust
I opened the Sustainability Zone with some brief remarks, explaining the cultural shift generated by ecology, tighter regulations and the drive from consumer desire for more sustainable products.
This shift means adopting a holistic and comprehensive approach to product manufacturing, that takes into account several sustainability criteria along the manufacturing and supply chains. We are in the early stages of this cultural shift, but there are pioneers, such as fashion retailer Everlane who are manufacturing clothes to last, selecting materials with lower environmental impact, and showing us the meaning of radical transparency by sharing details about the cost of goods. This is quite a disruptive statement for industry, showing that full transparency is possible, and finding that in a busy marketplace, transparency leads to trust something that is almost priceless for business.
In the cosmetic industry this cultural shift has also been embraced by retailers such as Sephora, who have just launched the Planet Aware seal, requesting that brands provide information about ingredients, formulations, packaging, corporate commitment, and LCAs. Brands that manage to get this seal will be able to stand out and have their commitment to sustainable beauty validated.
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Consumers trends by Euromonitor
Consumers want to know the positive qualities about the products that they buy, yet still want to avoid sulfates, parabens, and synthetic dyes. Among the top features of new launches in 2023 were sustainable packaging and sustainable formulations, for example Chanel’s launch of the N1 de Chanel with has 97% naturally-derived ingredients with an eco-responsible positioning via eco-design and packaging with organic ink.
Consumers when shopping are beginning to be guided more by ingredients used rather than brand loyalty and are becoming more knowledgeable about the benefits of individual ingredients and are appreciating greater transparency about ingredients. Having natural ingredients with proven efficacy is an ideal combination providing the price point is right for them.
Sustainable packaging is also desirable for consumers, with Wild deodorant leading the way in refillable and plastic-free deodorants. There are also new refillable models now available such as Isana which launched the first refillable aerosol eliminating 80% of CO2 emissions compared with conventional deodorants. Since 2019 interest in recyclable and recycled packaging has increased by 42% and 61% respectively, whereas refillable has improved bottles by 58%. This shows that packaging sustainability credentials are very important for consumers, not just for sustainable formulations but across the spectrum.
Regenerative beauty with plant-based pigments by Le Rouge Francais
Biotech engineer Elodie Carpentier has started her own color cosmetic brand with the vision of delivering a healthy, plant-based and beautiful color cosmetic range. All the colors are plant-based, with no mica or Titanium dioxide used. The products are Cosmos Organic Certified and Vegan, and great care is taken to protect the biodiversity of the plants used and follow the Nagoya protocol to source dye plants in France. They have estimated 80 kg of CO2 are sequestered per product per year.
It does not end there, the packaging is also innovative, for example using the first ever castor oil derived recyclable lipstick case that looks like glass and is also refillable. At the Sustainability Zone, Elodie also shared her latest packaging innovation which uses vegan leather, derived from apple waste, in a lipstick and beauty case.
The brand has recently extended its range by adding skincare products and is certainly ticking many boxes that help it to keep growing and expanding into other countries.
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Conclusions
The In-Cosmetics Global Sustainability Zone, which I had the pleasure to moderate one more time, was a marvelous source of useful information and an inspiration for players within the cosmetic industry at a time of great cultural shift. Consumers are after increased transparency and a holistic approach to cosmetic development and manufacturing. Consumers are also increasingly switched on, with regard to natural ingredients that do not compromise efficacy, and are favorably disposed to developments in sustainable packaging, which have increased 55% since 2019.
As sustainability is becoming more and more mainstream, beauty brands are expected to touch quite a few of the “faces” of sustainability, as Le Rouge Francais is showing with third-party certification, plant-based pigments sourced using regenerative farming, and sustainable packaging. To have just one touchpoint is no longer sufficient, as La Rouge Francais is showing us. With this steady increase in complexity and the drive from consumer expectation, the key question that all brands and manufacturers need to ask themselves now is: “Will the formulations I am using today still be relevant, or even legal, in 5 or 10 years?”.
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