Sustainability is Omnipresent

Every company needs to be green, or at the very least, getting greener every single day. More and more consumers want to do business with brands that care for the planet and its people as they make and sell their products—and not just the über eco-minded Millennials or aging Boomers who once protested for peace at the corner of Haight and Ashbury. It’s the average Joe and soccer mom too.

Tom Chappel, founder of Tom’s of Maine, has watched the category evolve over the years since he created his iconic natural personal care company in 1970. He was the keynoter who opened Organic Monitor’s 7th annual North American Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in New York City in May.

Chappel traced the evolution of the naturals category beginning in the 1970s when Baby Boomers began looking for alternatives to commonly hyped conventional products (think Wonder Bread). They wanted products that were “natural,” meaning no additives, dyes or the like.

“It left companies like Tom’s to formulate without preservatives and get efficacy proven without animals,” said Chappel. “We turned ourselves inside out. We didn’t comprise.”

Chappel spoke about how today, Millennials are shaping the future of green products.

“Millennials are adamant and passionate about sustainability. They talk about it all the time. They expect better service, better responsiveness and along with it, they want it with a better price,” he said.

Regarding the sale of his company in 2006, Chappel said, “In our case, finding a strategic partner was the right thing for us; it allowed us to expand the influence of the brand and do things we could not do. We selected Colgate-Palmolive because we liked them and trusted them.”

Today, Chappel heads a clothing company called Ramblers Way Farm. It has a fully integrated vertical American supply chain starting with wool sourced in Montana, Colorado, Nevada and California and ending with a final stop in Maine where it is inspected for final quality.

“That’s what happens to you when it gets into your blood, and creating brands that make a difference is what it is all about,” he said.

Following Chappel, Amarjit Sohota, founder and president of Organic Monitor, provided an overview of the two-day event before handing the microphone to Annabelle Stamm, a senior consultant with Quantis, who presented “Quantifying the Footprint of Cosmetics Products.”

She spoke about the importance of lifecycle analysis to measure and reduce a company’s footprint and presented the classic case of paper vs. plastic bags to show how from a sustainability point of view, answers are not always clear cut.

“What does sustainability mean to a company?,” Stamm asked the audience. “Often we think of certain aspects like bio-based, certified organic, etc…but they don’t say anything about the actual impact of the product on the environment.”

LCA, she said ”informs and empowers decision makers and it provides credible metrics.

In her presentation, Stamm also spoke about companies that are leading the way in LCA (citing Firmenich and L’Oréal as examples) and how firms can use metrics to engage stakeholders.

“Nobody is expecting companies to be perfect, but they want to see that you are on the journey,” said Stamm.

Different Companies, Similar Goals
Later in the morning, Jonathan Maher discussed “Putting Sustainability Into Action.” As vice president, sustainability at L’Oréal, Maher has a key leadership role in the execution of the company’s Sharing Beauty with All project—a major endeavor considering the size and diversity of the brands within the L’Oréal Group.

For example, the company had to screen 40,000 formulas just to establish the criteria for improving biodegradability and decreasing its water footprint.

Another Day 1 speaker was Chris Birchby, CEO of Coola Suncare, a fast-growing sun protection company. Birchby told the story of growing his company, including a few bad breaks (like a fire at a warehouse) and lessons learned from dealing with some shady contract manufacturers too.

“We own all of our own formulas. Without the threat of being able to take it somewhere else, you will never get good pricing,” he said about working with contract manufacturers.

Birchby talked about the issues formulating sunscreens that are organic and natural, and insisted that product improvement is a continual process.

“Every product is never done,” he said.  “We are always looking for new ingredients that can help us boost our formula.”

Birchby recently moved his growing firm into a new headquarter building in Carlsbad, CA and has increased its reach throughout the beauty category. This year, Birchbox will send out 1.9 million samples of Coola’s natural sunscreens and the brand can be found in Sephora and Ulta.

In addition, Coola created Walmart’s Hang Ten sunscreen brand line, which has some organic ingredients, and Coola is also the engine behind Bare Republic Natural Sunscreen, a mineral sunscreen that is sold in Target.

“We are bringing healthy sunscreen to the broader market,” he said.

On the second day of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, representatives from other well-known brands took to the podium, including Brandi Halls, director of communications for Lush.

She discussed projects such as the SLush Fund (2% of what Lush spends on raw materials and packaging is donated to the fund, which is then used to start sustainable farming and community projects from scratch) and the Charity Pot, a program that since 2007 has enabled Lush to donate more than $10 million to more than 850 grassroots charities in 42 countries.

“But at Lush, we don’t believe change only happens from monetary donations,” Halls said. “We are a campaign company. We turn our stores into campaigning centers and march, because our founders believe we are doing more than selling soap.”

As examples, she cited how Lush took a stand on the current refugee crisis in Europe with its #refugeeswelcome signage that was posted in 240 store windows, as well as its “Break Free From Fossil Fuels” campaign.

According to Halls, through this endeavor Lush is encouraging staff and customers to be part of eight actions at major fossil fuel projects around the world. 

Halls also acknowledged the quandary that every cosmetic company faces when it comes to being sustainable; after all, operating a manufacturing business consumes valuable resources. She told the audience, “We are part of the problem—but we are trying to be part of the solution.”