The two companies have previously collaborated on two ingredients derived from soybean oil that serve as a replacement for petrolatum in cosmetics products.
This agreement formalizes the partnership between the companies, representing for Dow Corning a significant departure from its previous silicon based portfolio.
Through the partnership with Elevance, which specialize in specialty chemicals from natural oils, Dow will also be strengthening its position in the increasingly strong naturals market.
“Dow Corning has been looking to create alliances with key strategic partners with innovative technology like Elevance to further enhance our position in the personal care market,” said Stephen Gosney, Global Beauty Care Industry Director for Dow Corning.
“We believe the combination of silicon technology with Elevance’s natural-based products provides the market with functional and performance benefits for a wide variety of applications.”
Currently Elevance offers high performance waxes, functional oils, and anti-microbials and it hopes that partnering one of the industry’s biggest players will help it to conquer the market place.
“Dow Corning’s proven understanding of the personal care market, as well as their innovative silicon technology, make this an ideal partnership,” said K’Lynne Johnson, CEO of Elevance.
Both companies state that the partnership will lead to a portfolio of significant size, which they hope will become a major part of the exploding naturals market.
Earlier this summer Dow released HY-3051, a petrolatum replacement for skin and hair care products, which was the result of the previous collaboration with Elevance.
The soy-wax blend can bring all the benefits of petrolatum to a formulation, as well as attracting ‘green’ manufacturers.
In addition to the naturals market, high oil prices are forcing many companies to look elsewhere for their ingredients, making Dow’s earlier release a particularly timely offering.