The event will take place between 17th and 18th of October at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, and this year’s line-up will have a series of new focuses for visitors, in an attempt to both diversify and improve the appeal of the show.
But the fact that one of the core new focuses is indie brands underlines just what an increasingly important part this is playing on the business, and also how it is serving to reshape the world of beauty formulation.
Indie brands mean different supplier needs
"We are always listening to what our customers want and they told us that indie brands is an important niche so we researched about them, where they are and their needs and decided to run a dedicated programme to invite them to our show and add value to their visit," said Daniel Zanetti, exhibition director at in-cosmetics North America.
Indie brands are traditionally characterized by smaller batch sizes, as well as the fact that they are often created around more personalized and customized consumer requirements.
In turn this means that formulation and ingredients providers are having to reshape their portfolios and services to cater for smaller batch sizes and, in particular, active ingredients that tackle particularly niche or specific requirements.
The event organizers say that to further support the indie sector it will provide brand owners with networking opportunities, through its specially created Talk to the Indies program.
“The Talk to the Indies programme answers a demand, particularly in this region of the world, and we look forward to watching it unfold,” said Zanetti.
The initiative will run across both days of the event, allowing brand owners to meet both consultants and suppliers who are able to meet their needs.
Dedicated Indie Beauty sessions
In addition to this, a dedicated session will run on October 17th that will cover the major challenges faced by indie brands, including distribution, reaching out to consumers and upcoming trends for the sector.
And on October 18th speednetworking sessions will provide valuable insights from 20 leading suppliers who will be addressing representatives from five leading indie brand owners who have signed up for the initiative, which will simultaneously be open to all exhibitors.
"The speednetworking is the ice breaker. The program will have indie brands and other manufacturers that might not be used to talk directly to the suppliers so we will allow a 5 minute meeting between them and our exhibitors interested in engaging with new business communities," said Zanetti.
It is the ice breaker. The programme will have Indie brands and other manufacturers that might not be so used to talk directly to the suppliers so we will allow a 5min meeting between them and our exhibitors interested in engaging with new business opportunities. As the session starts before the show is opened it allows everyone to continue the conversation after the session has ended.
The exhibition floor will also include regular features such as the Formulation Lab, Sensory Bar, Make Up Bar, Innovation Zone, Formulation Challenge, Focus on Marketing Tours and a complete Educational Program.