Click through to read this week's most ready articles.
When the beauty industry talks about upcycling, it's usually referring to reducing waste in the ingredient and formulation process.
Upcycled ingredients are a hot topic on the back end of the beauty business and The Upcycled Beauty Company’s 2022-2023 Zero Waste Beauty Report found that consumers are also interested in products with lower environmental impacts.
“Our focus is in personal care looking at reducing the consumption of new resources, identifying waste as a valuable resource and then supporting this transition from a very linear ‘take-make-dispose’ economy system and into a circular one,” Anna Crovetto, community lead for Upcycled Beauty Company, told CosmeticsDesign.
The report found the following statistics on consumer interest in sustainable ingredients:
Q&A
More than a quarter of Americans live with a disability, but the beauty and personal care industry's focus on creating products for these consumers is scant, according to Mintel.
CosmeticsDesign spoke with Simon Pitman, global senior analyst for Mintel Beauty and Personal Care, about what the disabled beauty market looks like, what gaps exist and where brands or products could fit in.
What kind of representation are people with disabilities looking for in the beauty segment?
All consumers – both disabled and able-bodied - want individuals with disabilities to be better represented, something that is underlined by Mintel data showing that 75% of US consumers want to see greater representation of disabled people in advertising and marketing campaigns in the beauty space.
To solve the issue of plastic waste the industry talks a lot about a circular recycling economy, but a recent Greenpeace report says under present conditions, that’s not possible.
The environmental action group released a report in October on claims of circularity in the plastics industry. The thesis of the report is that considering current access to recycling, recycling rates and the state of the plastic recycling industry, plastic circularity is far from achievable.
According to a similar Greenpeace report from 2020, plastic circularity is challenging to achieve because plastic collection, sorting and processing are not economically incentivized as the expansion of plastic production lowers the cost of virgin resin.
“That prediction has proven true as the U.S. plastic recycling rate has continued to decline,” the report read. “Since 2020, an even greater barrier to plastic recycling than poor economics has come into focus through scientific research and testing: the toxicity of recycled plastic.”
E-commerce took off in the US during the pandemic, but the beauty retail giant of China might be the next hot retail environment in the West.
Live selling, or showcasing and selling products through a livestream video, is a relatively small part of the US retail market, but Chief Product Officer at live selling partner CommentSold Andrew Chen told CosmeticsDesign there is significant growth potential.
Chen said McKinsey research projects live selling will grow from an $11 billion market to a $35 billion market between 2022 and 2024. But that estimate is dwarfed by the $480 billion live selling market in China, which is expected to continue growing.
With the growth of both e-commerce and social media engagement, Chen said live selling is well positioned to meet consumer demands in retail today.
UK-minimal skin brand Pure and Cimple is moving into the US market in hopes of bridging the gap between standard and single-ingredient beauty.
The brand carries three core products with 10 or fewer ingredients and launched into the US market in September. Pure and Cimple founder Preeti Luthra told CosmeticsDesing the brand is looking to offer a minimalist skincare line that does more than a single-ingredient product line.
The first product launched in 2020, and after success with the brand’s first minimalist and science-backed message, expanded the line.
After that success, Luthra said the company decided to expand e-commerce sales into the US and Canada.
