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May 18, 2023

How sustainable cosmetics brand Beauty Disrupted is reinventing the humble bar of soap

rethink sustainability In 2019, Svante Holm and Alban Mayne embarked on a

rethink sustainability

In 2019, Svante Holm and Alban Mayne embarked on a journey to make premium beauty more sustainable. We spoke to Alban Mayne to find out how Beauty Disrupted is revolutionising an industry by giving soap bars a much-needed makeover.

Svante and I spent around 20 years working in tech, including at Apple, HP, and Logitech, which is where we met. We discovered that we had very similar values and concerns about what was going on with our planet. And we had a common fear, which was that our kids would someday ask us, "You knew what was going on. What did you do to try and change things?"

So we knew we wanted to do something, but we didn't quite know what. And then, in 2019, we learned some worrying statistics. Each year, around 80 billion plastic bottles of shampoo and conditioner are produced. Of all the plastic that's ever been made, only 9% has been recycled so far. And by 2050, there will be as much plastic in the ocean as fish. Which is just crazy. That's what inspired us to try and find a better way to do things.

We decided to explore cosmetics bars because they can be easily packaged without plastic. And we discovered that, although a lot of the beauty bars on the market were green, none of them were really desirable to us – most made your hair dry or oily, or they made you itch. That was the opportunity to disrupt the beauty industry we were looking for.

Our goal was to beat the best liquid products in a bar format. And not just on sustainability, but especially on quality, pleasure, performance, and overall experience. We wanted to create a brand that's luxurious and sustainable. Because consumers will never switch if they have to give up too much.

Read also: The Blue Economy – five ways to save our oceans

Our strategy was to approach the suppliers of the best luxury brands, like Chanel or Dior. We thought that getting large-scale suppliers to be more sustainable would be easier than trying to get sustainable artisans to deliver luxury at scale. Fortunately, it turned out that luxury suppliers were eager to become more sustainable and, as a result, all of our products and even our packaging are produced with 100% renewable energy. And while our cardboard packaging has been certified by the FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] as being 70% recycled, such packaging doesn't have to look boring. Svante has a real sense of design, and our packaging looks great thanks to him.

We also paid a lot of attention to the sensorial qualities of our products. We worked with our perfumer in Grasse, France, to create beautiful scents that make people feel like they’ve travelled to the Amazonian primary forests, the amazing Alps, or the wild ocean thanks to our Amazonian Amour, Alpine Glow, and Ocean Magic collections. But we also wanted them to be organic. Shampoos usually use synthetic chemicals to scent their products, because they make it much easier to capture the scent and manage how it's diffused. So it took over 50 iterations and nine months of work to develop three scents we were happy with, and which are now recognised by the press and perfume experts as being among the best performers.

For our ingredients, we looked at the effects they have on hair but also how and where they’re produced. For instance, we use Peruvian Inca Inchi oil in our Amazonian Amour collection because the Inca used it centuries ago for hydrating their hair. But we also know that our ingredient supplier in Peru is producing it in a way that's supporting local communities and without contributing to deforestation.

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Plastic is a disaster. On average, we eat a credit card's worth of microplastics every week. They’re everywhere. And there's a tonne of greenwashing going on. Many brands say their plastic packaging is recyclable, but in reality, it probably won't get recycled even if you care enough to dispose of it properly. Instead, it's likely to end up in the ocean, because the recycling chain just can't handle the massive amount of plastics that would need to be recycled. So the first thing everybody should do is avoid plastics as much as possible.

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But we have to acknowledge that this is easier said than done. People are busy. It's normal to have other priorities, and to not want to be made to feel guilty about it. So, instead of passing the burden of change on to the consumer, brands need to concentrate on getting their own houses in order by creating sustainable products that people actually prefer using. The Buddha said you should focus only on those things that are within your control. That's what we’re trying to do.

Making luxury products enables us to build the credibility of plastic-free cosmetics by ensuring that our bars are as good as they can be, so people won't be afraid to swap. Once we’ve proved that you can make luxurious yet sustainable cosmetics without compromising on the experience, other brands will push in the middle or lower end of the market. We want to create a domino effect. Just as Tesla has pushed the automotive sector towards electric vehicles, we want beauty to become plastic-free.

Donating some of our profits to NGOs enables us to ensure that, where we do have an environmental impact, we repair more than we damage. We settled on 20% because we wanted our donations to be both transparent and significant. By making an early commitment to donate 20% of our current and future profits, we’re ensuring that our donations will grow with our business.

We’ve linked each of our collections to a different NGO. For instance, the Amazonian Amour collection supports the Jane Goodall Institute. Jane Goodall is a living legend and, to be honest, we never thought we’d be able to work with the Institute. They’re very selective, and they’ve turned down many brands that are a lot bigger than us. But when I met the Institute's representatives, we clicked right away. I even got to interview Dr. Goodall for our website, which was one of my highlights of the year so far. Through her work with chimps, she gained a deep understanding of biodiversity and the fact that humans are just one member of a global community of species that must work in harmony. That's what the Institute supports and, in turn, is what we’re supporting through Amazonian Amour.

We actually applied for our B Corp certification before we even created the company. We understood that we needed a sustainability framework, so we decided to tap into the existing work of some very smart people. B Lab examines how you behave towards your suppliers, employees, society, and the planet. And we’ve built our company following the B Corp formula.

Read also: The CLIC® Chronicles: Patagonia, an outdoor brand with a mission. An exclusive interview here

The fact that there are still so many bottles in hotel rooms is one of the most ridiculous things. Hotels realise that as well, and some of them have switched to refillable dispensers. But even here, both the pump and refill pouches are still made of plastic.

That's why we decided to make hotel-sized products, with the same formulation, scents, and amazing experience in a smaller size. This gives us an opportunity to educate people in beautiful, relaxing environments that make them willing to try new things. Many of them discover that they love our products and, in turn, that there's a real alternative to plastic bottles. Hopefully that leads them to buy from Beauty Disrupted. But even if they choose to buy bars from another brand, that's also amazing. As long as it's zero plastic.

The hotels are happy too, because they have significantly less waste to manage. Guests are invited to take our Voyager kit – which contains travel-sized versions of three of our best-selling bars – with them. And, because the water-resistant box is perfect for storing used products, 99% of them do! Stricter regulation around plastic bottles is looking increasingly likely, so hotels know that, sooner or later, they’ll have to change. With a brand like Beauty Disrupted, guests can see that the product is plastic-free and read about the NGOs we support, enabling us to increase our impact while raising awareness of the great work these NGOs are doing.

Although we’re aiming to launch in the US in 2024, we still have a lot to do in Europe. We want to build a brand that will stand the test of time, so we don't take shortcuts with inappropriate promotions or channels. Our dream is to change people's perception of bars enough to disrupt the entire industry such that, in a few years, you won't find a single plastic bottle in the beauty aisle. Given what customers are already saying about our products, we’re convinced that's possible. And if we can influence other brands in that direction, we’ll be the happiest men in the world.

This document is issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd or an entity of the Group (hereinafter "Lombard Odier"). It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a document. This document was not prepared by the Financial Research Department of Lombard Odier. Read more.