At NRF’s July Supply Lunch and Learn, Annie Jackson, co-founder and chief operating officer of Credo Beauty, joined Jennifer Walsh, founder of Walk with Walsh, to discuss the clean beauty industry and how retailers can make a difference with their products to support sustainability.
Here are the top takeaways from the conversation.
Stick to a standard
Credo Beauty represents 130 hand-selected skincare and makeup brands. To make it on the shelf, products must meet the Credo Clean Standard, a set of guidelines to ensure the safest materials for consumers and the environment. Products can’t contain anything on Credo’s “dirty list,” which includes over 2,700 harmful ingredients.
Jackson said people don’t need to sacrifice the quality of their makeup to protect the environment; Credo helps ensure consumers always receive the same modern formula of makeup sold anywhere else.
Did you miss the webinar? You can watch it now on demand.
Tackle packaging
Although Credo was committed to offering safe and sustainable products, it found the most significant demand from consumers was to change its packaging. It couldn’t call itself a clean beauty company, Jackson pointed out during the conversation, while selling products packaged in plastic and non-biodegradable material.
Credo introduced sustainable packaging guidelines, which requires “brand partners to meet specific standards meant to reduce the use of single-use items, virgin plastic and non-recyclables.” Products now use reusable glass bottles and packaging made from recycled green tea leaves. Recognizing the need to explain to consumers how to participate in the sustainability mission to ensure it is done correctly, each product sold includes a label with recycling instructions.
Brands can use tech platforms such as Novi to source affordable and sustainable packaging materials. ClearForMe is a clean beauty index to search for products with or without ingredients. Retailers can add these resources to their website to help consumers shop for safe products and stay educated about the ingredients within products.
Know your customer
Jackson said it’s essential to develop products with members of Generation Z in mind, since they have grown up with an expectation of sustainability and evaluate a company’s founder background, value system and genuine behavior. As the generation heads into their 20s, they are voting with their wallet, and they expect brands to be sustainable and values to align.
NRF retail members can watch the full conversation here with NRF On Demand.
Related content
