For a perfume aficionado accustomed to the world of fragrances, the cherished scent may evoke luxury rather than sustainability.
But in frinea vegan perfume manufacturer that wants to tie the craft of scent-making to its traditional and artisanal roots, eliminating excess and creating a beautiful fragrance that goes hand in hand.
The British brand operates according to a made-to-order model, each season blending a single Eau de Parfum - a genderless fragrance - for a limited group of customers. The usual cap is gone to cover the spray head. The bottle is lined in a biodegradable wrap made of Pie, mushrooms, and excess planting material, which can later be used for seed propagation. Everything is housed in a recyclable cardboard tube.
"When you're a huge company, it's often difficult to adjust sustainability. We were able to create with that in mind," said Owen Mears, who founded the brand in 2017.
Fefern's efforts are part of a conversation that was once a fringe in the beauty industry and that has become more mainstream in recent years: Can a luxury product like perfume really be sustainable?
The answer could have a significant financial impact. The fragrance industry is booming, with the global fragrance market valued at $30.6 billion in 2021 - and expected to grow to $43.2 billion in 2028, according to A report from a market research firm Fortune Insights for Business. Therefore, industry observers also point to so-called "eco-friendly" and "clean" fragrances as an emerging niche, particularly among Generation Z and Millennial Consumers Who are attracted to non-toxic products that are good for the environment, producing such scents is likely to be a profitable move.
"Right now, all retailers want sustainable fragrances," said Amy Christiansen, who founded the London-based fragrance brand. Sana Jardin in 2017. “There is a trend in the industry for more environmentally friendly products.”
People's affinity for using perfumes—for everything from adornment to worship—goes back to ancient Egypt and Greek and Roman times. But the modern industry began in earnest in the late 1800s with the introduction of synthetic compounds and then product manufacture, as small perfume makers were bought out by sprawling beauty companies.
Today, consumers and activists are increasingly calling on the world's largest perfume makers to address a range of sustainability issues—from sourcing their ingredients to managing their facilities—and some brands have taken action. For example, companies like Giorgio Armani and Lancôme now produce packaging for their perfume bottles, and last year French fashion house Chloé introduced a fragrance called Naturelle, which it said was made with sustainable ingredients. (The amount of fragrance oil in a scent determines where it falls into the five common scent categories. Perfume contains the greatest concentration of fragrance oil, usually 30 to 15 percent; Eau de parfum has the second highest concentration, usually 20 to 15 percent.)
Yet artisanal perfumeries created with transparency and sustainability as core parts of their ethos say these practices are central to their business model, even as they continue to develop their own practices to become greener.
Some perfume manufacturers, such as Ffern, market themselves as sourcing natural ingredients as locally as possible and selling their products primarily to a smaller customer base. Others, like the British brand Flowers Street, or advocate for the balance of natural and synthetic components, or offset carbon emissions by contributing to conservation projects. Many have developed environmentally sensitive packaging that protects their scents and is recyclable.
said Francis Schumack, founder of the company AbelWhich presented its first perfume in 2013.
Located between New Zealand's capital Wellington and Amsterdam, the natural fragrance brand sells just seven Eau de Parfum fragrances at a time, disclosing all of their ingredients and giving one percent of all revenue generated from each fragrance to non-profit organisations. Recently, Ms. The company's customers, who range in age from 28 to 35, have been asking for information about where to recycle empty glass scent bottles (which, she says, is something Abel is looking at in their key markets).
"This age group is very aware of climate change and the environment and wants to fit in with brands and products that are trying to make a difference," she said. "They don't just want a pretty product — they really want to know the details and information."
With the plethora of terms for consumers to sift through, sustainability experts say it's not uncommon for shoppers to feel overwhelmed by green wash, Or promises made by some companies in their marketing about their environmental credentials, which were later found to be deceptive - something the European Union's executive branch ordered. He said This year will be dealt with through a package of new initiatives.
Brands that want to present proof of their spirit to consumers can apply for a range of certifications such as Bunny hopwhich focuses on cruelty-free practices, or B Corp, which evaluates the social and environmental performance of companies. Both Abel and Sana Jardin said they are currently exploring the process of obtaining a B Corp certification.
Jane Stirland, chair of the British Cosmetic Council's Sustainable Beauty Alliance, a non-profit group that represents companies across the personal care sector, said ultimately a company's responsibility comes down to whether ingredients are ethically sourced and packaging is recyclable. She said companies should have a clear purpose beyond just making a profit and reinvesting in society, and consumers should "really start asking the question: Is it profit or purpose?"
Doing whatever a company needs to do to be more sustainable can be an expensive endeavor, she said, so "price gives you a very good indication" of its efforts.
At Ffern, for example, customers pay £79 in Britain or $129 in the US four times a year for seasonal versions of 32-milliliter bottles of Eau de Parfum. (The perfumes were developed by the brand's "noses," François Robert and Elodie Durandy, preferring citrusy fragrances and woody notes, although Ffern's latest fall releases featured notes of black tea, basil, and lavender.)
“This is an opportunity to connect people with nature in a really deep way,” El-Sayed said. Mears, who runs the company with his sister, Emily Cameron, along with 18 employees in Britain.
When Ffern was deciding how to package her scents, she partnered with her Magic Mushroom Company To customize biodegradable packaging trays for use with perfume bottles. On a recent Monday, workers at the Magical Mushroom factory in Nottinghamshire, England, packed a mixture of fungi into molds, allowed it to harden and then baked it into a form that was durable enough to temper Ffern glass bottles, but would biodegrade in about eight weeks.
“Like everything is about sustainability — it's more about process than behaviour,” said Paul Gilligan, CEO of Magical Mushroom Company, adding that the company has worked to make its premium mycelium product useful for companies ranging from door manufacturers to luxury products. watch company.
Sana Jardin, which has a 50ml Eau de Parfum retailing for around £95, looks at sustainability through the degree of social impact within its supply chain. The company works with a women's cooperative in Morocco that harvests flowers for sana jardin and then sells by-products from the essential oil distillation process, like orange blossom water, for its own profit.
“The fact of the matter is that humans desire these consumer goods and they are not going away,” said the lady. Christiansen, who is now exploring whether the program can be scaled up at the national level in Morocco. “The best way to capitalize on that desire is to create products that help people at the base of the supply chain.”
Sustainability is a balance of art and science, said Michele Feeney, who launched British botanical brand Floral Street in 2017. "It's really a grassroots innovation with people who love the art of what they do.” PETA approved The perfume brand has gained a cult fan base for its floral fragrance, created with perfumer Jérôme Epinette, and the distinctively designed bottles, which can be refilled in its London store.
Ms. Feeney, who cited the food industry as an inspiration for its innovation and transparency about ingredients, said the brand's perfume boxes are made by a paper manufacturer. James Cropper Recycled coffee cups. Now, she's considering whether she can completely eliminate plastic from her products.
"The beauty industry in general talks about sustainability, but they really don't live it," she said, referring, for example, to the set of plastic pumps often used for spray perfumes. She said that larger brands should pool their resources to come up with alternatives.
But even with good intentions, many brands say becoming more sustainable involves challenges and experimentation — and sometimes failure.
Such was the case for the lady. Shoemack at Abel, which began using a biodegradable version of cellophane several years ago because many retailers require beauty products to have some type of outer packaging.
But the quality didn't hold up, lady. Generating too much revenue and prompting the company to stop using bioplastics, Shoemack said. To her surprise yet Share update About the situation, the brand's followers wrote that they are grateful for her honesty.
“If we fail, we're honest about it. Our heart is in the right place,” she said, adding that one of the benefits of being a small business is, after all, the ability to be nimble. "We really need to use that to our advantage."
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