Sustainable Beauty: How brands are embracing eco-friendly practices

Authored by Pravin Bera, Co-founder, Dr Rashel Beauty Elixirs.

By using a sustainable approach towards well-being, brands are rewriting the concept of beauty with a focus on products that are safe, toxin-free, and eco-friendly in nature.

With sustainability taking centre stage, beauty brands across the globe are consciously working to offer eco-friendly products and reduce their carbon footprints. This shift is fueled by the increased demand for green products and by becoming more sustainable in their approach, beauty brands are contributing to their environmental responsibilities as well. Here’s a complete low down on how sustainability is proving instrumental in strengthening the brand equity of beauty firms while helping them to post impressive profits on the back of enhanced customer patronage:

People-Friendly Products: The adoption of the sustainability approach is helping beauty brands to offer holistic benefits to consumers. The green approach encourages the use of only organic ingredients which means consumers get completely safe products sans any toxins or harmful chemicals. Many beauty brands today are duly certified by leading Organic Certifications and Inspection bodies such as EcoCert, USDA, and National Program for Organic Production (NPOP). Further, organic certificates are also issued by the EU while PETA endorses the cruelty-free claim of beauty brands. The sustainable perspective is also inspiring brands to break beauty stereotypes and help customers value their inner beauty. In fact, these brands are helping consumers from setting unrealistic expectations on their outlook and achieve a better combination of physical and mental health by focusing on holistic well-being.
Pocket-Friendly Products: While a majority of products in the beauty industry are still out of the reach of the common man, the industry is witnessing the emergence of new-age brands which are now offering quality products at pocket-friendly prices. To check unfair market practices, agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Competition Commission of India (CCI), and European Commission keep a strict vigil on brands and their operations in the markets. In a market like India where the price sensitivity is quite high, it is essential for the brands to come up with products that can be afforded by a larger section of the society. Instead of focusing on profit maximization, beauty brands should prioritize the optimisation of their returns and strive to create equitable benefits for all stakeholders including suppliers, partners, and customers. This all-encompassing view is increasingly becoming popular in the industry and can help in achieving holistic growth in the long run.
Planet-Friendly Approach: To ensure beauty products meet health and safety standards, governments across the globe have set up various regulatory authorities and statutory organisations. In India too we have agencies such as the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and the Drug Controller General of India among others. The primary responsibility of these agencies is to keep a check on the quality of ingredients used in the various beauty, wellness, and medicinal products. These agencies take samples and test them on attributes such as levels of impurities, chemical composition, and the presence of ingredients such as parabens, sulphates, silicone, etc. Today leading beauty brands in the country meet all regulatory compliances and even get their products accredited by agencies such as WHO and FDA to maintain the highest standards of purity and safety.

Further, sustainable brands are embracing holistic waste management to limit the negative impact of industrial waste on the environment. The firms are making use of the 3R approach (reduce, reuse, and recycle) as it’s helping brands to cut down on the waste at the source itself. While sticking to the practices of waste management is commendable, beauty brands should also sensitize other stakeholders and encourage them to responsibly use and consume products without harming the environment.

In the last couple of years, the beauty and Wellness industry has gone through a seismic shift with the focus of the brands now reoriented towards organic, sustainable, and eco-friendly products. This transition is fueling the new wave of growth and by uniting brands, partners, and consumers for accomplishing the common cause of environmental protection, the industry is ensuring that it contributes to achieving a greener tomorrow for future generations. Summarily, the adoption of sustainable practices in the beauty industry is commendable and can serve as an example for other sectors to follow in the footsteps of beauty brands.