When I started to write about sustainability and design, I felt a responsibility of writing at least once in details on cosmetics. We've arrived at the fourth edition of this series because I wanted to find subjects that would be of more help to my readers. A few months ago, I had the chance to attend a conference themed 'Sustainability & Naturals in Cosmetics' held in Berlin. So, today, I'd like to introduce to you the focus and direction of sustainability and naturalism trend in European cosmetics market based on the details I learned at the conference.

 Did you know that 'green beauty' products that claim naturalism takes up more than half the market share in Europe's cosmetics & body care market? There is also a survey that says U.S. green cosmetics market steadily grows at 10% rate every year. Compared to skincare and bath products market that is already full of products with sustainability element, the oral hygiene sector and the color cosmetics sector, which had less consumer demand for natural products, are now showing huge growth in the eco-friendly beauty market.

 With a rising interest in eco-friendly products worldwide, marketing methods have also evolved a step. In Europe, especially, there is a shift towards marketing products in a way that emphasizes what advantages the product has rather than emphasizing what problematic ingredient it does not have or production process it does not go through. The best example that has been introduced the most is The Body Shop's '100% Natural Shea Butter'.

 The number '100' reflects the brand's promise to deliver a common and familiar cosmetic ingredient, shea butter, to customers naturally as is without any processing. Generally, a chemical outcome of an ingredient that is supplemented and developed through a process can become a cosmetic product that better delivers good ingredients to the skin. But it is more important to give trust to consumers that a product that holds pure ingredients, reasonable benefits and elements that are natural, rather than emphasizing the effects of the product, means that the product is at least unharmful.

 The Body Shop's official website cites five benefits of shea butter – 1) moisturizing effect, 2) mild texture, 3) vegan & natural ingredient, 4) can be applied to the body, and 5) support to local community based on fair trade. In other words, not only does The Body Shop package and sell something that is already well-known to customers as it is making it convenient to use, but the brand also does not add anything to the product using special technology or adding its unique fragrance. You might then ask, 'doesn't that mean that anyone can produce and sell 100% shea butter, not just The Body Shop?' This product was mentioned numerous times during the conference as something to be benchmarked because the design of the entire process from securing the ingredient via fair trade, extraction method to packaging that considers recycling all have significance.

 In Korea, The Body Shop's Shea Butter was launched early this year. A pop-up store where visitors could learn about a makeup routine using Shea Butter and experience Ghana, the country of origin of the ingredient, opened near Hongik University in celebration of the launch. There aren't any indicators that show a clear growth trend of this product yet, but it is in line with the marketing trend of emphasizing the benefits of a product much like how 100% wormwood extract-based products were popular in Korean beauty market.

 According to a survey by international market research company, Mintel, there is an increasing worldwide trend of consumers who prefer products that hold sustainability value in food and cosmetics industries. There is a term that is gaining attention in line with such recent trend – 'clean'. It literally means 'clean', but it is used as a term that covers all dictionary definition of being 'not dirty', 'free of harmful substances', 'moral', 'pure', and 'fair'. When a product does not include any ingredient that creates skin trouble and holds unharmful and non-toxic value to our ecosystems, we call it a 'clean product'. This term is used to refer to a whole range of recent products such as vegan products, zero-waste products, zero-plastic products, and products with transparent manufacturing process.

 An article by JoongAng Ilbo in July reported that according to market research company Euromonitor International, Korea's future beauty & personal care market will develop into a 'healthy and good' beauty market that considers diverse consumers following the footsteps of countries of advanced beauty industries like the U.S. and France. Therefore, there is a need to take an interest in the so-called clean products. According to the information shared at the conference, there are three important elements in designing clean products. Let's take a closer look.

 The three important elements in clean product design is 1) designing sustainability of the original ingredient or the source, 2) designing a transparent process of the product design, and 3) looking at packaging materials in a new perspective.

 In order to design sustainability of the original ingredient, you must realize sustainable value from suppliers that are involved in the original ingredient itself and its method of extraction. For example, there are several different ways to extract the ingredients we need for our skin from plants. These methods can be classified as nature-friendly depending on what process and solvents are used. In addition, many processing plants are using biomass energy, an energy form found in nature, as a way to contribute to creating an eco-friendly cosmetics industry. In other words, they are trying to contribute to a sustainable cosmetics industry by fostering scientific research on energy source and the supply and extraction of ingredients.

 This column does not have enough space for me to explain the details of such scientific research, so let me offer you a more familiar case example – a scrub product by British brand called UpCircle. UpCircle's body scrub gained a lot of interest by using discarded coffee grounds provided by coffee shops instead of using microbeads (fine plastic particles) which sparked controversy in our society.

 How much coffee grounds are thrown away a day from coffee shops we see in every corner of our streets? According to an article by Environmental Leader, Starbucks discarded 5,000 tons of coffee grounds in 2012. This is a huge amount of waste from just one brand. Now, imagine coffee waste that gets thrown out at every coffee shop around the world. If we were to secure some of the discarded coffee grounds and use them in scrub products, it would reduce the cost of purchasing the required original ingredient and social cost that goes into processing coffee grounds. This is such a great idea.

 Quantifying sustainability of process I explained in my second column as I introduced Kering became a topic of conversation. Recently, many European cosmetics brands and companies are investing a lot in designing relevant indicators and measuring methods to show the process of manufacturing their products transparently. If there is an environmental indicator that clearly shows the direction a company pursues, it can use such indicator to promote itself, while it can also use a self-developed sustainability matrix to share transparent and credible information online allowing everyone to easily access the information.

 For example, L'Oréal developed a tool named Sustainable Product Optimisation Tool, or SPOT. Using SPOT, the company can calculate sustainability value of each item in the process from manufacturing method, ingredient, packaging to delivery method. The tool is an objective indicator developed to comply with the environmental standards of the European Union.

 With the increasing demand for developing similar sustainability matrix for companies, there is also a rising number of companies that offer such solutions. The conference mentioned many such companies, but one named 'thinkstep' left an impression on me. Software company thinkstep based in Germany has 250 sustainability consultants and provides a "Cradle to Cradle" service. It prescribes a solution with a holistic view for a sustainable packaging solution and develops a system that assess the entire process of the company.

 If you're interested, you might want to try out thinkstep's GaBi Packaging Calculator. The calculator is a web-based service that allows you to do a simple test of packaging related indicators provided by thinkstep.

 As another example, British eco-friendly cosmetics brand Lush adopts a holistic approach based on storytelling in order to resolve environmental, social and economic issues. Unlike L'Oréal Group, it does not use quantified numbers, but rather uses stories that show how they achieve sustainability. Lush is a single-brand company with a close relationship with its customers, so this approach is a good fit. The values that Lush considers to be important in its storytelling are global health, wholeness and resilience.

 Let me share with you two examples that explain Lush's sustainable process.

 First story has to do with Kenya. One of Lush's ingredients, geranium, is produced in Kenya. Before entering a partnership with Lush, Kenya only grew single cash crops. This meant that if demand for such crop dropped, it would have a huge impact on the single-crop farms. Lush became aware of the sustainability issue of the supply and demand of materials and it implemented projects to support farms so that they can also grow crops that allow them to be self-sufficient. The brand also provides education and training to farmers on agriculture to help them have a deeper understanding of the true added value in agriculture. Through these measures, Lush can transparently track and show its customers where its materials and ingredients come from and it increased its margin as well by getting rid of the middlemen.

 The second story is about using rapeseed oil of Fukushima, Japan as an ingredient. This project was led by Lush Japan to raise awareness of Fukushima. Independent research was conducted in both Japan and the UK to confirm that the rape flowers cultivated in Fukushima are safe. The meaning of the project centers around the fact that it offered a new perspective on ingredients from Fukushima area through campaigns and joint activities. They didn't actually need the rapeseed oil, but Lush carried out this project with a focus on social and economic recovery.

 The first case has clear public and private gains that came from taking a holistic view, while the second case only emphasized the public value and significance. Which one do you think consumers thought of as important? At the Sustainability & Naturals in Cosmetics conference, participants criticized the second case. Good storytelling instead of an objective matrix can deliver the value of sustainability to a large audience in a friendly manner while leaving a big impact as long as it is well-planned, but on the other hand, it could be subject to controversy if that's not the case.

 I discussed sustainability of packaging in my previous column on paper packaging. As I have already introduced the design of packaging with a focus on materials in the previous edition, let me share with you another ground-breaking case of sustainable packaging design. It was the most interesting case mentioned at the conference – TerraCycle. TerraCycle has one goal and that is to "eliminate the concept of waste itself." TerraCycle says that there is no reason for waste to exist in natural state and that 'waste' is a problem that is purely man-made. For example, fruits eaten by animals naturally get buried in the ground again to rot and become a tree that can bear fruits or act as a fertilizer to such trees. There is a virtuous circle. However, waste created in human societies leaves behind things that break away from such virtuous circle, which then becomes a problem. TerraCycle studies ways to recycle materials and things that are considered unrecyclable. It is currently studying ways to turn coffee capsule waste and dirty diapers back into a virtuous circle. Doesn't that sound interesting?

 Let me share with you one case of TerraCycle. I am sure you've heard of stories about islands of plastic trash floating in our oceans. They are called ocean plastics. In 2017, TerraCycle developed 'P&G Head and Shoulders' bottle made with recycled beach plastic in partnership with P&G. How did they do it? This was the process; first, they collected ocean plastics through an NGO. TerraCycle organized the collected items and P&G produced the bottle using the ocean plastics that were sorted out. The Head and Shoulders bottle made by this process is a symbolic product that uses 20% recycled plastics and 80% recycled beach plastics.

 L'Occitane, Kiel, Vichy and other brands have deposit schemes for returning empty bottles, pursuing projects that encourage customers to return empty bottles. Doesn't that sound familiar? Yes, that right. Major brands of Amorepacific have similar initiatives.

 The most impressive aspect about the TerraCycle case was the argument that there needs to be a fundamental change in ownership. It was an argument that the ownership of packaging should not lie with the end customer but the manufacturer. If that is the case, manufacturers will be more active in collecting back the primary and secondary packaging materials and put more effort in finding ways to reuse collected packaging.

 More and more consumers worldwide prefer companies that are ethical and sustainable. However, just because this is a global trend, if a company's philosophy or value is not centered around these values but just thoughtlessly tries to follow the trend and pretend, that company will not be able to survive. These values must be in the company's DNA. In that perspective, Amorepacific is fortunate. We have built many values one by one with the goal of creating a beautiful world. I hope to further spread and share the many efforts we make with the world.