Sephora is setting a new industry standard for safer and greener products through its new chemical policy. Alongside the Environmental Defense Fund, all of the company's products will have 'clean labels.'
The chemical policy report highlights three main factors which are: giving consumers more access to ingredient information, adopting safer alternatives for ingredients, and reducing the products with harmful chemicals. This comes at a time when consumers are opting for 'green cosmetics,' cruelty-free, and sustainable products.
Sephora's initial steps in their chemical policy include transparency over their ingredients, sharing up to 95% of ingredient information. Their goal is to reach 100% transparency by the end of this year on their website except for some fragrance details.
Next, they aim to reduce products containing high-priority chemicals, or substances that may cause a health or environmental hazard, which they've been working on since 2017. Up to date, 94% of Sephora's products no long contain high-priority chemicals.
In June, the company made another commitment, 'to make the 15% Pledge because we believe it is the right thing to do,' according to executive vice president Artemis Patrick. They plan to expand their nine black-owned brands and help those products achieve the Clean at Sephora label.
Partnerships
Third would be finding alternative ingredients that are less toxic than the original high-priority chemicals. With the help of ChemForward, four major groups of high-priority chemicals (preservatives, benzophenones, ethanolamines, and cyclic silicones) have been replaced with safer alternatives. They will also be using the MaterialWise screening tool and Pharos Project tool for consumers to screen their product ingredients.
Sephora is also working with Novi Connect, a Silicon Valley company that helps brands with transparency and green alternatives. Novi uses artificial intelligence to assess 'proprietary chemical information from chemical manufacturers/ suppliers and create chemical profiles at the trade material level.'
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Ulta Beauty Follows
Ulta quickly responded to Sephora's actions by announcing their 'Conscious Beauty at Ulta Beauty' program by committing to sustainability and transparency. The program will have five key pillars: clean ingredients, cruelty-free, vegan, sustainable packaging, and a positive impact.
By 2025, they aim to have 50% of their packaging be recyclable or refillable. Ulta Beauty's president, Dave Kimbell, shared that they 'have the unique opportunity to inspire positive change in our industry.' Ulta Beauty is 'thrilled to offer such transparency and set significant standards as a company.'
'We have always taken pride in offering guests a diverse assortment of products to meet their individual beauty needs, including many brands that align with the Conscious Beauty pillars," continued Kimbell. 'Today's announcement (July 2020) marks a definitive milestone on our ongoing journey in this space and we look forward to further meeting guests' needs this fall in-store and online.' Their new program aims 'to educate, guide, and simplify product choice and elevate those brands doing good for our world.'
Steps toward sustainability include being an exclusive retailer for Loop, a reusable packaging pioneer. They will also support the Sustainable Packaging Coalition's goals of improving packaging systems.
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