PRESS
PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY
"Meet the skinfluencers"
“DERMALIST LAUNCHED TO fill a gap in the market
for sustainable, “clean,” and cosmeceutical grade skincare. As a
dermal specialist passionate about skin and societal wellbeing,
I was looking for skincare that delivered powerful results while
being sustainable, ethical, and free from common ingredients
that cause inflammation. Unfortunately, there was nothing
available on the market at that time so I set out to create a range
with these attributes at its core.
That said, we tend to shy away from the “Clean Beauty”
label, we don’t like to imply that other brands are ‘dirty’. We
prefer the term ‘conscious beauty’ - it describes our approach,
which is making every decision about our products and
company in good faith for our customers, communities, and the
world around us.
Sustainability was a big driver when we created our brand and
has remained a constant guiding principle as we’ve grown.
With every product we develop, we consider four key areas:
1. Wellbeing: What are the highest quality and safest
ingredients we can use in the product to deliver exceptional
results while taking care of our customer’s holistic health?
2. Supply chain: Are the products, ingredients, and packaging
sourced and manufactured in an ethical way throughout
our suppliers’ supply chain?
3. Environmental impact: How can we protect the integrity
of our formulas, and deliver aesthetically beautiful, 100%
recyclable packaging to our customers?
4. Manufacturing: How can we work with our manufacturer
to avoid wasted resources through the production process?
We recognise we aren’t perfect - sustainability is a continued
focus throughout the business.
We have achieved 90% recyclable packaging, with the other
10% refillable, this has been particularly difficult to achieve
when using airless pump packaging so it’s something we’re
really proud of.
Offering refills for our serums gives customers the option
to keep their outer product and replace the inner cartridge at a
reduced price to cut back on packaging waste.
We have encouraged our suppliers to adopt ecologically
friendly business practices, by insisting on sustainability at every
touchpoint. We’ve made them take a closer look at their business
models and where their inputs are sourced - it’s alarming how
many suppliers can’t answer this!
Pure vegan formulations have been our greatest challenge. We’ve had to find suitable alternatives to animal-derived
skincare ingredients like collagen, milk-based Lactic Acid and
honey while delivering the same or better results. Additionally,
we’ve experienced issues with ingredients that turn out to
contain trace amounts of palm oil or other items on our
exclusion list. It is immensely frustrating when we discover
through a supply chain audit that they have not been disclosed.
It sets back our manufacturing timeframes as we have to search
for a new supplier with sustainable and transparent practices.
Our formulations also present a challenge in terms of profit margin.
Many of the ingredients we avoid for either ethical or
health-related reasons are used as “commercially viable” fillers
in skincare products. Not using these ingredients raises our
production cost - we believe wearing the ‘clean tax’ is worth it,
but it can be difficult as a young brand.
In terms of growth areas, we are working towards
carbon neutrality with streamlined packaging, logistics and
fulfilment processes.
With Dermalist, we hope we can challenge the perception
that specialist skincare is exempt from sustainability. We have
been delighted to see many cosmeceutical brands becoming more
aware of their environmental impact in the last twelve months.
The sooner we stop boxing brands into “active” or “clean”, the
sooner sustainable, ethical and efficacious cosmeceuticals will become
the preferred category for consumers. We can’t wait for that day!”
First published in Professional Beauty May-June 2021 edition. Click the image below to read the full article.
