Plastic Free July is a global movement that encourages people around the world to reduce plastic consumption for a month to promote cleaner streets, to support the health of our oceans, and our communities. The campaign educates us around the importance of avoiding single use plastic, raising awareness of our everyday plastic usage, and incentivising us to make small lifestyle changes, bringing communities together to help reduce the impact of plastic on our planet.
Founded in 2011, supermarkets around the country are now heavily involved in supporting this campaign and in reducing plastic in their stores, starting with plastic bags and packaging. Morrisons will become the first UK supermarket to completely remove plastic carrier bags, including bags for life, from its shops. Waitrose revealed its refillable scheme by becoming the first national supermarket to integrate unpacked items into its regular aisle specific stores around the UK. The trial aims to understand whether customers could be persuaded to incorporate shopping for unpacked items in their routine “business as usual” shopping trips.
According to Zero Waste, 120 billion units of packaging are produced by the beauty industry every year. A shocking fact to reflect on for one moment – did you know that every piece of plastic still exists? Plastic sits in landfills for more than 1 000 years, and when we think of our favourite beauty products, that amounts to a lot of plastic – from the film packaging to the jar, tube, bottle, cosmetic palette, or lipstick holder – many of which we only use for the entirety of the product, and then discard into our bathroom bins.
Whilst steps have certainly been taken over the past few years to reduce our consumption of plastic – from microbeads to wet wipes, not enough is being done. 13 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into our oceans each year. The COVID-19 pandemic has also set us back. We all understandably, took to using single-use masks, and medical apparatus including vaccines and latex gloves haven’t helped – some are even coining the crisis the ‘Plastic Pandemic’.
The circulation of such rabid plastic consumption means that consumer demand to take sustainability seriously is high. It’s also why plastic-free beauty brands are standing in harmony. Plastic Free Beauty Day which takes place annually on June 17th was launched by Yolanda Cooper of We are Paradoxx in 2019, to highlight the industry’s dependency on single use plastic and to raise awareness around how aluminium packaging which can be infinitely recycled without losing its form and grade (unlike plastic).
Luxury fragrance brand Floral Street has traded in traditional plastic packaging for cartons created from sustainably sourced pulp, and subscription deodorant service Wild offers completely natural deodorants housed in anodised aluminium cases. Highstreets Lush opened “Naked” stores which are void of any plastic packaging. The brand initially opened these stores in Milan and Berlin, followed by the UK, based on their success. An earlier pioneer in sustainability, along with The Body Shop, this ethical beauty brand is continuing its journey to becoming a zero-waste company with the launch of a new plastic packaging returns scheme to reward its customers for their eco-friendly attempts. The scheme also allows customers to return their plastic empties from any full-sized Lush product to be reused for future products. Whilst most of the brands plastic packaging is said to be made from recycled and recyclable plastic, the brand aims to take more ownership and give new life to its range of bottles, pots, and tubs with its latest initiative.
Refillable beauty is now permeating the mainstream, with brands from The Body Shop to Diptyque launching keep-forever products. Does this mean beauty refills finally become the new normal? The Body Shop allows shoppers to purchase aluminium bottles that can be filled and refilled with shower gels and creams. A similar concept has been used with Faith In Nature – they have installed refill stations in independent stores across the country where everything can be topped up from shampoo to handwash. Charlotte Tilbury has also created a refillable lipstick option. We can switch up our look with their refillable shades available online and instore. Mac offers in-store recycling methods with reward schemes.
Plastic surrounds our everyday lives, and it will take time to find solutions to relying upon plastic. However, we can help to reduce the amount of plastic that lands up in our oceans. When shopping for your favourite beauty brands stop and consider – can you refill the product, can you recycle the product or can you eliminate your dependency on the product, by finding an alternative?
We are committed to building sustainable brands for the future. If you are looking for support in developing a brand in the beauty industry or you have an existing brand and you are looking to reposition this, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
We love partnering up with award-winning beauty and wellness brands, well-established companies, retailers, investors, trade bodies to bring your ideas to life. With over 60 years combined experience in building brands we know what it takes.
As a beauty brand consultancy, we support you in taking your business to the next level through strategy, brand management, product development. Introducing our 3 C’s – we draw upon years of Clarity, Creativity, Commerciality to deliver your results. We design brand identities and visual elements, create products, develop go-to-market strategies to help you to engage with your ideal customers. We work with you to develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by understanding your vision (and the marketplace) and then delving into the details to create order and structure, neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results.
We work with clients based in different corners of the world – from the UK, to Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, the Middle East and across Europe. Over the years we have worked with a diverse portfolio of businesses – here’s a snapshot. If you would like to discuss your ideas with us, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘With the assistance of TIQ, we engaged Bespoke Advantage to help us enter the highly competitive but lucrative UK market. During the last few months Janet and her team have worked diligently to introduce and expose Perfect Potion to buyers and retailers we would never have been able to reach being based in Australia.’
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’