Premium Beauty News - Can you first share with us your vision of the latest developments in the cosmetics market?
Denis Maurin - While the markets in Europe and the USA were dramatically affected by the pandemic, we have made the demonstration of our ability to adapt ourselves throughout our various divisions! We really pushed diversification opportunities as far as we could, in particular in skincare. We’re also expanding into new categories, including hair and body care, where we’re growing a lot. Some brands are recording huge successes in these new segments, where consumers in are more loyal than in makeup.
As far as we are concerned, we have started to recover from the challenges of COVID period and see the rise of a new era.
We have built successful partnerships with fast-growth indie brands in the USA and in Europe.
In Asia, until recently, the market has been less impacted by COVID. Local competition is increasing on domestic markets forcing the brands to adapt and to differentiate themselves. Some brands are growing more prestige, more luxury, and invest a lot in packaging.
The approach in China is a little different, where brands are focusing on makeup and haven’t quite made the jump to sustainability yet.
Premium Beauty News - What about the supply chain difficulties, shortages and raw material price hikes?
Denis Maurin - We have numerous supply chains - in Korea, China, Europe and the USA. Consequently, we were not as impacted by sourcing difficulties. However, longer shipping time and cost increase overall is something we must deal with and is pushing us to find creative solutions for our customers.
The way we see the future is that we need local, easily and quickly available standard packaging options. We want to be flexible and agile to be able to develop products consistently in Asia, in the US or in Europe depending on our customers’ needs.
The key to success is to be able to rely on one diversified network with regional supply chains.
Premium Beauty News - What are the main innovations HCT is presenting at Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna?
Denis Maurin - We’ll have the largest booth ever this year. Following the acquisition from kdc/one, we are combining our booths to present our full range of capabilities. Which are really huge!
We are building the largest sustainable stock catalogue in the industry. One of our goals at Bologna will be to educate people about sustainability and what does it means for us. The four pillars of our vision are: Designed for Recycling, PCR materials, Bio-sourced materials and Re-fillable solutions.
Our DFR (Designed for Recycling) range includes a large portfolio of mono-material innovations, including a 100% PET recyclable packaging collection (pencils, lipsticks, lip glosses, compacts, palettes), 100% PP items (lipsticks, lip balms, serum sticks, pumps, jars), and aluminium, tin and other full metal packaging. We’ll also showcase mascaras and lipglosses with glass bottles and aluminium caps, that are free from plastic components, except for the stem that can be easily separated prior to recycling.
As PCR Materials are becoming the norm, we’ll showcase a wide array of stock options for all market segments.
We also offer various options with bio-sourced materials. As it is very hard to develop fully compostable materials that can be used as primary packaging, we have developed innovative composites that reduce the content of plastics. Since this new material is not recyclable or compostable, we recommend utilizing a refillable application. Creating a keepsake container with a refillable aspect will significantly lower the use of single-use plastic as well. In many cases, paper pulp is also a solution that is offering more innovation for primary and secondary packaging.
Eventually, we see re-fillable packaging solutions as offering a lot of advantages with regard to sustainability. We have a comprehensive collection of refill innovations and reusable applicators!
