Sustainability: at the heart of the Cosmydor brand

One of Cosmydor’s two brand pillars is called “The Beauty of Sustainability”. Literally, we believe there is beauty to be found in the very fact of respecting our planet. You can learn more about it here.

But let’s be honest: it is immensely easier to create sustainability from scratch than to make something more sustainable against layers of processes, time, and habits.

It was Cosmydor’s opportunity when relaunching in 2018: on top of rebranding, all products, processes, and packaging were to be re-invented, re-sourced, or re-created. With strict sustainability a pre-requisite, even more so a key element of its DNA and a defining decision-making filter, the objective of becoming the most sustainable beauty brand on the market was easier to reach than for any existing business. For instance, all the business was designed from scratch to be CO2 negative, making Cosmydor “net-zero native”.

Issue with definition

How is sustainability defined? In reality, it is not. Everyone uses their own criteria, often with their own interests at heart.

For some brands, it consists of press announcements about the ratio of recyclable vs. non-recyclable plastics they produce…
For others, it is about creating new cleaner brands in order to hide a bit the rest of the portfolio of brands’ poor efforts.
Some brands are trying really hard by revamping everything they do. Let’s hope they manage to convey their message in a media space saturated by greenwashing.

Cosmydor instead has divided its responsibility efforts into three categories: (i) organisation level, (ii) packaging, (iii) formulas (ingredients and manufacturing processes).

What we do

• Organisation level: no unnecessary travel; travel and shipment CO2 offsetting when possible. Re-use of shipments’ cardboard and (compostable) filling particles.

• Packaging: no plastic container, only glass and aluminium, which are 100% recyclable, very much recycled, and non-toxic for the environment. Less than 0.5% of packaging is plastic (some caps for tubes, and pumps). Sourcing of all packaging in countries close to France, to limit transportation. 99.9% of Cosmydor’s packaging is now sourced from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK. The only exception really is the liquid soap pump which comes from China (to our frustration, but given the bottle’s neck size there was no European alternative).

• Formulas: 0% petrochemical ingredients, 100% biodegradable; focus on local sourcing when possible; our lab in Vierzon (France) is planting hundreds of trees, which more than offsets the minuscule CO2 emission from artisanal manufacturing processes, making our production CO2 negative. In addition, all vegetable oil extraction is mechanical (cold pressure), which on top of much higher quality and efficiency for the skin avoids the use of toxic chemicals. Finally, our manufacturing processes require almost no energy and generate absolutely no waste of water.

In a nutshell, Cosmydor relaunched in 2018 with net zero already secured, in line with its new DNA. But we believe this is far from being enough.

What we still need to do short term

• As an organisation: set up new warehouses and Asia and North America to optimise emissions from our shipments.

• Packaging: find alternatives to plastic caps - we are working on alternatives in wood. Pumps are a difficult topic, there is no sign of a more sustainable alternative, but we keep looking. In addition, we are putting together a re-use system for all glass packaging, which will be collected and cleaned next to our lab by a local association working with handicapped people.

• Formulas: adapt the choice of plants to limit the transportation of raw materials between plantations and our lab in France.

What we should do longer term

• As an organisation: acquisition of lands, plantation of thousands of trees and mangroves.

• Packaging: find potential alternatives to aluminium and glass with the same protection quality for our products, and equal aesthetic level.

• Formulas: optimisation of plants selected as ingredients for maximum CO2 absorption. Establishment of small labs overseas to manufacture some products locally, hence “exporting” human know-how rather than tons of final products.

What else?

Having crafted its own highly demanding brand signature, “Cosmétique Vertueuse” (Virtuous Cosmetics), Cosmydor will never have the luxury of staying still regarding sustainability.

It is difficult to answer a question about the most sustainable brand, essentially because of a lack of a commonly-recognised definition. For sure all investments and decisions to date have placed the brand as one of the most sustainable skincare brands in the market, but more will have to be done in the future. Indeed Cosmydor sees sustainability as a journey rather than a fixed objective.

We have identified areas of improvement already, but maybe you could have an idea too? In that case, please feel free to contact us, we love discussing this topic and even more, pushing boundaries through action.