Indie beauty has burst into the spotlight in recent years, bringing important brand values forward – areas big beauty can certainly draw inspiration from, says an indie beauty expert.
You don’t have to look far to see the swathe of successful indie brands in the market connecting with consumers on sustainability, personalisation and excitement. And Jillian Wright, co-founder and CEO of Indie Beauty Expo, said there was plenty to be learnt from these trailblazing independent brands, particularly around sustainability.
“When you’re in corporate beauty versus indie beauty, you’re somewhat removed from reality because you are neck deep in protocol and data and systemising beauty, where indies don’t necessarily have that,” Wright told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.
Rather, indie brands were developing products to plug unmet needs, often based on personal experiences, she said, and most were self-funding these projects.
“It’s just a completely different mentality,” Wright said.
Indie beauty brands the ‘topic of conversation’
Indie beauty had certainly earned its spotlight in recent years, she said, drawing focus to important values.
“Since the indies have become topic of conversation in the last five years, so has integrity, authenticity and transparency,” Wright said.
Importantly, this aligned with the needs of a growing number of consumers who were confident, inquisitive and not afraid to ask questions and hold brands accountable, she said. And because indie brands were smaller and nimbler, they were able to talk to this audience in a way that was much more collaborative; answering questions about ingredient origin, carbon footprint and overall mission, she said.
“I’m not saying all indie brands are mission-driven, that’s definitely not the case, but in terms of the bigger players and suppliers and ingredients manufacturers – they’re all watching indie on this”.
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