A Parisian Beauty Brand Touts A Low-Waste Approach And Opts For B Corp

Forbes

5 hours ago

Paris-based Typology, a personal care and cosmetics company, has been a B Corp from day one. It's a big part of the DNA, says Ning Li, founder and seasoned entrepreneur.
'Sustainability has been in our bylaws and mission since the start. We're realistic about it, though. We know we cannot be perfect or claim to save the planet, as a consumer company. But we aim to do things better than before and help shift the industry in a positive direction.'
Part of that has meant rethinking how beauty products are packaged and sold. Earlier this year, Typology released a refillable lipstick. While it's not the only company to have this design -- Kjaer Weis, La Bouche Rouge Paris, Zao, and Chanel, to name a few -- have also introduced similar refillable option, it's part of Typology's broader push to think about it how it can reduce the waste produced by personal care products.
'All of our packaging now is made from recycled materials,' Li says. 'So we no longer use any virgin glass, aluminum, or plastic in our production process. That's why when we launched our lip product, it was only natural that we would do a refillable option to be consistent with our founding ethos and the origin of the company.'
This summer, they've brought out a new haircare range, also in its eco-friendly packaging, with no sulfates, silicones, and fragrances (and made 90% of natural ingredients).
This is not Li's first foray into business, though -- and his intention with Typology is focused on impact. He'd established two businesses before, MyFab and Made.com. For the first business, he sold his stake, and that was later acquired by PPR (or Kering) group. The second business, Made.com, went to IPO in London. However, he did raise a $10 million seed round for the skincare brand as well.
'When I started Typology, the goal was not to just make another business for the sake of an exit or anything, but make something that actually we all feel good and feel proud about working for,' he says.
But now, a few years in, he's realized why other companies haven't been as keen in the past to follow a similar path. 'It can be a pain, more expensive, and challenging at times. Yes, definitely.'
Case in point, he says: recycled plastic and glass cost more than virgin plastic and glass. So, for a business, that means an added cost. And that's why, when they launched, Li admits that they couldn't afford it, even though they wanted to use it from the get-go. After about three years in business, they could transition over to recycled materials.
But being a B Corp is not limited to just supply chains. Li says that the first 10 to 15 employees in the company all had equity in the business. Plus, they've kept the salary difference between the senior hires and the junior hires limited. 'There is no big spread.'
Plus, he's not in a hurry to be everywhere. ' I want us to grow sustainability so we're not rushing into too many markets at once. We want to keep our standards high and maintain these values as we expand.'
They started in France, then expanded to the UK, Germany, and now are focusing on the US market, which he notes, 'is a big opportunity and a big challenge.'
But the cosmetics industry, he notes, is so unregulated that they've had to use their own judgment many times. 'The bar is not very high when it comes to testing.' As a result, he looked at the strictest standards globally, which he found in Japan, and has used those as an internal benchmark. 'Of course, if there is any doubt, we don't use the ingredient. In fact, we have a blacklist of ingredients we won't use, even if they are allowed by regulation.'
All of this feeds into the kind of business Li wants to build this time around. He's part of a small community in France -- only about 150 businesses are B Corp certified in the country, but a growing number globally are B Corps.
'It was a big decision at the time when we started to be a B Corp, because it does come with constraints. But that's the path we've chosen and we're sticking to our values even when it would be easier not to,' Li iterates.