EP80. Let's remind the ingredients' sector of its roots

I've just finished recording an episode with Timo von Bagen of Cavallo on the best way that the indie sector can source cosmetic ingredients. And by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to that interview in your favorite podcast app. So I really enjoyed my discussion with Timo and I think it's worth highlighting a few extra points from us at Formula Botanica because I know that the indie community really struggles with minimum order quantities of their ingredients. So I wanted to jump on quickly, record this super short bonus episode and set out my thoughts on the way that indie formulators struggle to scale their ingredients and also set you a challenge to help you change the green beauty sector with me. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I share my takeaways from the podcast interview that we released last week, which I hope you've listened to. In this short episode I put forward my main thoughts on the topic we've last discussed as well as set you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. So my key takeaways of my conversation with Cavallo is it's great that platforms such as Cavallo existing because the struggle is definitely real for many indie players. Now, this isn't necessarily the case when you first get started, but once you start to scale up your production and scale up the amount of ingredients you need, you'll need to work with suppliers who can handle your increasing demands. So I used to go to trade shows pre Covid and I would quickly get ushered off stands when I told people that I run a school that teaches indie beauty entrepreneurs online formulation. In fact, I vividly remember one woman from a UK distributor treating me like something she'd scraped off her shoe. I mean, she was horrible to me. The moment I told her about all these indie formulators, she was going, no, we don't want to work with people like that. They waste our time. I mean, it was a horrible, horrible experience and not an isolated experience either. And nowadays, thankfully, that experience has improved dramatically and we now see major ingredient suppliers approaching us at Formula Botanica to talk to us and our students because they recognize that the indie beauty sector is the future. Not everyone has got there yet though, and the irony is that some ingredient suppliers have lost sight of the fact that today's industry giants all started as indie formulators and it's the ones who have lost Sight of their roots who are missing out on this huge booming indie sector. So even recently in the Lab, our exclusive membership site where we share mini specialist courses every month on a trending topic in indie beauty, we approached the UK distributor for a very niche ingredient supplier that we were featuring for that month. They actually refused to work with us. This is in 2021. They told us point blank that they are not interested in working with small brands that don't place larger orders. Now, thankfully, this short sightedness doesn't apply to all ingredient suppliers, though I've met some really inspirational ones over the years. In fact, I vividly remember speaking to someone from Croda 6 years ago who animatedly told me all about an indie beauty entrepreneur that they'd supported in their early days who had turned her business into a global success. They were so proud to have played a role in her success and now had her as a customer for life. So it's great to see that there are these platforms out there that connect formulators and suppliers. And I also want to give a huge shout out to the IN cosmetics teams who do an amazing job in trying to make those connections as well. They work really hard to connect people and I feel that all of them deserve recognition for their work. So people often look to us at Formula Botanica to solve these issues and these are really big issues. So I wanted to point out that this is going to be a team effort if we want the ingredient suppliers globally to be able to provide ingredients in smaller minimum order quantities to indie players. We're all in this together. So my challenge to you for this week is that I encourage you to work with some of these matchmaking platforms like Cavallo, like in cosmetics, like the other ones out there, and to try and make connections with those ingredient suppliers big and small. But when you do that, tell them why you want to work with them. Tell them why you're starting your brand. Tell them why and how you're going to change the world with your business, dazzle them with your plans and your ideology, your big why. And then when you're in there, build connections. And when you have those connections built, do more. Talk to them about the global green beauty movement, talk to them about the struggles that indie manufacturers face. Tell them about Formula Botanica. We're out there talking to ingredient suppliers all the time, but we can't cover everyone. I have a team of 40. We can't still can't cover everyone. We need your help with that. So send them our way. Tell them that we are a hub for indie players and that we will do our best to work with them. So that's my challenge for you. We can do this together. And I want you to remember that the global Green Beauty sector is an amazing movement, and I love the way that everyone in our community supports each other. So I hope that you'll help us help you by continuing that support and those conversations. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, and I really hope you have, please make sure you do so in your favorite podcast app now. And I'll be back soon with my next episode.