Organic Monitor: New York Summit in March

With sustainability coming to the forefront, a new summit aims to make the beauty industry more sustainable by focusing on practical initiatives. Taking place in New York City from March 24 to 26, 2010, the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit aims to bring together key organizations in the beauty industry to debate and discuss sustainability in a high-level forum. The new summit focuses on key industry issues such as ethical ingredient sourcing, green marketing, ecological packaging, sustainable partnerships, eco-labels, green formulations and financing issues. The three-day summit comprises a two-day conference program preceded by two interactive workshops. Horst Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda and Intelligent Nutrients, will once again open this summit with his opening keynote ‘Inconvenient Truths for the Beauty Industry’. Mike Indursky, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer of Burt’s Bees, will show how sustainability can be integrated into a company’s business ethos. Other papers in the Sustainability Pathways session will look at practical approaches to reduce the environmental impact of cosmetic products.
 

The second session of the summit focuses on eco-labels and regulatory developments, with an update on leading initiatives in North America and Europe. Leading certification European agencies will provide details of the Cosmos standard and NaTrue initiative. A major US retailer will provide viewpoints on eco-labels and standards. The session ends with a panel discussion that discusses if eco-labels are the answer to greater consumer assurance. Day two of the conference focuses on ethical marketing. Topics will cover green marketing challenges, sustainable brand development, potential of social media, ethical retailing innovations and consumer behavior toward natural personal care products. CEOs of leading natural cosmetic firms such as Jurlique, Weleda and Kiss My Face comprise the panel that will discuss how sustainability can give a competitive advantage. The final session of the conference program covers two of the critical issues companies face with natural cosmetics: investments and green formulations. A leading investment firm will discuss the financing and investment options available to beauty companies, highlighting the sources, advantages and disadvantages of each. The second break-off session looks at how some of the major technical hurdles to formulating natural cosmetics can be overcome. The conference is preceded by two interactive workshops conducted by Organic Monitor. More informatition is avialable here