Vogue: Clarins uses plant-based ingredients. Do you consider Clarins to be a clean beauty company?
I like the word conscious more than clean. We’ve just been certified by B Corp, who told us we’re one of the biggest companies that have been certified. Close to 90% of our ingredients are organic. We have very strong integrity. So for that, I would say we are clean, because we know where our ingredients are coming from, we know how they’ve been cultivated, we know how safe they are. And we have our own lab and we have our own farms and we do our own tests. The problem with many, many brands is that they basically buy ingredients off the shelves, and start claiming it’s clean, so it becomes a marketing thing.
So I prefer the way we approach things with integrity, authenticity and transparency, rather than just saying, ‘Oh, I need to have a label that says I’m a clean brand.’ We’re labeled green more than clean because all our products are made with great-quality, high-grade ingredients. I think as long as you are transparent and you offer high-quality products, with high-quality ingredients; you measure the impact that this can have on people’s skin; and you measure that you have the safest and yet the most efficient products, then I think you are a clean brand.
Vogue: Beyond clean beauty, what do customers want today? And how does Clarins — which doesn’t seem like a trend-driven brand — respond to trends?
Clarins has always positioned itself as a beauty companion throughout the ages, because the reality is that we are all getting older and we know what’s going to happen. The good thing and the new thing is that people now are getting older and living much longer. So that’s why this word ‘longevity’ is everywhere: consumers are living longer and they want to age well. So it’s not only about fighting wrinkles, they want to make sure that they will look good at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. And going even further, they’re going to use procedures, some of them might be invasive or they may be a little less invasive — lasers, Botox, surgery. And as a cosmetic brand, instead of trying to say it’s either/or, we are going to develop products that are compatible with procedures.
