Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Jane Fraser's Citigroup is delayed in its China expansion plan, the Women’s Super League agrees to a record deal with Barclays, and a beauty brand tries to cut down on its industry's waste. Have a terrific Tuesday.
- Beauty biz. The $430 billion global beauty industry produces an estimated 120 billion units of trash each year—waste that piles up even as “clean beauty,” which mainly refers to a product’s ingredients, takes off with consumers.
Laney Crowell, an alum of Estée Lauder, founded the brand Saie in 2019 in an effort to meet consumers' demand for a sustainable beauty brand. Backed by Unilever Ventures and G9 Ventures, the brand is popular on social media and sold at Sephora. While some might question whether adding more products to the world ultimately helps the industry’s waste issue—even if those products are more sustainability produced—Crowell argues that setting an example can have “massive ripple effects” that push the industry forward.
Saie this week launched a new climate initiative, promising to reach carbon net-zero by 2039 and remove plastic from coastlines in partnership with the organization Repurpose Global. The initiative doesn’t formally ask other brands to commit to the same but Crowell hopes that others will be inspired to follow suit—especially because the program is advised by the director of clean makeup for Sephora, the most influential player in beauty retail whose shelf-space decisions can make or break emerging brands.
Crowell argues that brands can achieve positive business outcomes while improving their impact on the planet. Saie says it is profitable and on track to reach $100 million in sales this year.
Over the past five years, it’s often chosen not to produce an in-demand product or slowed the process of doing so because of that product’s would-be climate impact. The brand waited years to introduce a foundation because most are made with silicones, which are a “forever chemical.” “It gives you a beautiful, silky texture but it goes down the drain and never goes away,” Crowell says. It took Saie three years to develop a lip gloss for similar reasons. Its products are packaged in paper cartons rather than coated packaging. “Every one of those decisions is more expensive than the non-sustainable choice,” Crowell says.
Saie's values were tested when its “luminizing” product called “glowy super gel” kept going viral on Instagram and TikTok. Saie typically ships its inventory by ocean rather than air to reduce its carbon footprint. “If we're going to airship something, it's a really big deal, and we talk about it as a company together,” Crowell says. But the brand couldn’t risk its hero product being out of stock for eight months.
It compromised and shipped by air to meet demand, but is now pre-producing the packaging components needed for the gel—which have the longest lead time—so it doesn’t have to make that compromise again. “It’s a cash outlay,” Crowell says of the choice. But “the consumer clearly values the fact that we have this mission behind the brand.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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