A global market share of 40 %
EUR 183 million in turnover last year in the cosmetic segment, 2000 staffs around the world, and over EUR 9 million spent each year in R&D, this is the quite impressive business fact sheet of Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics, a division which accounts for 49% in the total of the group.
“Undoubtedly we are today the world leader in the cosmetic pencil production, with a global market share that can be estimated to 40%.,” insists Jörg Karas, Executive Vice President Research and Product Development.
New investments
Six million Euros! This is the investment implemented end of 2008 in Weißenburg (Germany) for a brand new facility housing about 50 plastic injection moulding machines meant to improve the company’s know-how in these techniques and to develop new products.
Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics GmbH & Co. KG recently finished the official registration and setup of its Representative Office in Shanghai, which is in full operation since July 1st, 2008. The office is conveniently located in the heart of Shanghai’s business district on West Nanjing Road, and with its fully equipped showroom makes for an ideal meeting point for customers in the Asia Pacific region.
Development: a key axis!
"Development", for over forty years the German group has made it its trademark. It all started with a "marker" used by surgeons to delineate on the skin the various points of the operation area. Schwan-STABILO cosmetics, in a few years, is going to built a reputation as an “always copied creator,” explains Jörg Karas.
“Opening up new market segments requires not only sophisticated products, but also user-specific positioning. That is why Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics develops product concepts for individual consumer groups over and above simple contract manufacturing. Our customers are inspired to open up growth areas in the cosmetics market through targeted product benefits and design based on our comprehensive understanding of the consumer. Globality means variety. After all, every culture has its own aesthetics and way of expressing itself. Colour as a means of expressing individuality is in this respect a source of inspiration for us. In Western Europe, Japan or the USA – the objective ageing of society contrasts with a subjective spirit of youthfulness,” he details.
From the pencil to the mascara there was really only one step, that Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics took two years ago. “We manufacture mainly formulas and we buy our bottles and brushes on the global packaging supplier market”, explains Jörg Karas.
The Group’s offering includes the following ranges:
- Colour Cosmetics, a make-up line that provides the right pencil for every application and every market in decorative cosmetics. Four different product categories and close to 40 basic shapes are combined with over 10,000 colours, more than 200 different textures and various caps, applicators and designs.
- Colour Plus stands for decorative cosmetic pencils with added value, a variety of clearly defined additional benefits – for example, a plus in terms of care or in terms of ecology or in terms of function.
- Skin Treatment is a range of integrative active-agent cosmetics for the most diverse applications in facial skin care, and is also available in a special men’s line.
“For each optic the fitting nuance: our standard program offers with its 10,000 colours almost every desired shade,” Jörg Karas explains. “With the eyeliners alone, the colour black is available in more than 50 different gradations”.
Just as colours are decisive for the appearance and effect of every make-up, its wear and application are strongly influenced by the texture. Whether creamy smooth or precisely contouring, whether densely coating or naturally translucent, whether waterproof or heat resistant, whether extra long-lasting or especially non-changing: the substantial attributes of cosmetic pencils depend on their constitution.
Make-up and even more
Above and beyond their primary attributes, the effect of textures can be increased in terms of both appearance and function with various additives. Whether for today’s surface effects like glossy, pearly, metallic or matt or for functional product enhancement through the integration of conditioning ingredients, innovative additives give the classic make-up pencil multifunctional added value.
Cosmetics pencils have developed from simple leads encased in wood into complex products: innovative packaging and application systems make it possible to use fluid ink, water, oil or viscose-based textures.
The more challenging the texture, the higher your packaging requirements are. “Technologically advanced solutions and our experience with a wide variety of application systems ensure that intelligent contents are suitably packaged at Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics,” Jörg Karas says.
Packaging at Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics refers not only to the individual cosmetics pencil casings; it also encompasses their transportation and outer packaging. The in-house Design and packaging development department also specialises in developing and creating individual packaging concepts to meet customers’ wishes, including blister packs for Point of Sale, dispatch pack samples and special labelling.
If desired, our cosmetic pencils can be equipped with a whole range of user-friendly application add-ons. For blending, dotting or shaping, application-oriented mini-sponges and brushes make applying makeup that little bit easier and more convenient. The range of caps is just as individual: different shapes, colours and materials ensure a cap that is tailor-made for the pencil.
And what about the environment?
Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics also aims to lead the race on the environmental side.
At the basis there’s the responsible handling of energy and natural resources:
– cut back on peak power consumption, thanks to a relevant organisation of the manufacturing process,
– intelligent recovery of energy, using for instance the waste heat resulting from the production of compressed air to produce hot water.
– 94 % of the company’s waste are recycled or used, while the rest is disposed of using environmentally-friendly methods.
– waste air containing solvents is almost 90 % purified using a combination of biological processes that is virtually unique worldwide, and exceeding legal requirements.
– waste water is 90 % purified using a three-stage physical process, without any addition of chemicals, and can then be fed into the local waste water treatment plant. Regular independent analyses confirm the water quality.
Eventually, as a manufacturer of wooden pencils, Schwan-STABILO Cosmetics, also minds about the sourcing of this material. The company is a member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and only use certified timber.
