The second edition of the Natural Beauty Summit America, which took place at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City on May 7 and 8, gathered some 130 attendees, including representatives from L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Burt’s Bees, Firmenich, Unilever, Clarins, Sephora, Johnson & Johnson but also Korres and Dr Bronner, the organisers said in a release.

Speakers from the natural beauty industry in America, such as Curt Valva President of Aubrey Organics, David Bronner President of Dr Bronner Magic Soaps, Jasper Van Brakel CEO of Weleda North America, or Mike Indursky Chief of Marketing of Burt’s Bees, shared their views about the evolution of the natural beauty market and sustainability best practices in the cosmetics industry.

Representatives from certification bodies also made their case for a more consistent approach for standards in cosmetics and labelling. Among those were Harald Dittmar Managing Director of Cosmos/BDIH, Gay Timmons Chair of Oasis Board for OASIS and Joe Smilie Senior Vice President of QAI/NSF.

Eventually, some 50 technical professionals participated in an interactive half-day workshop on ‘Formulation &Technical Issues’ facing manufacturers of organic cosmetics, on Saturday morning. The workshop was led by Judi Beerling, Technical Research Manager at Organic Monitor.