Premium Beauty News - Given the emerging cosmetic packaging reduction expectations, what strategy do you think you will adopt?
Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis - Nothing is easy in this field. There is no unique solution. We have defined an approach, which consists in thinking about the most relevant solutions depending on the uses of our different products. For example, for a bottle with a large capacity, like a cleanser, one solution could be to use a plastic material lighter than glass, derived from biosourcing or a recycled material, and which would be recyclable. Now, for more premium ranges, the products will remain quite heavy, but they will be refillable. We have chosen refillable packs for perfumes as well as makeup.
Premium Beauty News - Will all Dior perfumes eventually be refillable?
Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis - Having a very beautiful bottle and being able to refill it regularly is a real advantage when it comes to loyalty, and it is also a way to minimize the environmental footprint. I’m not saying we will do this in the short term, because it requires a number of changes, but we are trying to encourage these initiatives over time, wherever possible. Ecodesign offers other possibilities. We can also develop several sizes, like 100 ml or 30 ml travel products, and reduce glass weight in a few ranges. This solution helps reduce the source material’s footprint, but also transport costs, the recycling load…
Premium Beauty News - Do you think luxury consumers are willing to embrace these changes?
Premium Beauty News - Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis - As regards lightening, there is a rather negative phase of surprise, because it questions established facts. It is this surprise phase everyone is afraid of. Whenever there is a real innovation, there is a risk of rejection at first. In fact, there will be a transitional period marked by two phenomena. On the one hand, consumers are used to a certain idea of luxury, and on the other, new luxury consumers have other priorities in mind: for them, new standards will prevail. There will be an inevitable cohabitation between “old” and “new” luxury.
Premium Beauty News - Do you systematically have this whole reflection process upstream the development of a product?
Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis - Absolutely. We do this for all our new projects: we have adopted a radical thinking approach to packaging. We aim to implement systematic improvement. Many disruptive projects are planned, and their launch depends on a few strategic choices related to the global sanitary situation.
But we have already done a lot, like implementing a programme for reducing skincare packs by removing corrugated board and cellophane paper from almost 70 references. Over one production year, it represents enough packaging to wrap the Eiffel Tower.
Global regulations also make things change for the best. Korean regulations set out limits in terms of secondary packaging, compared to primary packaging. China is also about to impose such reductions. All this will have an impact on our packs.
Ten years ago, we also developed an environmental measuring tool for our products aimed to improve the average of all our products by 10%. And we have already doubled this objective.
Premium Beauty News - Do you think the zero waste trend can apply to the luxury industry?
Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis - The boom of digital technologies and e-commerce does not make it easy to reach a zero pack objective. It is hardly compatible, because you do need a container at some point. So, we will need to find a transposition of this to the luxury segment. Maybe it is the step that comes after refillability.
