"Eighty percent of the products that you see in department stores we've created for brands."There's a common myth in the beauty industry — and it's perhaps even more pervasive among those on the outside of it, looking in — that every brand has its own army of formulators and scientists toiling away in some high-tech lab creating its products.
In the past, private-label labs have been more than happy to remain in the industry's shadows, working discretely on formulas for a surprisingly large array of brands. Irena James, YG's vice president of product development , claims that "80 percent of the products that you see in department stores we've created for brands." And after four decades in the industry spent formulating products for other companies, YG just introduced its very own line.
That seems to be a common theme with this burgeoning movement — suppliers and formulators creating something they were loathe to give to brands that would use it in ways that would essentially make it less effective, in their eyes wasting the potential of the innovation they had birthed. Which is how a biotech company with zero experience in brand creation found themselves putting their prima donna protein into a range of custom-built products. However, unlike private-label labs, scientific research suppliers are not equipped with the know-how or resources needed to launch a successful line.
But, says Holecek, her family's history goes back quite a bit longer than that — generations ago, her ancestors were the physicians’ for India's royal family. Their key contribution was using the essential oils they created to concoct Ayurvedic remedies and treatments. "For hundreds of years, we formulated many, many products," says Holecek. "The formulas of which have passed down from generation to generation in secrecy.
We know, same as watches and gear.