Building a $1 billion brand is a lofty goal. But after spending time with The Honest Company’s Founder Jessica Alba and CEO Nick Vlahos it seems the personal care company, which according to industry sources is estimated to end 2019 with $325 million in sales, is on a growth track. Just today the company announced the expansion of Honest Beauty facial skin care products into 37 Boots U.K. locations beginning in September, with a phased rollout of 16 additional stores in February 2020. This builds on the brand’s presence in 140 Douglas stores in Germany, Italy and Austria, which began this summer, and distribution in Walgreens, Target and Amazon in the U.S. Honest Beauty looks to end 2019 with $40 million in sales, and has a goal to double that number in 2020. For the past two-plus years, Jessica and Nick have been laser focused on several key pillars, including re-positioning the company from a DTC model to a CPG model, after seeing success in brick and mortarSince then, new products, social media and education has taken center stage, in parallel with expansion. And things seem to be clicking. Honest Beauty has invested in an in-house clean beauty lab to develop all formulas, determined to set the standard for clean beauty. They’ve also repackaged products, and are touting education and transparency with consumers on social media channels, with efforts such as Toxicology Tuesdays, which teaches consumers what clean really means. Most recently, Honest Beauty launched a patent-pending, clean Liquid Lipstick that’s already sold out on Amazon in four out of seven shades. With all of this going on, somehow, Nick and Jessica found time to chat with Beauty News.

 

BN: Please talk about Honest Beauty’s recent European expansion, and why now is the right time.

Nick Vlahos: When you look at the brand Jessica envisioned seven years ago, it was for consumers to live happier, healthier lives.  And over the last few years consumers have become educated—domestically and internationally—about what they are putting on their skin, no different from the evolution of where organic food was 15 years ago. With that we introduced the brand to Douglas in Germany, Italy and Austria this summer, and now facial skin care is entering Boots. Our mission is really aligned with Boots, especially as it relates to education. They will be a great partner for us; they are looking to amplify marketing, communication and education around the clean movement and bring this to the forefront. So beginning this month, customers will be able to buy more than 40 SKU’s both in-store and online, from mascara, lip crayons, foundation, gel cleanser to wipes at Boots.

 

BN: Explain your education mission in the U.K.

NV: As a digital-first company with significant capabilities with one-on-one communication to consumers via our social platform, we will have a robust initiative in the U.K., similar to how we launched the brand domestically. We will be localized since we believe it’s very important to understand, feet-on-the-ground, the consumer in that part of the world. You will see aggressive social and influencer campaigns, and also from an education standpoint local programs in partnership with Boots to leverage their footprint. From a U.K. perspective we are seeing that these [clean beauty] categories are outpacing the conventional space. And with the Gen Z, Millennial and modern consumer, they want a high level of performance and don’t want to compromise.

 

BN: Will there be opportunity to offer other Honest products?

NV: We will be introducing baby personal care, which is also designed for adults, over the next 12 to 18 months.

 

BN: Did you need to reformulate to meet EU standards?

NV: We’ve been formulating all along to make this a global brand. We have aspirations to build our business over the next few years and make it a billion-dollar brand. Many of our standards meet the EU standards, and many actually exceed them. So no, we haven’t had to reformulate.

 

BN: When do you expect to be a $1 billion brand?

NV: I believe first and foremost in delivering products that perform at a high level and when you look at our innovation cadence over the next three years you will see a consistent stream of innovation. In the next year we will have about 70 new products. We will double down on education, marketing and communications on product benefits.  And, we will drive accessibility. That’s why you see the partnerships with Douglas in Western Europe and Boots in the U.K., and our DTC, Amazon, Target and Walgreens partnerships to deliver a true omnichannel experience. Our beauty business is forecasted to be around $40 million this year, and next year around $80 million. And obviously we have a large business in baby and personal care.

 

BN: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since launching The Honest Company?

Jessica Alba: We’ve basically turned into a completely different company. When we launched it was exclusively a DTC business. Then we moved over to retail/omnichannel. Then we opened up to online retailers. Now it’s about social media, the new platform for marketing, and it being more measurable than T.V. campaigns and traditional advertising in magazines. People used to say you need to rethink how you do business every five years, but now it’s every two to three years. You have to adjust your business model and that also means looking at and reviewing your team and making sure that you have the right people and leadership to execute against goals.

 

BN: What’s been the biggest change at Honest since bringing on Nick as CEO two years ago?

JA: The biggest change is having a new strategy. I brought on three people to help co-found the business with me and they all did different things. I looked at my strengths and weakness, and in the beginning I felt those people filled the gap for me in bringing the business to life. Then the business quickly moved and grew into a different type of company that needed more infrastructure and more foundational expertise around supply chain, operations, logistics and R&D – and investment in those areas – as well as a sophisticated sales team. Traditional e-commerce businesses don’t always know what’s needed or have relationships to build a CPG company or have those roots to build a foundation. That was the biggest thing in bringing in someone who can think strategically, be a great leader and have people in place who are all aligned around one goal. Also, when Nick came I said I really want to have a truly diverse work environment. Our employment base was more than 50 percent women at the time but only 15 percent lived at that executive level. So in the last year and a half we moved to 60 percent-plus of executives being women and having a really diverse work environment from the top down.

 

BN: What do you want the beauty industry to know about The Honest Company?

JA: When I launched Honest Beauty the notion of clean, safe and effective products was not something people were really thinking about. It was not really a goal.  I started authentically from a place of putting human health and safety first, then building the brand and emphasizing skin health, then knowing that growth, profit and all of that will come later. I started initially with a cultural consciousness and addressing a real issue in the world that a lot of people did not know yet how to tackle or just weren’t aware of or didn’t care – it was a combination of these, and I think you can get caught up in your growth mindset, whether you’re big or small. I didn’t always think of that social component and I started with that social component. I had a nonprofit agenda and I know that nonprofits can be unsustainable because you often rely on the same 10 wealthy people to help support the business. So instead I built a for-profit business around this social issue and people are voting with their pocketbooks and choosing a cleaner, better-for-you brand.

 

BN: What’s the biggest opportunity for the beauty division?

JA: The biggest opportunity is in color. I’ve been an actress since I was 12 and it was slim pickings out there finding products that actually performed and I could wear all day on set or on the Red Carpet and get out the door in 10 minutes. And, often the next day I would have a huge breakout, or my eye would be swollen shut. I had terrible acne when I was growing up as full-time actress because of everything I was putting on my skin, and when I eliminated all those things, and moved to cleaner formulas I stopped having those kinds of reactions.

 

BN: Talk about the newest products you think will make a difference.

JA: One of the most breakthrough products we’ve launched is our Liquid Lipstick. We didn’t just launch a new tube product. We formulated from our in-house lab, our in-house regulatory and operations team, who can source raw materials from various places to find the best ingredients. So, we’re a fully-integrated R&D, supply chain and operations team, from idea all the way through to final product and that is pretty unusual. We launched this Liquid Lipstick that is matte, but your mouth doesn’t feel like a desert. We have a patent that we applied for around this technology that combines three different ingredients that allows for hydration, long wear and pigment payoff. We also have a new Liquid Liner. I am someone who has very sensitive eyes. I almost missed a Dior show during Fashion Week because I had a bad reaction to a liner, so it’s so important that we have a great liquid liner that works great for sensitive skin, like mine. We also have a whole skin health initiative for sensitive skin. My kids have issues with eczema so it’s nice to have something that works for this type of skin.

 

BN: In addition to Honest, how else do you spend your time?

JA: Honest is kind of a beast.  But I’m also executive producer and star of a T.V. show, “L.A.’s Finest”. It’s truly a feminist endeavor where you get to see women do things that you normally see men do. It’s in the action genre, a spin-off of the Bad Boys universe. It also stars Gabrielle Union, so it’s two women of color playing kick-ass cops. We’re not trying to be men, we’re very cool with being women, but you still get all the action and the fun and it’s been a global hit.

 

BN: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

JA: That 99% percent of the time my kids are happy. They’re all different ages so it can get a little tricky – I have a 1-and-a-half-year-old, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old. I can say that at the beginning and end of the day they seem well adjusted, nice with good manners and happy – that’s my litmus test.

 

BN: What has been your most valuable business learning?

JA: There’s no such thing as over communicating and making sure everyone is moving in the same direction. It can be so disruptive if everyone isn’t aligned and if people are moving in different directions – it prevents you from moving the needle forward. You constantly have to check in and make sure everyone is on the same page throughout the entire organization.

 

BN: What’s your favorite beauty product outside of Honest Beauty?

JA: I love this device called Conture. Literally when I do half of my face the other half looks an inch-and-a-half lower and more sad looking. I love it because it’s an instant lift and I can do it at any time and it does lymphatic drainage and smooths out the lines around my nose folds and mouth and just pulls everything up. It’s amazing.

 

BN: What’s your mantra?

JA: This quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, “Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.”

 

BN: If you could write the fortune inside a fortune cookie, what would it be?

JA: Think outside the box.