Carol Hirschfeld, Emma Lewisham, Maggie Hewitt, Grace Wright and Shama Sukul Lee at Bold Conversations by Veuve Clicquot, 2021. Photo / Supplied
Three years after launching, New Zealand skincare brand Emma Lewisham
will soon be selling through Gwyneth Paltrow’s powerhouse online lifestyle brand, Goop.
The connection with Goop, founded by actor turned wellness guru Paltrow, is a coup for the Kiwi company as it expands into upmarket retailers around the world.
Auckland-based Emma Lewisham, who co-founded the eponymous skincare company, said products will also sell in Britain this year through beauty retailer Space NK, and luxury department stores Selfridges and Harrods.
There’s also been some red carpet publicity, with actress Alexandra Daddario from The White Lotus wearing the brand at the Emmy Awards in September.
Lewisham said the international exposure had fuelled the growth of the company.
“I do believe it’s got huge potential and will be internationally a success story for New Zealand.
“We’re lucky to have incredible people like [former Air NZ chief] Rob Fyfe and [Trilogy co-founder] Sarah Wickens on our board, supporting us and helping us get there and believing that we can achieve things on a global scale.”
Fyfe and his wife Sara Tetro got involved in Emma Lewisham last year, taking a stake of about 5 per cent in the company.
Lewisham, husband Andrew and co-founder Kimberly Morrison launched the company with $100,000.
Covid-19 hasn’t stopped the business from growing, with profits forecasted to be in “double-digit millions, in the millions within three years.”
Lewisham said their direct-to-consumer marketing had helped their business model.
“We really focused online and because of that, online [sales] represents a significant amount of our business and always will.”
The brand’s most popular product, Skin Reset - a hyperpigmentation serum - costs $148 for 30ml and $10 less for a refill.
“We doubled our business from this time last year. And we’re on track to double our business again next year, with our extensive retail network across the US and the UK.”
Lewisham said the business aimed to solve two fundamental problems in the beauty industry: Too many products that were not right for different skin types and problems with unsustainable packaging.
She said 120 billion containers of beauty packaging filled global landfills every year, mostly single-use.
“We make something then we throw it away. And in the case of packaging, glass and plastic designed to last for 400 years has a lifespan of four months.
“If we are to solve the waste and carbon problem in beauty, we must solve the packaging and the linear model that it operates within.”
She said the circular model of packaging involving recyclable materials and refills was the way to go.
Close to 20 retail partners across Aotearoa provide a refill service, called the “Beauty Circle”, including Mecca, Ballantynes and East Day Spa.
“Once people are finished with these [refill] pods, they can drop them off to Mecca. We take them back, we clean it, sterilise it, and we resell it.”
Although the model relies on customers complying with the process, Lewisham said recycled packaging was about “taking ownership for what we bring into the world”.
The company also collaborated with Toitū Envirocare, an organisation that helps businesses practise more sustainably, becoming the first beauty brand to get a carbon score certification from the scheme.
The certification proves an organisation “is taking science-led, meaningful climate action for a decarbonised future”, Toitū says and involves screening a company’s “full value chain emissions” from suppliers to customers.
“We worked with Toitū NZ to understand each one of our products and their carbon scores... And that threw a whole lot of insight into us to understand where carbon is generated.”
Lewisham said dealing with waste should not be a government or a consumer issue.
“I think that businesses need to take ownership and not pass that responsibility to someone else.”
In the company’s “promise to be beauty’s benchmark”, ensuring ethical practice at “every level of the supply chain” was paramount.
“We make our products in NZ, which means that we know that we’re using renewable energy there. We can ensure a living wage and great working conditions,” Lewisham said.
“I think we’ve got some of the most talented scientists and suppliers in NZ… I know we’ve got shared values and a passion for treating people well.”
Some parts of the brand’s packaging are produced in Asia, while some ingredients are sourced from different locations including Europe and the US.
Lewisham said overseas suppliers were subject to audits to ensure ethical practice.
“They have ISO standards that they apply so that we know that their workers are paid fairly. I think it’s about truly caring, and asking the questions and the suppliers that we work with.”
For ingredients sourced overseas, Lewisham said: “We review them across attributes such as organic regeneration [and] regenerative farming”.
Regenerative agriculture is a farming practice designed to conserve and protect biodiversity, improve water use, and promote sustainability.
Lewisham said research and development (R&D) was a major part of the business with their scientists “pioneering” sustainability in the skincare industry.
She said the business invested more than other beauty brands in R&D, saying the department was “five times the size” of other companies. Their “in-house scientists and physiologists” give the company the “latest cutting-edge technology and natural ingredients”, Lewisham said.
Emma Lewisham is also the first beauty brand to receive an endorsement from chimpanzee researcher and conservationist Jane Goodall. Lewisham said she contacted the scientist as she had been a fan since childhood.
“I’ve just always been really impressed with her determination and spirit, and really admired that.”
Goodall responded with a hand-written letter, and a public announcement of approval.
“The greatest danger to our future is apathy. I sincerely hope that the beauty industry can follow Emma Lewisham’s lead. I believe they are paving the way for the future,” Goodall wrote.
Lewisham also joined Goodall as a guest on the Jane Goodall Hopecast.
“I think that she’s not someone that the beauty industry would think of. She’s not a celebrity endorser or an influencer. She’s someone that is very thoughtful. I think it made people stand up and think… there must be real substance to this brand and what they’re doing.”
Lewisham said her brand’s “thoughtfulness” was what set them apart overall, and hoped to set an example for other businesses.
“You can both be a brand that is thoughtful, has great values, and commercially succeeds.”