13. May 2022
Shiseido new beauty brand Ulé uses Sulapac’s material
Shiseido (Tokyo, Japan) has unveiled a new beauty brand Ulé, focused on botanical, conscious beauty. The brand grows its plant ingredients at the Ulé Eco-Farm, near Paris, to ensure the purity of the ingredients and supply chains that are as short as possible.
Lindsay Azpitarte, the creator of the brand, has worked at Shiseido for ten years and began the development of Ulé in 2019, with Shiseido Group’s support. She followed an intrapreneurial path with her project and brought in expertise from inside Shiseido to create a new, innovative brand that resonated with consumers’ needs today.
Indoor and high-tech, the vertical farm is an agricultural and technological breakthrough in terms of eco-responsibility, efficiency, and safety. The technology also allows for full traceability of the plants.
“We are the first skincare brand to create the future of botanical beauty powered by vertical farming. Here in France, we cultivate and extract ultra-potent whole plants from around the world at our proprietary Ulé Eco-Farm. This allows us to maintain the shortest supply chain possible and lessen our environmental impact while ensuring the freshness of our plants”, says Lindsay Azpitarte, New Brand Development Vice President from Ulé.
Beauty with a good conscience is at the heart of Ulé. 100 % of their formulas and packaging are made in France. Ulé also minimizes its environmental impact with ultra-light bottles and ecological, biobased lids made with materials that biodegrade without leaving permanent microplastics behind. They are made of wood chips from industrial side streams and plant-based binders, complementing Ulé’s commitment to conscious beauty and harmony with nature. The texture of this composite reveals the fibres embedded within it. This unique material has been developed by the Finnish (Helsinki) innovation start-up Sulapac. All eight of Ulé’s products, consisting of serums, mists and creams, have lids made with Sulapac materials. The launch of Ulé marks the largest product range to date using Sulapac’s solutions.
“Ulé and Sulapac share a deep respect for nature and a commitment to protect it while also having the ambitious goal of creating the highest quality of product for the users. Our collaboration on this project began in early 2021, and it moved very fast from initial discussions to packaging development and testing, and final approval for the spring launch. The result is a beautiful, two-colour lid with Sulapac Arctic white and a custom-made green colour. Also, Ulé has utilized the Sulapac Barrier innovation. It is the world’s first material for water-based products that biodegrades without leaving permanent microplastics behind”, explains Suvi Haimi, CEO and Co-founder of Sulapac.
In the cosmetics industry, the development of new products and their packaging is often an endeavour that can take several years. Therefore, this collaboration is a great example for companies considering new material alternatives. There are novel drop-in solution materials, like Sulapac, that enable efficient, eco-friendly packaging development. New packaging can be achieved even within a year.