VEGANE PFLEGE RETAIL PROFILE

The continued rapiddevelopment of Germany’svegan scene places onlineC&T retailer Vegan Pflegein an enviable position, saysAnnemarie Kruse

Fact file: Vegane Pflege

Founded 2010

Address Birkenweg 11, 69251 Gaiberg, Germany

Contact +49 6223 7297883

Website vegane-pflege.de

Wolkenseifen (“Cloud Soaps”), a business whichshe started in 2008. Schaaf’s first products werehandmade bar soaps, then, in 2011, Schaafbranched out into deodorant creams, which at thattime was a comparatively new deodorant format.

A vegan ventureFor many organic and vegan beauty fans, creamdeodorants are a popular format: made withoutaluminium salts or other synthetic ingredients,deodorant creams – especially organic creams –are considered to be gentle and efficientalternatives to conventional deodorant sprays and antiperspirants.

Schaaf’s Wolkenseifen deodorants quicklybecame very popular and they are among thebestselling Wolkenseifen products today. In theWolkenseifen online shop, Schaaf also sells anumber of other handmade body care productsincluding bath additives, body creams and lotionsand the eponymous bar soaps, as well as otherretail skin care and make-up brands.

For Schaaf’s second online retail venture, shelaunched Vegane Pflege. Every single productsold on Vegane Pflege is certified vegan and

Vegan is a key trend inGermany’s mature and highly-segmented organic C&T sector.And although many organicbeauty products in Germany arecertified vegan (usually by TheVegan Society in the UK) not allorganic brands are vegan or vice versa. Plus while themajority of the portfolio of an organic brand might bevegan, it doesn’t followthat every product willnecessarily be vegan-certified.

In many drugstores andperfumeries, vegan consumers still need to carefullycheck the packaging of a product to make sure thatthe INCI listing doesn’t contain animal-derivedingredients like carmine, shellac, milk proteins,beeswax or honey. This is one reason why manyvegan consumers prefer to shop at online and offlinestores that specialise in vegan products.

Online store Vegane Pflege (which translates as“Vegan Care”) focuses solely on vegan cosmeticsand toiletries. It was founded by Anne Schaaf in 2010. Schaaf is also the manufacturer of well-known artisan cosmetics company

A PUREPLAYER

VEGANE PFLEGE

July 2016 cosmetics business markets 5

Vegane Pflege’s onlinestore focuses

exclusively on vegancosmetics and

toiletries

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RETAIL PROFILE VEGANE PFLEGE

almost all brands are certified organic. A fewbrands are non-organic (albeit vegan) whileothers are only present with the vegan part oftheir product portfolio.

The line-up currently includes around 1,000products from some 50 beauty brands. Althoughthe carefully curated brand mix includes a fewmass market favourites, like Dr. Bronner’s andBurt’s Bees from the US, Styx Naturkosmetikfrom Austria or Eco Cosmetics from Germany,the majority of the brands are niche labels.

Brands from Germany include premium skincare label AEM Organic Detox from Berlin, barsoap brand Klar Seifen from Heidelberg, artisanfragrance manufacturer Florascent, niche salonmanufacturer Kastenbein & Bosch from Cologne,shampoo range Überwood from Thuringia,tattoo skin care range Tattoo Med and men’s carebrand Brooklyn Soap Company from Hamburg.

And on the international side, Vegane Pflegeretails nail care brand Priti NYC and bath andbody care label Hand in Hand from the US,powder shampoo brand Eliah Sahil from Austria,mineral makeup brand Inika from Australia, nicheskin care brands oOlution and Cîme from France,

hydrosol (floral water) brand Dabba from Latvia,premium fragrances from Italian perfume brandLinari and from US brand TokyoMilk Dark, skincare brand Vestige Verdant from Estonia, bodycare company Zoya Goes Pretty from Bulgariaand skin care brands Figs & Rouge andMuLondon from the UK.

Artisan skin care brand MuLondon haslaunched a Special Edition balm with bergamot,thyme and spearmint especially for Vegane Pflegeand the company is also the exclusive Germanstockist for French beauty brands oOlution andCîme. In addition, Vegane Pflege sells a fewWolkenseifen ranges, including the six-sku lineBlock Parfums which are solid perfumes based onjojoba oil, and a range of solid shampoo soaps.

The store has two key own label ranges,Vegane Pflege deodorant creams (left), andVegane Pflege Sheabutter, a line of shea butterswhich launched in autumn 2015. There are 16different shea butters; each butter contains twoingredients only: raw unrefined shea butter andone plant oil. Variants range from shea and arganoil to shea and hemp seed oil, shea and raspberry,shea and baobab oil, all the way to shea andprickly pear and shea and watermelon seed oil.

High demandIndustry figures suggest that Vegane Pflege isextremely well placed to capitalise on thepopularity of, and demand for, vegan beautyand personal care products in Germany. A trendstudy carried out by research company Pollionin September 2014 on behalf of German marketresearcher Naturkosmetik Verlag found thatvegan cosmetics are important for 84% ofvegan consumers.

And the vegan scene continues to rapidlydevelop in Germany. It is seen as a major trendin the organic C&T market – which reachedturnover of t1.1bn in 2015, a rise of 10% –while the country’s wider vegetarian and veganfood market is achieving average annual growthof almost 17%, according to The Institute forTrade Research.

For manyorganic andvegan beautyfans, creamdeodorants are a popularformat

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6 cosmetics business markets July 2016

Vegan deodorants: Cream of the crop Vegane Pflege offers a well-known range ofdeodorant creams. The Vegane Pflegedeodorant creams have a similar formulation tothe Wolkenseifen deo creams but are scentedwith organic essential oils.

The seven Vegane Pflege deodorant creamsare based on unrefined shea butter, potatostarch and baking soda combined with variousessential oils. The formula does not containaluminium salts so it will not inhibit perspirationbut instead neutralises the odour caused bydecomposing bacteria.

Shea butter in its unrefined, non-emulsifiedstate is solid; it will turn creamy once it isapplied to the skin. As a result, deodorantcreams are economical (one 40ml jar will last atleast six months); Vegane Pflege recommendsusing just one fingertip of cream per armpit.

There are six scented deodorant creams (the fragrance blends are NaTrue certified) and one unscented version. The deodorantcreams are packaged in little glass jars, and thecompany will shortly be introducing thedeodorants in a roll-on version.

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