Ecoalf Expands Into Beauty With Wellness Line
MILAN — Ecoalf has stepped into the beauty arena with a wellness line that further extends its commitment to reducing its environmental impact.
The Spanish brand, known for its holistic approach to green fashion, has launched a line of products that respect its core values of sustainability, design and innovation via waterless vegan formulations that come in refillable aluminum bottles.
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“Ecoalf is much more than a fashion brand: we want to become a sustainable lifestyle brand and develop products that are relevant to our community,” said Ecoalf chief marketing officer Carolina Alvarez-Ossorio Speith. “For us it’s very important to offer products that have a purpose and a lower impact on the planet compared to any conventional product in the industry… When we found out about the millions of plastic containers generated each year by the beauty industry we wanted to work on a solution,” she added, underscoring that it took two years to develop the range.
The line currently includes body and hand soap powders, a hair and scalp shampoo powder, a moisturizing stick balm, the Everywhere SPF30 sun stick, a deodorant stick and a lip balm. All products come in aluminum bottles that are refillable and recyclable, in an attempt to minimize waste and offer a more sustainable alternative to the cosmetics industry’s production of about 120 billion plastic containers a year, 95 percent of which are usually discarded after one use.
“Our mission for 2025 is to avoid the production of more than 78,000 plastic containers that end up in landfills. This is only possible if we start to change our habits with a very simple gesture: refill and reuse. We need to grow the community of people that want to be part of the solution,” said Alvarez-Ossorio Speith. “By using these products [in the line] you avoid 53 plastic containers for the planet in just one year. Imagine what this means over the years…”
In addition to packaging, formulations play a key role in Ecoalf’s green mission. “Up to 85 percent of a beauty product is water, which means a significant CO2 footprint from transporting them. Our formulas are waterless; we’ve developed powder and solid products with clean and upcycled ingredients,” said Alvarez-Ossorio Speith, mentioning that formulas are free from sulfates, parabens, silicones and aluminum.
In particular, the company came up with vegan formulations made using upcycled plant-based ingredients. Powders include upcycled rice starch substituting water and creating a foam that cleanses and hydrates the skin, while solid sticks comprise upcycled avocado oil from the food industry. Water has also been replaced by waxes and starches as carriers for the active ingredients, also providing sebum-regulating and moisturizing properties and generating concentrated formulas.
Formulations come with the fresh Med Citrus and Petitgrain scent specifically developed for Ecoalf and mixing bergamot, lemon and bitter orange with notes of moss and aquatic woods.
Products target “a global consumer that cares for the planet, that cares to have a sustainable lifestyle and for the ones looking out for clean formulas… quality and practicality,” said Alvarez-Ossorio Speith. “The six products that you use daily are designed not just to look good in your bathroom but to be taken with you on the go, to the gym and while traveling.”
The executive teased that the line will be expanded with home items like candles and diffusers next, with additional products to drop starting next spring.
For the moment, the Ecoalf Wellness line retails in kits comprising formulations and flacons for each category and priced between 32.90 euros and 44.90 euros. Single refills start retailing at 14.90 for the lip balm up to 22.90 euros for the sun stick.
The range is available at all Ecoalf stores and on the brand’s e-commerce but Alvarez-Ossorio Speith underscored that the company is eyeing distribution also “into beauty and concept stores to position the line and amplify the message.”
Ecoalf currently has stand-alone stores in Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo, and in Paris and Milan, where it opened units in the buzzy Marais district last year and in the futuristic Gae Aulenti square earlier this year, respectively. The brand is also distributed at 1,400 multibrand stores globally.
In 2022, the company reported total sales of 46.5 million euros, up 22 percent compared to the previous year.
A value-driven brand that has championed sustainability as its mission, Ecoalf was founded in 2009 by fashion entrepreneur Javier Goyeneche and offers men’s, women’s and kid’s wear.
Under its recurring claim “Because There Is No Planet B,” the label has developed more than 600 eco-friendly fabrics, recycling more than 44 million plastic bottles since 2021, tons of discarded fishing nets, used tires, post-industrial cotton and wool, as well as saving more than 223 million liters of water and 4,410 tons of CO2 with its fall 2023 collection.
In 2015, through the Ecoalf Foundation, the company also started “Upcycling the Oceans” project aimed at removing marine debris from the bottom of the oceans thanks to the collective effort of more than 4,200 fishermen. Started from the coast of Spain, the program has stretched to Thailand, Greece, Italy, and France and continues to expand throughout the Mediterranean, converting ocean waste into high-quality yarns. For each “Because There Is No Planet B” item sold, 10 percent of sales are donated to the Ecoalf Foundation to support the expansion of the project and to collaborate with 10,000 fishermen to clean the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea by 2025.
The brand’s overall mission is to become carbon neutral by 2030.
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