Pulse October 2018 | Page 43

ustomer passion for services and products with organic, natural, green, and sustainable aspects has fueled a deep, meaningful industry-wide response, with impact well beyond winning awards and accolades. “We’re green all the way down to our logo,” said OSEA Skincare Founder Jenefer Palmer. The Venice, California-based company was founded on sustainable principles, she said, more than 20 years ago, when green was “just a color.” Its skincare products have a base of sustainably-sourced, organic Patagonian seaweed and are packaged in glass. Companies implementing sustainable practices consider the social and environmental effects of their decisions, from production to service. It can be as simple as office recycling and as involved as becoming a certified “B Corp” (see sidebar.) Because their customers are already focused on their health, spas must necessarily be clean, tranquil, inspiring places. Since its founding in 1958, said Jessica Timberlake, public relations manager for Canada-based Eminence Organic Skin Care, “we have been using sustainable farming and green practices.” Eminence sources key ingredients from its organic farm in Hungary. Heather Kreider is the owner and founder of the Makes Scents Natural Spa Line of men’s and women’s bath, body, and hair products based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She said environmentally responsible decisions are “intertwined into every area of our business including the type of raw materials that are used to create our products, the processes to produce them, what we package our products in and how they are shipped.” Similar attitudes fuel her company, said Gina Preziosa, vice president of sales and marketing for Shankara, Inc. The company is based in Uvalde, Texas. “Since our inception in 2001,” said Preziosa, “Shankara has been creating natural products that nourish your skin and promote a natural radiance,” based on a blend of East-West ancient life principles and manufactured sustainably from “a unique line of completely natural” products. The top ways her company addresses sustainability are by eliminating outer packaging and using glass containers for its products, by recycling, and by sourcing natural ingredients. “When that deliberateness is organic to company processes, it feels less like a burden or cost center and more like an investment in long- term success.” October 2018 ■ PULSE 41