Packagers must adapt to the market needs to stay on top, says DuPont

CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com spoke to DuPont’s Sarah Perreard following another successful summer for its Natrafil brushes, in which it has exhibited at events and prepares for future launches.

The Natrafil brushes are synthetic brushes that have been researched and developed to mimic the performance of natural brushes.

Ethical and performance issues​

There are some ethical issues regarding natural hair brushes; whilst animals are not killed for their hair, some brands still maintain a no-natural ‘cruelty-free’ stance. Other issues concerning natural hair brushes are that they can be easily damaged or misshapen particularly if washed regularly.

However most brushes in the market today are still made with natural hair and the ones that are not, are normally made from polyester and suffer poor performance, and struggle to pick up the powder.

“We need to find a mix between the two; a synthetic brush that can pick up the powder as good as a brush made with natural hair,”​ explained Perreard.

“Brands have started removing the higher class natural brushes from their range (such as squirrel, where the animal is sometimes killed for the hair) due to the ethical issues, but they have found they have lost performance with other non-harming natural hair or synthetic,”​ the sales and marketing director for Filaments said.

Working with brands​

Perreard explained that this year, DuPont has been working hard with brands and make up artists to remedy these problems with synthetic hair, and try and bridge the gap between performance and practicality.

To do this the packaging supplier tests the brushes for stiffness, pick up and release and record all these results. This information is all logged and provided to brands that will then carry out their own testing as well.

“Each brand has a different method of testing the brushes as each brand has a different specification they are looking for,”​ continued Perreard.

Working with professionals​

The brushes are also distributed to make up artists to test with precise questions regarding performance. If feedback is correlated and consistent then progress is being made.

Consumer testing is also carried out but not as thoroughly as with make up artists, as the company finds the professionals to be more demanding and specific in their queries.

“There are thoughts in the market that synthetic brushes don’t work as well, so we carry out extensive testing so that we can present the information to counter that argument,”​ Perreard concluded.