CosmeticsDesign attended the 2022 World Perfumery Congress in Miami, Florida to check on the trends, launches and innovations in the fragrance supply chain.
Like the rest of the personal care industry, global issues like the pandemic and climate change are top of fragrance brands’ minds. What that means for suppliers varies, but CosmeticsDesign saw these three trends across the showroom floor.
More sustainable ingredient replacements
Ingredients with more sustainable supply chains are a focus across personal care categories, and fragrance is no exception.
Brands at the World Perfumery Congress said among reasons to focus on improving sustainability in ingredients was modern consumers' specific interest in where their products are coming from and what companies are doing to help the environment.
Suppliers brought ingredients like Quintis’ sandalwood, produced outside of illegal sandalwood harvesting in India, or like Genomatica's non-petroleum-based Butylene Glycol.
A broad goal among suppliers bringing these types of ingredients was to bring an ingredient that could take the place of less sustainable alternatives on the market today with as much ease as possible.
Wellness, scent-emotion axis
Scent holds an important role in the human brain, and fragrance suppliers want to tap into their products' wellness and mental health trends.
According to McKinsey and Company, the global wellness market is worth $1.5 trillion and may grow 5-10% annually, with consumers more interested in self-care and willing to spend on it.
Suppliers at the World Perfumery Congress said they are looking to target this wellness market and capitalize on the axis between scent and emotion. This could look like using scents connected with calming, reduction of stress or sleep.
Climate change supply chain consideration
As climate change-related extreme weather becomes more frequent, fragrance is uniquely vulnerable to supply chain issues as crops are wiped out, and suppliers know it.
Large portions of the fragrance industry still rely on some level of extraction from an agriculturally harvested feedstock. Suppliers said this is a considerable hurdle they are still trying to find solutions to, as well as a strong motivator to work in the sustainability space.
Some brands brought solutions like biotechnology-based ingredients or plans to support the communities or climates they rely on.