INIKA COMPANY PROFILE Natural, vegan, cruelty …...Natural, vegan, cruelty free, certified organic...

INIKA COMPANY PROFILE

Australian brand Inika has made a bigimpression on the natural and ethical beautyscene since it was founded in 2006. Lucy Copp reports on the inspiration behindits unique products

guidelines in the book, which included throwingout all my make-up and within three months I waspregnant and suitably chuffed!”

Not only did Bond give birth to her daughter,Lola, in 2001, but shortly afterwards doctorsconfirmed that her endometriosis had in factcleared up completely. Her positive experience ofliving toxin-free resonated deeply and left herfeeling compelled to educate other women aboutthe potential impact of toxins on a person’s health.Bond started running community workshops onthe topic, which is where she met former primaryschool teacher Jenni Williams, whose son,Alexander, suffered from severe allergies. Togetherthey formed Thriving Healthy Women in 2005, awebsite dedicated to providing information andresources on women’s health and toxic-free living.After receiving an overwhelming response to thewebsite from other like-minded women searchingfor an all-natural cosmetics line, the duo decidedto take matters into their own hands and launch amake-up line specifically to meet this demand.

New followingHaving gone from strength to strength, todayInika is sold through more than 500 retailers in 17countries around the world, with its headquartersbased in Wollongong, just south of Sydney,Australia. In the UK, Inika is sold on the QVCchannel, at 80 small retailers and at two JohnLewis stores, including the branches in London’sOxford Street and Reading. Besides this, onlinesales continue to be a driving force for Inika, asBond explains: “The web is an essential growtharea for us and is something we will be givinggreater focus and development to movingforwards, as part of our growth strategy.”

Complementing this move into the onlinearena, Inika has also invested in a strong socialmedia presence. Bond continues: “Social media isa key channel for us for a number of reasons – it

NATURALAMBITION

Inika: Company details

Company Inika Pty Ltd

Founded 2006 by Miranda Bond and Jenni Williams

Address Inika Cosmetics, International Head OfficeUnit 1, 81 Montague Street, North Wollongong,NSW 2500, Australia

Employees 12

Contact tel +61 2 4227 4832

Website www.inika.com.au

Natural, vegan, cruelty free, certified organicand even halal – Inika really does tick all the boxes when it comes to being a beauty brand with a conscience.

Founded in 2006 by Miranda Bond and JenniWilliams, Inika, which translates as ‘small earth’ inHindi, aims to make the world’s natural resourcesaccessible to women globally through its ethical,toxin-free make-up ranges. Today, Inika offers acomprehensive range of cosmetics to meet a hostof consumer needs, from mineral foundations andorganic eyeliners to vegan lip whips.

While half of Inika’s products are certifiedorganic by the Organic Food Chain (OFC), whichmeans they contain between 70-95% organicingredients, the other half comprises 100% puremineral make-up. What’s more, underlying all ofits products is its triple consumer guarantee, whichpromises a completely vegan, cruelty free and halalrange, as well as the absence of all potentially toxicor allergenic substances such as parabens,petrochemicals and fillers.

Against all oddsDespite its success today, setting up Inika was nomean feat for founders Bond and Williams, whoboth witnessed the suspected impact of toxins on aperson’s health firsthand. For Bond, this manifestedin her own battle against a long-standing fertilityissue, which prompted her to dramatically changeher lifestyle.

She tells ECM: “Having struggled withendometriosis for many years, I had all butresigned myself to the fact that I would notconceive naturally when I came upon a book calledHormone Heresy, written by American holistic guruDr Sherrill Sellman. The book suggested thatwomen just like me could restore balance to theirendocrine systems by changing their diets,eliminating chemicals in the daily products theyuse and using natural progesterone cream. Ifigured I had nothing to lose, so I followed the

Inika’s ceo MirandaBond (left) is anadvocate of the brand’stoxin-free make-upcollection (below)

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years seeing a 400% increase in growth rates.Even at the height of the recession in 2009-2010,Inika grew by 85% and was recognised asAustralia’s 51st fastest growing company by BRWmagazine. Looking ahead to next year, Bondexpects Inika to double its revenues.

Sights have also been set on growing Inika’sstatus as an organic make-up line and moving intonew territory, as Bond explains: “In ten years’ timeour mission is to be the world’s number one mosttrusted organic make-up brand. We believe wereally own a position in the marketplace that noone else operates in.

“There are very few certified organic make-upbrands out there so we don’t have as muchcompetition as you would think. Many brandsclaim to be natural but when you delve moredeeply you see that Inika is in a class of its own.That being said, we do consider some morenaturally orientated and prestige brands to be ourcompetitors.”

Speaking about plans to increase the company’sdistribution, she adds: “We would like to roll outinto more John Lewis stores in the UK and seecontinued expansion through the QVC network.In addition, we have plans for further distributioninto Europe in 2012 and we are also launching inthe US this year.”

So, while Inika might still be in its infancy,there’s no denying it has already acquired thefollowing and global reach of a mature beautybrand, bringing alternative, natural options towomen worldwide – and drawing its community alittle closer.

COMPANY PROFILE INIKA

not only provides a perfect environment to drivebrand awareness, engage and communicate withour customers and followers, but we can alsoprovide education on wellness-based beauty andingredients to a far reaching audience. It is ahighly valuable channel for receiving customerfeedback giving us the opportunity to quicklyprovide answers to questions, and it also feedsideas for new product development.”

Foundation for successAmong Inika’s customer favourites and best sellingproducts is its Mineral Foundation SPF15 powder,closely followed by its Certified Organic LiquidMineral Foundation.

Its Mineral Foundation SPF15, available ineight shades, is a multi-purpose product that actsas a concealer, foundation and powder in one, withadded UV protection. Meanwhile, its CertifiedOrganic Liquid Mineral Foundation is packedwith organic antioxidants, vitamins and minerals,and was the first certified organic foundation inthe world to win a major beauty award againstprestige cosmetics brands, such as Le Mer andGivenchy, in a non-certified organic category –the Best Foundation Award in the 2010 ACPMagazines Australian Beauty Awards.

“I think the reason why customers love ourMineral Foundation SPF15 powder is because ofits level of purity and quality,” Bond explains.“Many women have tried other brands of mineralfoundation and have had a reaction to it or notbeen happy with the coverage. Many mineralfoundations currently on the market containingredients like talc, which Inika would never use,and bismuth oxychloride, which is a skin irritant.But with Inika not only are the ingredientscompletely safe but also, because we don’t put anyfillers or binders in, the performance isexceptional. Women are amazed at the coveragethey get and how long it lasts.”

Adding to its existing make-up range, Inika isalso set to launch two new products later this year– a certified organic cream eyeshadow andcertified organic cream blush. Bond adds: “We areincredibly proud of these new product lines. Thequality and colour depth are quite incredible.”

Unique offeringDuring its five years in business, Inika hasexperienced a healthy financial return with some

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Community spiritInika continues to support the Thriving Health Women network with Bondregularly dedicating time to personally talk to groups of women about theirnatural options, as she explains.

“I’m committed to educating as many people in the world as possible aboutendometriosis,” Bond says. “My mission is to let women know that there aremore natural options available for them when battling these hormonalillnesses and to let them know they are not alone, there is support out there.

“When I do a speaking tour, I often invite the Endometriosis Society to bepart of it. We did this in New Zealand last year where we covered ten regionaltowns and cities speaking to groups of women in the community and the NewZealand Endometriosis Society supported the tour. They had an informationbooth and representative available to speak to women on each night – it was ahuge success and really helped to spread the word.”

Inika’s halal philosophyOccupying a unique position in the cosmeticsmarket, Inika is also certified as halal. While somecosmetics brands continue to heat-treat and meltdown dead animals, bones, used cooking fatsand even swine placenta for ingredients, Inikapromises not to use any animal relatedingredients.

Bond explains: “Halal really relates to how theproducts have been produced and sourced fromthe ground up, so to speak. Many commercialcosmetics companies use some unsavouryingredients but most consumers are completely

unaware that they are using a product withingredients derived from animals.”

She adds: “You would be horrified to know ofsome of the ingredients lurking in your make-upbag, and where they are sourced from. With Inikawe produce safe and clean make-up that is goodfor you and good for the planet – halal is anextension of that philosophy for us. If you arecertified vegan, refusing to use animal derivedingredients, and you are also certified organic, thenachieving halal certification is a relativelystraightforward process.”

Inika’s highly pigmentedvegan Lip Whip comesin four shades andcontains nourishingvitamin E

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