Ethical beauty fuels biotech development and supply chain strategies

Consumers’ growing sustainability expectations are increasingly reshaping the beauty industry. Brands and suppliers are facing growing pressure to disclose ingredient origins and production means, and substantiate sourcing claims transparently. At the same time, consumers do not want to compromise on performance, and manufacturers are left having to balance sustainability, efficacy, and ethics. 

Personal Care Insights sits down with experts from TriNutra and Savor about how the personal care industry is responding to consumers’ ethical expectations. They tell us that companies are exploring more traceable supply chains, responsible sourcing practices, and new biotechnology-based ingredients that reduce reliance on traditional agriculture.

“Ethical beauty is no longer a niche conversation — it is closely linked with quality of life! It is becoming part of the broader expectation consumers have for wellness and personal care products overall,” Liki von Oppen-Bezalel, chief scientific officer and business development director at TriNutra, tells us.

In her view, in recent years, consumers have grown to want to understand what ingredients are being used and why, and whether the claims a company makes are supported by evidence. “[Consumers] want to understand where the product is sourced and how the business operates, with a focus on sustainable, responsible, and transparent practices,” she says.

According to Chiara Cecchini, Savor’s SVP of commercialization, “that pressure is driving real R&D investment upstream, into the ingredient layer itself.”

Building ethical supply chains

Von Oppen-Bezalel explains that multiple stakeholders in the beauty value chain are paying closer attention to the contents of beauty products, and the push toward more sustainable and ethical products is not coming from just one side.

Companies with supply chains reliant on agricultural commodities risk facing structural limits, Cecchini says.Consumers, the brand, corporates, and legislators are increasingly vigilant about where ingredients come from, how they are being produced, and whether manufacturers are transparent about sourcing and efficacy.

The upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation, for example, is set to increase scrutiny on raw material sourcing and supply chain traceability for ingredients linked to deforestation risks — palm oil and shea, for example.

Von Oppen-Bezalel explains that TriNutra maintains credible sustainability in its supply chain by centralizing its operations. 

“We ensure full understanding and control of the supply chain by working with local farmers, understanding the farm’s history, the varieties of black seed oil produced, cultivation, harvesting conditions, seed storage, and clean, environmentally friendly processing procedures, all completed in one location for full understanding and control,” she says.

However, Cecchini explains that having a supply chain reliant on traditional farming poses “structural limits” as there are external factors a company cannot control.

“The industry has a deep dependency on agricultural commodity fats like palm, coconut, and shea, which are subject to climate volatility, geopolitical disruption, and ongoing scrutiny around land use and labor practices,” she says.

“Brands that have built their ethical credentials on certified sustainable sourcing will need to reckon with the structural limits of that approach.”

“At CosmoProf Bologna recently, our team heard from global CDMOs as well as brands who are actively moving past RSPO certification, which is a signal that the industry’s confidence in palm-based supply chains, even certified ones, is eroding. That’s a meaningful shift,” Cecchini adds.

Savor produces high-performance triglycerides and structuring emollients directly from carbon.In her view, the next wave of innovation will come from companies that have found entirely new ways to produce high-performing fats and emollients. 

Biotech avenues

Earlier this year, Savor established its Personal Care & Beauty division. The company produces high-performance triglycerides and structuring emollients directly from carbon without the need for conventional agriculture.

“For us, the most compelling development is the emergence of fats and emollients produced through organic chemistry rather than conventional agriculture-based means,” says Cecchini.

Savor’s Climate Conscious Triglycerides is a palm-free replacement for CCT. It is designed for brands and manufacturers seeking alternatives to palm-derived and RSPO-dependent ingredients.

Savor also produces Moraine, a multifunctional structuring emollient that delivers the “richness, cushion, creaminess, and structural support associated with shea butter and tallow.” The company positions the ingredient as a high-performance, next-generation sustainable alternative for beauty and personal care formulations. 

“Because we’re working at the molecular level, we can tune fatty acid profiles for specific performance attributes: slip, structure, skin feel, and melting point. That kind of customizability is genuinely new in the personal care ingredient space, and it opens up formulation possibilities that aren’t available with commodity fats,” Cecchini explains. 

Using green chemistry and biotech to innovate ingredients for beauty reduces reliance on natural resources.Credible ethics over marketing

The most significant shift that Cecchini says Savor is seeing, is that “ethical” is no longer a positioning but rather a performance requirement.

“Formulators can’t rely on vague sustainability claims anymore because buyers and consumers are asking harder questions about ingredient provenance, supply chain traceability, and environmental impact,” she says.

Von Oppen-Bezalel adds that these claim substantiations should not be in the form of long-term sheets, but be “founded and controlled in the company’s culture, communication language, and actual doings of the company.”

Consumers have gotten sophisticated enough to spot the gap between a brand’s values marketing and what’s actually in the formulation, Cecchini echoes.

“They want to see that commitment carried all the way through to ingredients, beyond packaging or carbon offsets. That means transparency about raw material sourcing, and a real commitment to ingredient quality that doesn’t come at the planet’s expense,” she concludes.