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As promised yesterday, today I am bringing you part II of the Davines Sustainable Beauty Manifesto.  As you can tell from part I this is a passionate company with heart and strong vision.  Part II solidifies that even further for me.

Because I believe that the Manifesto in its entirely is a wonderful example of a journey to sustainability and a beautiful document I am also posting it in its entirety as a separate Davines page in our Sustained Beauty Partners section.  I hope that you will visit it over and over again for inspiration and consider taking another step further in your journey to sustainability.

~Lorrene

Davines Sustainable Beauty Manifesto – Part II Sustainability

From: the Davines International Team

Submitted by: John Cutrone with Davines through PSC

SUSTAINABILITY

Our particular brand of beauty cannot work without practical and visible efforts, “sustainable” efforts. For us, sustainability deals with the responsibility we owe to ourselves, the people with which we work, our customers, and the world in which we live and operate today and tomorrow.

That said, our vision of “sustainability” has a range of connected meanings.

“Sustainability” in regard to our commitment to minimizing the impact our activity has on the environment and reach harmony not only within ourselves but also with our clients, friends, colleagues, and environment

This is a good opportunity to talk about Davines initiatives towards minimizing the impact to the environment:

Reduction of Plastic in Containers: For the DEHC line of products Davines has specifically reduced the amount of plastic used in the bottles by reducing the wall-thickness of the containers by 30%. Although this had some implications on costs as custom tailored moulding processes had to be developed for Davines we are proud of having been able to achieve such initiative as it has significantly reduce the amount of pollutant materials used in the production of such products. The market has also found that they like much more the feel of these bottles as compared to the thicker ones which it represents an improvement on our efforts to care for the customer experience while using our products.

The Life Gate Project:

Since May 06, Davines has been buying electricity only from suppliers that created it from renewable sources (e.g. wind, solar, etc). Moreover Davines has joined the Zero Impact Project: An organization that helps on one hand, measure the amount of CO2 indirectly produced while fabricating our products and on the other hand, plant at our expense the equivalent number of trees that may compensate for the harmful impact created by the CO2 production.

Davines is currently exploring with the organization ways to allow the interested salons to also be part of the project.

“Sustainability” in regard to “freedom of creation” and expression, a way of being we share with anyone who is involved with the company and the respect we have for their individuality and integrity. Our plans reflect our joy and honor in creating formulas, services, and systems beyond current economic, qualitative or conceptual limitations  – Our decisions are led more by “intuition” than “calculation”, and by a dynamic pioneering spirit that guides us to avoid the mainstream and to tirelessly explore ideas beyond trends. At Davines, every idea is born free and then developed with authenticity in harmony with our values.

“Sustainability” in regard to the use of natural ingredients enhanced with cutting-edge cosmetic technologies, and an artisanal, handcrafted spirit. Linked to previous point (freedom of creation) and our drive to use natural ingredients combined with cutting edge technology, makes us feel like we approach the beauty market as true artisans – working with our hands in discovering the formulas, producing the products, testing their performance and quality, creating the product packaging, concepts, stories, and finally how we then deliver it to our clients – conceptual selling.

“Sustainability” in regard to ethics within work and a multicultural inclusive philosophy – The word “ethics” in ancient Greek means “house, shelter, lair”. Inspired by this definition, we work to make our professional environment feel more like a home. And we strive daily to imbue this collective home away from home with an ambience and spirit of well-being, a place where it is possible to develop oneself and create sincere relationships with others both in and outside the company, on a multicultural level and with an inclusive philosophy. One example of this initiative may be the “Carta Etica” project conceived and developed for Davines by its own employees in order to improve the quality of work within the company. The Carta Etica is not a code, it doesn’t contain laws, rules or rigid norms to adhere to. It wishes to propose and discuss examples of good behavior, directions in which to act, guidelines in which to base daily work activities. It hopes to stimulate reflections and inspire new ideas. It wants to be open for continuous adaptation. Another example of this initiative may also be illustrated by the frequent retreats or workshops Davines organizes with its employees to brain-storm on new ideas that may be implemented to improve the our quality of work.

Now that’s inspirational!  If your salon or organization is making strides in the journey to sustainability we’d love to hear about it.

I wish you all the best,

~Lorrene