Jamie Matusow, Editor-in-Chief02.03.21
Pai Skincare, founded in 2007, recently unveiled what Sarah Brown, the company’s founder, calls “a reimagined brand for a changed world that focuses on sustainability, shared values and provenance as consumer behavior shifts toward conscious consumption.”
Brown explains: “The pandemic really brought home Pai’s relevance now, seeing the upheaval it caused in our customers’ lives. The way we behave and shop is shifting, in a seismic way, toward conscious consumption. A purchase now represents your values, a demonstration of shared beliefs between customer and brand.”
She says, “Customers are looking for brands to align with their values. They are calling out complacency and demanding transparency—they are challenging brands and saying ‘prove it.’”
Pai’s philosophy is that well-grown, carefully extracted organic ingredients result in great products.
Gone are the days in which “natural” skin care means low or no performance. Brown says emerging natural actives have science and efficacy data behind them—“while also being better for the environment, and often better tolerated by sensitive skin.”
New Look, New Outlook
The brand relaunch is far-reaching and focuses on storytelling and sustainability, because Brown says, “We wanted to better capture the essence of who we are, what we do and what matters to us.”
She explains, “Covid brought complexity, but positives, too—making us laser focus on the benefits of conceiving and making our products under one roof, and explaining why our customer should care about this as much as we do.”
The brand’s new logo and packaging were designed by Toronto-based creative agency Concrete.
Each product now has a new name and unique design interruption to bring to life its core benefit, reason for being, or hero ingredient. The patent-pending outer carton “magically” unfolds to unveil the back story.
Pai Is Made by Pai
Pai is vertically integrated and has always made all of its products since its launch—from Brown’s converted garage in Ealing, London.
This development process is owned end to end—from formulation to ingredient sourcing and manufacturing. Pai’s head of R&D, John Monoyioudis, comments: “Devising our formulations means they are unique, crafted and 100% owned by us. Never regurgitated in a different pack for a different brand. We test and learn continuously and can stay flexible to new ingredient innovations and customer demand.”
He adds, “Manufacturing as you scale is costly, challenging and a commitment to the cause. It’s a crucial driver of product quality though and we are vigilant caretakers of our ingredients—ensuring we preserve their extraordinary properties so they can sing on the skin.”
Independently Certified
Pai is certified by COSMOS, Vegan Society, Cruelty Free International and London Living Wage.
“These are kitemarks of authenticity,” says Brown. “The term ‘clean’ has pervaded the natural category in recent years, but carries no definition and we’re at a point where brands invent their own self-referring standards with no scrutiny or objectivity.
“With organic products costing on average 1,000% more to produce, certification has never been more important to stop ‘cleanwashing.’ It provides a robust framework developed over years in consultation with industry and is a reassuring beacon for customers in a hard-to-navigate world.”
Sustainability—The No.1 Priority
Sustainability was the No.1 priority for Pai’s packaging updates. Brown says every component was painstakingly reviewed and modified to improve its carbon footprint or recyclability.
Outer cartons are a unique patent-pending design that removes the need for adhesives and leaflets—see how it folds in the brand's Instagram post below.
The cartons are laminate-free, made from 50% recycled /50% FSC board with biodegradable tamper seals.
Fifty-percent of the primary packaging (bottles) is glass; and tubes comprise a minimum 40% PCR plastic with the remainder from bio-based (sugar cane) material.
A new recycling guide on Pai’s website educates customers on how to disassemble packs and recycle each element.
