After The Death And Destruction Caused By Maui’s Wildfires, Indie Beauty Brands Step Up To Support The Community
Wildfires blazed through the Hawaiian island of Maui last week, decimating more than 2,000 structures in the historic town of Lahaina and killing at least 110 people.
Stoked by scorching weather, strong winds and drought, the wildfires culminated in the deadliest fire catastrophe in the United States in more than a century and Hawaii’s worst natural disaster. The death toll is expected to rise as crews continue to sift through the devastation.
With Maui still reeling from the tragedy, indie beauty brand founders are speaking out about issues related to it and giving back to assist the affected community. Ke’oni Hanalei, a native Hawaiian who runs Pōhala, a Maui- and Kauai-based brand offering a range of oils and tinctures made with indigenous Hawaiian ingredients, posted on Instagram to criticize the government for a delayed response to the wildfires.
“During the disaster and immediately after the disaster, it was private citizens who attended to the needs of the people,” he says. “The lost and found list for people on Maui was created by a private citizen. The first relief efforts to get food and services to the people stranded, private citizens. The first wave of rescue efforts, private citizens.”
Hawaii is reported to have a network of 400 alarms meant to alert residents to natural disasters, and they didn’t activate as the fire spread. Addressing the failure of the alarms, Hanalei says, “There are accounts of people, as they are in their car attempting to escape the fire, blaring on their car horn to warn their neighbors. It was a makeshift alarm system.” Pōhala donated 100% of its online revenue from August 9 to16 to support fire relief in Maui.
Alohi Maui, a skincare brand that manufactures in Maui and is founded by Joelle Lambiotte du Lac, who grew up in Hawaii and currently lives in a part of Maui not directly impacted by the wildfires, is donating 20% of sales on every order to the organization Maui United Way, and Lambiotte du Lac is sharing GoFundMe campaigns for individuals in Maui seeking aid. She’s also opened up her home and pivoted to making more of Alohi Maui’s deodorant for people displaced by the wildfires. She says other local indie beauty brands have also banded together to help.
“If we can do anything that fills an immediate need, an essential need that brings comfort, that’s what we’re doing,” says Lambiotte du Lac, adding, “The feeling of community, this feeling of coming together and really supporting those in need is huge here and especially right now.”
Oshan Essentials, a brand launched by Shelley Leemor on a 7-acre farm on Maui’s North Shore, donated 100% of its online sales from the past week to emergency help. Honua Hawaiian Skincare, a brand based in Honolulu and Santa Rosa, Calif., is donating 100% of profits through August 21 to Maui fire relief. Founder Kapua Browning, who was born and raised in Hawaii, says, “We have a saying in Hawaiian, ‘It’s a kākou thing,’ meaning ‘us collectively,’ and if you are following local media, you will see what I mean. The community comes together as one as if it were their own family, or ohana, immediately affected.”
“The community comes together as one as if it were their own family, or ohana, immediately affected.”
VitaSea, a new sun care brand headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., is donating 100% of proceeds from online sales to the organization Maui Strong Fund through September 30 and separately donated $10,000. Co-founder Christine Burger grew up in Hawaii and spends time in the state. Matthew Burger, her co-founder at VitaSea, says, “As such a new brand donating our profit is something we could do. It is also a way that others can join us in helping. The more we sell, the more we can give.”
Donating even a small portion of proceeds can be a big strain on cash-strapped indie beauty brands. Oshan Essentials reposted a message from graphic designer Kehalea on Instagram Stories emphasizing that reality. The post reads, “People still need to provide for their own families. We still need to go to work. Businesses need to stay open and running. A lot of people are donating more than they can even afford.”
Maui Moisture, a haircare brand acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2016, incorporates ingredients from tropical islands like Maui. It announced it will be pledging $250,000 to the organization Direct Relief. On top of the cash donation, it’s mobilizing personal care products and over-the-counter medicines to be delivered to people in Maui.
Benefit Cosmetics, the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned makeup brand that has long used Hawaiian culture in its branding and marketing, has been noticeably quiet in wake of the Maui wildfires. An Instagram post from formulator Stephen Alain Ko highlights backlash the brand received in 2022 after hosting an influencer trip to Hawaii during a time when it was struggling to cope with the demands of tourism.
Tagging the brand, he writes, “I’m calling you out! It’s time to publicly and LOUDLY donate to the Maui wildfire relief effort. For years your brand has heavily relied on the land and culture of Hawaii — Hoola bronzer! In its moment of crisis they deserve more than silence.”
Alain Ko isn’t the only one taking Benefit to task. A comment on one of the brand’s recent Instagram posts promoting its collaboration with influencer Alix Earle reads, “As a company that takes brand trips to Hawaii to promote their products, you guys could utilize your platform to bring awareness to the wildfires that destroyed Hawaiis royal capital.” The brand has 9.9 million Instagram followers. Benefit didn’t respond to Beauty Independent’s requests for comment.
“This’ll be like any other media story, it will fade, and people will move on to other things, but, for us, this is a scar that is really deep.”
Lambiotte du Lac sources 80% of the ingredients for Alohi Maui’s formulas from local farmers in Hawaii. She says, “Rather than just plunking a Hawaiian brand on something that’s made somewhere else and calling it Hawaiian, I wanted to actually use the plants here.”
Last year, Lambiotte du Lac doubled down on sustainability components of the brand like refillable packaging, developing new ingredients and partnering with more local farmers. The recent devastation has motivated her to double down further. “There’s been a huge push towards agriculture here to try to diversify the economy away from tourism,” she says. “Let’s try to develop a new way of economic development that doesn’t require stretching our infrastructure and resources to the very bone and putting people in harm’s way.”
Lambiotte du Lac continues, “If I manufactured on the mainland and took shortcuts as far as the ingredients, I’d probably be bigger and way more profitable, but I think that I’m with the other indie brands and that’s just not who we are.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv77_XHRKFZ/
The wildfires burned down two Lahaina boutiques that carried Alohi Maui. The brand has around six additional wholesale partners on Maui. “My business model, which relies on tourism, is going to force me to be more proactive about going out to other islands now just to spread the product,” says Lambiotte du Lac. “A lot of my clientele comes from people who visit the islands, they buy it here and then they continue to buy it online.”
Lambiotte du Lac emphasizes that the road to healing Maui will be long. As it starts to rebuild, she views Alohi Maui’s business as more important than ever. She says, “I kind of have survivor’s guilt because there’s so much suffering right now. The stories that are coming out are just harrowing. I think that the press is only scratching the surface, and this’ll be like any other media story, it will fade, and people will move on to other things, but, for us, this is a scar that is really deep.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.