Kypris Founder Chase Polan On Taking A Holistic Approach To Sustainability

Long before most beauty companies began to acknowledge their roles in generating plastic streaming into landfills and oceans, Kypris founder Chase Polan was considering the impacts of her brand’s skincare, from ingredient sourcing to its final stage. To her, sustainability can’t be reduced to a single aspect of a business, whether it involves packaging or labor practices. Instead, it requires a holistic view of the planet and the people that depend on it. “What we do to ourselves, we do to the planet, and what we do to the planet, we do to ourselves,” says Polan. “It’s always going to be both.”

Kypris, which achieved B Corp certification this year, seeks transparency from its suppliers on the treatment of their employees, animals and the land to ultimately gain the trust of consumers wanting to make better consumption choices. If they choose the 10-year-old brand known for its Beauty Elixir I: 1,000 Roses, a facial oil with biodynamic Bulgarian rose oil, they can find it at Space NK, a new retail partner that joins its distribution network spanning department stores (Nordstrom), clean beauty outposts (The Detox Market and Credo), prestige e-commerce destinations (Net-a-Porter), spas and doctor’s offices.

The next step for Kypris is to get its name out there more as people increasingly value its values. “The way I built the business was very much operations and production first, and only in the last couple of years have we thought about marketing,” says Polan. Beauty Independent asked her to elaborate on how she built Kypris as well as discuss her product development process, ethical supply chain concerns and pricing for climate events.

What were you doing before you launched your brand?

I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 21. I have always had some sense that conscious entrepreneurship and conscious capitalism are very direct ways to address the challenges that we seek to create solutions for. My first company was an education business that I ran for 11 years. In my late 20s, I started thinking, “Gosh, I can have any business I want, look at any challenge there is and offer a solution to it.”

I had been thinking a lot about beauty. I modeled in my teens, but I was also really into feminism, history and art. I studied math and art history in undergrad, and had taken a lot of pre-med classes. I suffered through organic chemistry, which is the foundation of a lot of personal care. I knew I wanted to do something with beauty, wellness, the environment, spirituality and the nervous system. In hindsight, it comes together elegantly, but, at the time, it wasn’t clear.

As I started digging more and more, I realized there were all types of considerations. There were geopolitical concerns. There were toxicity concerns. There were green technologies that were very much in a nascent stage. Personally, I wanted efficacy, but I also didn’t want to increase my toxic load. My mother had cancer many times over, and I’ve had friends pass away from cancer.

In 2011, when Kypris launched, we launched into doctors’ offices, and we sold to them for the first 18 to 24 months. We worked with functional medicine physicians and naturopaths, facialists and acupuncturists, a whole array of modalities were present in those offices, so I got to really understand what a lot of people’s concerns were.

After the first 18 months, it started becoming really clear that there was an opportunity to take the message of high-performance skincare with a gentle footprint into more of a direct-to-consumer space, and there was an opportunity for education. Kypris’s message is that beauty is a connection between spirituality, care and pleasure. It really resonates with consumers as well as people in the healing arts. That’s how we found ourselves in 2014 and 2015 moving into more traditional spas and retail, and the rest is history.

What products did you start with?

We started with three serums and three beauty elixirs. I went to formulator training. I was sitting in a seminar online with Dr. Zoe Draelos, and she was talking about how different actives not only based on their solubility, but based on their size, play differently in and on the skin. I thought, “How fascinating!” We crafted these water-soluble serums, which are very light emulsions, and beauty elixirs, which are active beauty oils with a bioidentical antioxidant complex. They are meant to be mixed and matched so you can make a fully customizable wax-free micro emulsion.

When you have a moisturizer that has waxes, that is really meant to sit on top of the skin and create a level of occlusivity so you can also care for the outer-most layer of skin. With our micro emulsion, your skin almost drinks it in. If you have a really thirsty complexion, this is a beautiful way to deliver hydration and water-soluble actives to your skin. It’s really about the delivery of actives, and you can layer your moisturizer on top for the outer-most layer of skin.

How did you think about the spas and retailers you wanted to put Kypris in?

I really prioritized locations with a mission aligned to mine. Sometimes that aligned mission looks a little different. I will give you a couple of examples. We worked with med spas, for example. I know sometimes people have ideas of med spas because they think about lasers and Botox, but our role in med spas was to create this beautiful experience with visible results. You aren’t compromising pleasure or results. You are getting both. Once I worked with doctors, I felt a lot more confident presenting to retailers. I felt that, if I can satisfy the concerns and standards of physicians, I can serve retailers.

Our first spa was at the Royal Palms here in Phoenix. That was a very special team. The community of aestheticians, massage therapists and other practitioners really know their stuff. They are constantly studying. They love techniques and ingredients. We had something to offer them for creating the experiences they wanted to create.

Kypris founder Chase Polan Agnes Art & Photo http://agnesartandphoto.com

Kypris’s price range is $75 to $230. How did you price the products?

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this. For us, the science and research behind the product is so vital. When I talk about science, we are talking about clinicals. When I talk about research, it’s studies about actives, but it’s also looking at what is happening in the world. We don’t just work with labs to source peptides and stem cells. We work with a lot of farmers, wild crafters and cooperatives. I really want there to be equity in our supply chain.

It’s important for us to put a product out there that is going to deliver on its promises of high performance and an elegant experience and also is going to have a limited footprint. If we the company and the consumer is not paying for it, someone is. We have to make sure that we are accountable to what’s happening in our supply chain and our consumer. We also have to take into account climate events.

We factor in climate events because, a few years ago, one of our sourcing relationships, which is along the equator, had a horrible harvest and the ingredient, which is an organic flower extract, literally doubled in price overnight. I had two options. I could restructure the pricing of the line or I could go search for another supplier, but, for this supplier, we had spent a lot of time vetting the farm. It’s certified organic with high labor standards.

We made the decision to maintain our commitment to them. Part of sustainability is to stick with your community of suppliers when things are tricky and talk about the fact we have to restructure our pricing because these types pf climate events are happening more. We have a process of amortizing that across the line rather than jacking up the price of one item. The way we approach a climate event is the same way a brand might account for shrinkage. It will be a percentage of the cost of goods.

What was the response to the pricing increase?

Nobody enjoys increasing prices, including me. What I will say is that our community is extremely loyal, and they believe in what we do. I think we have their trust. I hope our transparency has engendered that in them. We really treasure their loyalty, and we wouldn’t take advantage of them. All you have to do is read the news and know that climate change is an issue.

With minimal exception, our spa and retail partners all supported us. Net-a-Porter, Detox Market, Credo, Nordstrom, all the spas and independents. Not only am I deeply thankful for their partnership and support, I genuinely believe this is how we will continue to see the shifts we hope to see in the industry.

What do you think businesses should do about the climate and how it impacts them?

A lot of companies are not honest about the level of sustainability of their products, and I cannot tell if they genuinely think they are sustainable or they are just lying. It’s very hard to tell. There is a reason why Allure is longer talking about recyclable plastic. If we are being honest, most componentry is limited. This is both a systemic issue from a waste management and recycling perspective, and it is a brand issue because we don’t want to promote wish-cycling. One of the ways that we have approached this is we have joined Pact.

Our products are all packaged in glass and our caps, some of them are made from recyclable plastic, but the vast majority are made from non-formaldehyde urea and plant cellulose. They are more easily recycled in the EU, and that was one of the reasons I was really passionate about joining Pact. All of our unit cartons are 100% post-recycled folding board. It’s not perfect. This is an area of opportunity for every brand out there, including my own. One way we mitigate our impact is through programs like Pact.

What was the B Corp process like?

It was an 18-month process. It was extremely thorough. I was very pleased with how scrutinizing they were frankly. I feel like we really found our home with B Corp because their approach to a sustainable future is very much aligned with our approach to a sustainable future. We didn’t really have to make any changes to become a B Corp. We just had to report what we were already doing.

From the beginning, Kypris has always viewed sustainability as a social and ecological imperative. It’s not one or the other. A lot of companies like to talk about sustainability from an eco perspective, but that’s not good enough. It doesn’t address the holistic problem or challenge and the opportunity that has to do with regenerative practices both ecologically and socially. If you are only focused on people, you are missing the environmental piece. If you are only focused on the environment, you are missing the people piece. When it comes to creating a more sustainable future, it’s actually both.

What are your bestsellers?

Our top sellers are our micro emulsions. It’s not actually one item. It’s the set. It makes sense to me that they are our best-performing items because that’s what we built the brand on. Recently, we launched our Ad Astra Night Eye Cream. That’s been performing really well.

We have a very slow launch process. If you look at our launch cadence, we hone in on an item a year. We don’t churn out products. That’s not our approach to building the brand. We try to have a very sustainable approach, and I mean that in every way, from creating a new offering to having it live within the collection.

What’s an area of the supply chain you think is overlooked?

Women are not thought about enough, unsurprisingly. The people aren’t thought about enough. A lot of companies will search for the least expensive way to get their margins. Our community wants high performance from ethical, sustainable products with a gentle footprint. We have a pillar in our brand called Beauty from Beauty, meaning you can’t make beauty from exploitation. When we look at sourcing, we look at, is this a woman-owned farm? Is this a cooperative or an organization that supports women?

Labor standards are one thing, but promoting equity for women farmers is the next level for us. We have some ingredients in our supply chain that have programs that function almost like an SBA that help women farmers get bank accounts, and they help women farmers learn how to farm and become more financially sound. I’m very passionate about promoting women and keeping child labor out of the supply chain.

What are practices that help you and your company stay healthy?

I have a pretty strict daily ritual where I try to read, write and move every single day. One of my biggest learnings is around the use of my intuition. One of my favorite pieces of advice is, “Intuition is information.” I need to be able to slow down enough to share what I’m thinking and feeling. It’s not as simple as, oh, this is my intuition, and I’m going to have a particular output. I have to really take time to discern whether my intuition is truth or conditioning. I really parse the information I’m getting from my intuition. That’s a big thing for me.

We have a pretty robust benefits package for our team—including me, there are seven of us on the core team—and that’s something I’m really passionate about. I try to make sure everyone that we touch has access to healthcare and a 401k. We are pretty quiet on weekends. We have boundaries around communication. Sure, you might get a random early morning text during the week, but we make a concerted effort to not bother each other on weekends. We generally stop work around 5 or 6 at night.

What’s been a move that really helped you learn about the business?

Launching in department stores is really tricky. Nordstrom is one of my favorite partners. I’ve learned a lot about business from being partnered with them. We launched with one location, then we grew to five, and we are now in 25 locations with them. Planning around marketing initiatives is a learning curve. Instead of planning six to 12 months out, we are now planning more like 18 months out.

Kypris, which describes its products as green cosmeceuticals, recently entered Space NK. It’s also available at Net-a-Porter, The Detox Market, Credo and Nordstrom.

How long is your product development process?

It takes us years. An example of this is I wanted to use a very particular type of cleansing agent that was upcycled. It was a byproduct. I wanted it to be gentle on the skin, and I wanted it to benefit the community. It was four years from the time we started working on it to the time we launched it. We are very patient with how we create products.

When we start planning launches, about 12 months in, the team and I will narrow it down to two to three items we are thinking about launching. Then, at the six-month mark, we will make a decision about what we are going to launch. We are sold in around 20 countries globally. We are in the U.K., Canada and Mexico, and we have partners in Asia. Because we are in so many places, there’s a big regulatory step in the middle of launching an item.

How’s business been?

Business this year is trickier than business last year. We grew last year. This year, the jury is still out. We have retailers, but most of our distribution has been in spa. The spa industry has suffered tremendously. Hotel spas don’t have much of a retail component. They don’t have websites to sell products on. They really are based on service, and there hasn’t been as much travel or many conventions happening.

Have you changed your distribution strategy?

We are super committed to wellness and spa; we are very committed to doctor’s offices and med spa; and we are committed to retail. In this last year, we knew going into it that we had a lot of work to do with our dot-com. I love our dot-com, but it is also not a place that we have put a lot of focus to do it as well as we would have liked to. It’s a place of opportunity for us. So, that’s been our focus. We knew it was going to be an opportunity going into 2020, and COVID expedited the need for it.

Do you think of your brand as a clean beauty brand?

I really think of my brand as luxury high performance with a light footprint. Yes, we are clean, and we are green. We are a lot of those things and then some, but clean beauty is also going very mainstream. We want to be the brand that is really doing it right, not just talking about it, but actually doing it really right. Clean is table stakes.

What do you mean by “gentle footprint”?

It means something very specific in different contexts. For example, when it comes to our packaging, we don’t cut down trees to make our boxes. We joined Pact to deal with the life cycle of our product. When it comes to our ingredients, we use carefully selected metrics to assess if sourcing a material from a farm makes sense or sourcing a material from a lab makes sense. We support regenerative practices where we can. Our algae and seaweed are examples of that.

If I was going to choose one word to describe our customer, it’s uncompromising. They don’t want to compromise on results. They don’t want to compromise on sustainability. They don’t want to compromise on their experience of formulas. We want to prove to them that those elements are all important and, not only do they coexist in Kypris, but they add to one another.

What are some goals of yours going forward?

One major opportunity for us is creating greater awareness of who we are and what we do. We want to be a household name. When people think of luxury personal care, I want them to know that we are here for them, and we can be trusted help them care for their beautiful skin. We really do deliver results with a really luxurious experience of what science and nature can be.