Full Natural Beauty & Spa Theatre programme confirmed for Natural & Organic Products Europe 2013
Now just over two weeks away, the full Natural Beauty & Spa Theatre seminar line-up has been confirmed for this year’s Natural & Organic Products Europe trade show, taking place on 7-8 April at Olympia, London.
Essential Care’s founder Abi Weeds; Dr Deepa Apte, lead lecturer of the Ayurveda Pura Academy; beauty writer Rebecca Goodyear; and Imogen Matthews, join this year’s seminars, which run throughout the two day event. Matthews – founder and author of ‘The Premium Market Report’ and ‘Older Women: The Forgotten Demographic’ – will mark her show debut with an insightful session focusing on the challenges facing niche brands in today’s competitive beauty markets, plus she’ll also be offering suggestions to retailers on how they can engage the fastest growing, yet most neglected, demographic group in beauty – women over 50.
Previously announced speakers include Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher; Laura Rudoe, the cosmetics designer behind Evolve Beauty and S5 Skincare; Organic Monitor’s CEO Amarjit Sahota; leading German retailer Michael Radau from SuperBioMarkt AG; Michelle Thew, chief executive of Cruelty Free International and the BUAV; and Jayney Lee Grace, who recently topped the influential 2013 Natural Beauty Yearbook’s ‘Who’s who in Natural Beauty’ list.
One of the key themes being explored for 2013 is the future growth of the natural and organic beauty market. Notably, whilst yearly sales haven’t been immune to the economic downturn, according to Organic Monitor, the natural and organic beauty and personal care market (which was valued at over $9billion globally in 2011) is one of the few areas still enjoying “positive growth” in the UK. The Soil Association’s annual Organic Market Report (published earlier this week) also paints an encouraging picture, calculating that UK sales of certified organic health and beauty products increased by 5.6% to nearly £32m in 2012.
Retailers wishing to capitalise on these gains will find that many of this year’s free seminars at Natural & Organic Products Europe have been specifically chosen to enable visiting beauty buyers to maximise their business opportunities using the latest trends, plus insights and information about new innovations and formulations from high-profile brands and industry pioneers.
“Business wise, it's exciting that the area is growing despite the recession. And the buzz around the industry continues to make this an exciting profession to be in,” says Alexander Barani, co-founder of Kinetic Natural Products Distributors (sponsors of this year’s Natural Beauty & Spa Theatre), which will be exhibiting well-known eco-brands like JĀSÖN Natural Care, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Avalon Organics, Antipodes, Alba Botanica, giovanni cosmetics, and Elysambre at the show.
He describes how “with more celebrity endorsements” – from green ambassadors such as Jemma Kidd, Alicia Silverstone, Natalie Portman, and model Miranda Kerr – “organic and natural products are gradually becoming more mainstream.”
However, he warns that with this territory comes a greater onus on ensuring that consumers are educated “with regards to what is and is not natural”. In the absence of unified industry regulations regarding natural and organic claims within the cosmetics sector, green-washing by some brands – or claiming to be more sustainable or more natural than is really the case – still presents a real challenge to continuing industry growth.
The importance of addressing this challenge is the focus of Abi Weeds’ session – Organic Beauty Matters: How to create consumer confidence in organic cosmetics – at this year’s show. The director of Essential Care, the first company to launch a shampoo and a number of makeup products certified to Soil Association organic standards, Weeds’ seminar will explain the link between consumers’ perception of organic and the vital need for regulatory protection (spearheaded by the Organic Trade Board) against rogue organic cosmetics.
“We now finally have an exciting opportunity to shape the organic beauty industry’s future,” says Weeds. “The UK’s regulators are listening to us. And it’s an initiative that affects everyone in the organic industry – retailers, brands, ingredients suppliers – everyone can be involved in bringing about landmark regulatory change that will provide a springboard for growth.”
With increasingly lucrative sales – and the trust of both buyers and consumers – at stake, provenance, certification and transparency are all vital to retaining market growth. But ultimately, people want products that work. And show speakers like Horst Rechelbacher, and Laura Rudoe (who’ll be talking about the latest research on anti-ageing actives and the science behind natural approaches), will demonstrate how new natural product formulations with clinical efficiency are catering for that demand.
Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda and the man behind organic brand Intelligent Nutrients (IN), which harnesses the power of plant stem cells, agrees that using science going forward is the “best way to guarantee potency and authenticity”, particularly when it comes to the purity of ingredients.
For Rechelbacher, who grows many of the organic ingredients used in his new products himself, the future is organic: “Plants inhale what we exhale. They provide us with food, medicine and shelter. Plants produce purity, sustainability and are the most important components of our life support only when they are respected and grown without genetic modification or chemical toxins, such as pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and insecticides.”
“These toxins are not only linked to every cause of human cancer, but they also interfere with the balance of our planet’s natural environment. In other words, they poison us from the ground up,” he warns.
Horst Rechelbacher’s Keynote ‘No place to hide: The future of food in the new age of transparency’ will take place at 11am on Monday 8 April in the Natural Beauty & Spa Theatre. The full programme, including session details and timings, is now available online at http://www.naturalproducts.co.uk/natural-beauty-theatre.
The Natural Beauty & Spa show, on 7-8 April 2013 at London’s Olympia, will feature 200 exhibitors – from award-winning small producers to leading big brand names – showcasing hundreds of natural and organic beauty and personal care innovations. The event is free to attend for pre-registered trade visitors and relevant press representatives only. To register, please visit www.naturalproducts.co.uk and quote priority code NPE1328 (http://www.eventdata.co.uk/Visitor/NPE.aspx?AffiliateCode=NPE1328).
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Natural & Organic Products Europe is the UK's biggest trade show for the natural products, health food and organic sectors. In 2012, its 16th edition attracted over 7,352 attendees from 78 countries.
VISITOR INFORMATION: TRADE only
Location: The Grand Hall Olympia, Kensington, London W14 8UX, UK
Opening hours: Sunday 7 April, 9.30–17.30 & Monday 8 April, 9.30–17.00
Diversified Business Communications UK (Diversified UK) is a fast growing trade event organiser and publisher based in Brighton. Diversified UK’s portfolio includes Natural & Organic Products Europe; Natural Products Scandinavia; Nordic Organic Food Fair (new for 2013); lunch!; Casual Dining (new for 2014); office*; SITS – The Service Desk & IT Support Show; SITS Europe (new for 2013); Natural Products magazine; and the Natural Beauty Yearbook.
Diversified UK is part of Diversified Business Communications, a leading international media company, with a successful portfolio of sector leading exhibition, conferences, publications and websites.
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