Aveda Corp. was one of the first companies to produce plant-based skincare and cosmetics products.

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One might consider a behemoth skincare and cosmetics firm to be the last type of business to value environmental and social concerns  as highly as the sales of its products, but that is just what revolutionary beauty product manufacturer Aveda is known for. One of the first of its kind to introduce plant-based beauty products and produce them in culturally-sensitive and environmentally-responsible ways, the 30-year-old company proves that success is more than skin deep.

Headquartered in Blaine, Minn., Aveda manufactures skin care, cosmetics, perfume and hair care products, and trains students in cosmetology and esthiology at the Aveda Institute in cities throughout the United States. It was founded by Horst Rechelbacher in 1978, who sold Aveda to Estee Lauder in 1997.

Aveda was one of the first beauty companies to adopt a set of environmental principles designed to encourage greater environmental responsibility in business, known as the Coalition
of Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES) Principles, according to a December 2002 article in U.S. Business Review.

A Culture of Passion
The company has more than 2,000 salons and spas and more than 140 Aveda Environmental Lifestyle Stores throughout the globe, and says its employees are passionate about the way they do business. In addition, the company’s environmental policy encourages all employees, distributors and suppliers “to carry out Aveda’s commitment at their individual level, in their daily tasks.”

In 2002, then-President Dominique Consiel said Aveda “strives to communicate our integrity and passion in everything we do, from providing an entirely organic cafeteria for [our] employees; to hosting a three-day retreat for new employees; to developing hair color that is 99 percent naturally derived.”

And while some believe the phrases “integrity and passion” are often overused in the corporate world, Aveda has hard proof of fostering these qualities through a cohesive culture of business practices and employee education, it says.

Aveda Education, the company’s training program, is meant to provide “the insights and tools to help students grow as individuals” Consiel said. The goal is to “infuse the culture and philosophy of Aveda into every employee [by] encouraging them to be activists in helping to protect the biodiversity of the planet, not just at the office, but at home in their communities.”

Environmentally Sound
Indeed, the company’s environmental policy also claims it holds in high regard “environmentally preferable business operations and on-site daily life; innovative research and development processes that promote the use of environmentally preferable raw materials, components and other natural resource inputs; education and outreach programs that raise awareness about and offer solutions to environmental challenges; and community involvement
and philanthropy.”

These efforts have been realized in the company’s use of up to 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials in product packaging across all collections, according to a November 2007 article in Brandweek. In addition, Aveda has partnered with renewable energy product builder NativeEnergy to help fund wind turbines, and says it buys enough wind energy to power its main manufacturing facility.

Tracking Integrity
The company uses a “soil to bottle” traceability system to follow and document the precise origin of essential oils, according to wikipedia.com. This system is a way for Aveda to keep track of the purity and integrity of its ingredients.

In 1995, Aveda partnered with a community collective that the babassu nut breakers of the Brazilian Amazon had formed, the company says. Aveda sourced specialized organic babssu to use for its foaming cleansing product called “babassu betaine,” which acts as a smoothing agent.

Aveda has furnished a training center for a babassu processing facility, a soap-making facility and a paper press for processing babassu fibers. Aveda can buy babassu oil from the local collectives so it is able to know exactly where the certified organic babassu is coming from, which makes tracking integrity more manageable.

According to the company, product integrity and environmental responsibility are inherent components to its holistic identity. “Our mission at Aveda is to care for the world we live in, from the products we make to the ways in which we give back to society,” it says.