By Sarah Ahssen, Fashion Network
The Honest Company is about to set foot for the first time outside its US domestic market. It was founded in 2012 by American actress Jessica Alba, and its product range includes home and baby products and cosmetics, all of them manufactured using safe, environmentally friendly formulas. For its first foray in Europe, The Honest Company has chosen Honest Beauty, a skincare, haircare and make-up line launched originally in 2015.
Honest Beauty will be introduced in spring 2019 at multinational perfumery chain Douglas in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and also Australia. Honest Beauty will be available at about 100 of the 2,500 stores operated by Douglas under its various retail brands, said Nick Vlahos, CEO of The Honest Company, talking to US magazine Inc.
The Honest Company has been a frequent target for consumer complaints, notably for the presence of controversial ingredients in some of its products. Two years ago it began talks with the Unilever group, which considered buying The Honest Company for $1 billion. Eventually, Unilever decided to pull out of the negotiations.
In the USA, The Honest Company is sold via its e-tail sites honest.com and honestbeauty.com, as well as by 18,000 retailers, among them the Target chain. In 2016, the company’s revenue was $300 million (€257 million), and in 2017 the figure reportedly leapt by 34%.
