Susanne Kaufmann is a pioneer of clean beauty, at the helm of a successful business. In this interview, she tells Pretty Slow’s Alessia Armenise how she got where she is.
For anyone passionate about clean beauty, Susanne Kaufmann is a reference and one of Europe’s most loved natural brands. With seventeen years of experience in the field, she is both a pioneer and an innovator.
In this Pretty Good Business podcast episode, we talk to Susanne Kaufmann about how the clean beauty industry has evolved in the last two decades and we dive into the power of natural ingredients and the need to always strive for a better and more sustainable business.
Can you tell us more about Susanne Kaufmann and the history of your brand?
So everything started in 2003 with the first product, but the idea and the development and why it came to this point started much earlier than that. In 1994, I overtook our family hotel in Bezau (Austria), which featured a medical spa. So as a young woman in charge of the hotel, I started to think about what I could do to attract people and bring them to Bezau. And so I thought, let’s focus on the spa. We did that, and it was very successful.
In the 90s and the beginning of 2000, everybody wanted to go for a wellness weekend, so this was really the beginning of this big movement and we found ourselves in the middle of it. We created our spa treatments and our own philosophy. Then in 2003, as the old spa got too small, my brother who is an architect, renovated the spa. It’s in the basement but my brother said, let’s bring nature into the spa, we have to make it very bright so you don’t feel like you are in a basement.
At that moment, I said to myself that we needed to change our products to natural cosmetics because this was the perfect moment to change. So instead of finding a brand to have in our spa, I found Ingo Metzler, who is still our producer. We developed the first 24 products for our spa. The idea was to have our own natural products in line with the treatment philosophy, creating a very special spa menu, which would differentiate us from other hotels.
Did you expect the brand to become such a big success?
Not at all, I didn’t think that the brand would become as big as it is today. The idea at the beginning was to have it in our spa for our treatments and sell them to our clients and maybe have a little e-shop.
Your products are created in the middle of nature in the beautiful Austrian Alps, how important was this environment for the creation of your brand? How much does Bregenzerwald inspire you?
I think without this heritage, the brand wouldn’t be what it is because it all started with my experience growing up in this region with my grandmothers’ and my parents’ lessons. Here, we have a deep respect for nature. We profit from nature, but we also respect it, which is a crucial aspect of our brand values.
I think without this heritage and without the hotel first, I wouldn’t have created a cosmetics line and even if I did it wouldn’t be the same when it comes to our values.
In a nutshell, what is holistic beauty for you?
Holistic beauty successfully brings different pillars together: food, sleep, movement and fresh air, good treatments and the right products.
How did you decide that you were going to branch out of the Spa world and make Susanne Kaufmann a beauty brand in its own right?
I didn’t really decide it, for me it was a passion and a hobby at the time. A German journalist came to the hotel and tried the products, she liked them and she wrote an article about them. Next thing I know I have a retailer on the phone asking me to have the products in their shop.
I had to do it all myself because I didn’t have employees yet so I used to travel to all the places that wanted to have our products and we ended up on shelves everywhere in the world. I learned a lot during our first years.
You already had experience in the hotel and spa industry – was the process of building a beauty brand different?
The first big difference was that I inherited the hotel. It came with things that were great and things that were not so easy to handle but I didn’t have to build that business from the group up.
Susanna Kaufmann’s beauty line was different because from the beginning I have been able to do what I thought it was right, from the smell to the design, and there is nothing I would do differently even after seventeen years.
What was your first product? How many ‘prototypes’ did you have to make before you got what you wanted from the first product you made?
The first product I ever had in my hands was the shower shampoo. I just liked it instantly, and most of the products from the first batch were all great and we kept them like that.
How did you choose the ingredients?
One lucky aspect of my life is that I always meet the right people at the right time. I met the developers of the products and told them what I wanted the products to be and they came up with these beautiful recipes.
The plan was to have plant-based products, with a focus on them being effective because seventeen years ago natural cosmetics was more about not being harmful, but it wasn’t seen as very effective. In the last 10 years, some brands spent a lot of time convincing people that natural cosmetics can do more than just not harm you.
Do you have a favourite product?
The Eye Rescue Stick has been my favourite since we launched it but I’m also very proud of our new Mineral Body Lotion with mineral salts that target the deep fascia.
You are about to embark on a new challenge, transforming your products into refillable. How did you come to this decision? And how difficult was it to create this new sustainable option?
Not really, because my product development manager found out that Alpla was starting a program. They have a simple refill solution, so we asked to be their pilot project.
The refill is made out of around 75% of recycled plastic – it can’t be 100% because of the laws concerning cosmetics. It’s a very light and thin refill bottle with no cap, which means that is 100% recyclable.
We now have 100% recyclable packaging when it comes to refillable, which has a lower impact than glass bottles.
Was sustainability always a central part of your personal and professional life?
Yes, as I said, it’s because of where we live – it’s a very sustainability-oriented area. It’s normal for us to try to be as sustainable as possible. We grew up with this idea so when we do business we also do it this way.
What did you learn during the process of building a sustainable brand?
To always strive for better solutions. Nowadays there are more and more solutions when it comes to packaging and production but back then the only possibility for us was to have glass bottles because the other choice was plastic. We are always looking for new possibilities to be more sustainable, so we decided to use refills. We are also very lucky to be in a region where we can get everything produced locally, which greatly impacts the sustainability of our products.
Do you think people are embracing sustainability more after the pandemic?
Maybe a bit, but I’m not too sure about it because people forget bad things very quickly. I really count on the young generation, though, I think they see things in a different way and they can make a difference.
How do you see the future of your company?
I see a great future for our company to be honest because I think we do a lot of things right, even though there’s always something more to do. We are always looking at things to get better and how to have a lighter footprint when it comes to packaging and ingredients. That’s our mission.
One thing we will work on is to be more available for people outside of the European continent.
What do you do to get inspired and to find new ideas?
Most of the time I get ideas when I’m not working and have time for walks in the forest or at the beach – there, I get the most inspiration. It’s when you have a free mind that ideas come to you.
But it’s also the team, the retailers, the clients or the therapists at the spa. So there are a lot of different ways to get new ideas but for me, nature is always my primary source of inspiration.
And one piece of advice for business owners or wannabe business owners that want to create a sustainable business?
If you start a new business, never accept a no for an answer. Always go beyond and ask if there is a possibility. It’s very important to be passionate and have a very clear idea of what you want to do. And if the no is final, you can always try someone else.
Listen to this episode of Pretty Good Business with Susanne Kaufmann here.
