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Jessica Alba’s Honest Company – A billion dollar partnership

12 Jun 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Jessica Alba’s Honest Company – Hollywood star power combines with green principles for billion dollar partnership
Just like mothers everywhere, Jessica Alba, despite her celebrity status, found herself concerned about the products she was using on her children. Her light bulb moment came when a well-known brand of a product she used caused a rash – her quest for chemical and paraben-free products resulted in The Honest Company being formed in a partnership. Three years later, the company has grown into a powerhouse doing business over US $ 1 billion.

She says that the idea to create her own baby product line came when she was pregnant with her first child. On her mother’s recommendation, she started to use a laundry detergent for babies that her own mother had used. She broke out in a rash. She did some research and found that the product’s formula had changed considerably since it had been used on her as a child.

She started to read ‘Healthy Child Healthy World’ and soon was considering a partnership with the author, environmental guru Christopher Gavigan. Alba says she “hounded him for a year”, asking for solutions that can make the products used on kids better and eventually in 2012, Alba and Gavigan went into a partnership and The Honest Company was born. The company started marketing nontoxic products, everything from baby wipes and diapers to laundry detergent and floor cleaner.

Today, as her company crosses the US $ 1 billion mark in sales, Jessia Alba says that it has also been a personal triumph for her. Speaking at the Forbes third annual Women’s Summit, Alba shared about the challenges she has faced in being taken seriously in the business world as a Hollywood A Lister, who also had the ability and the passion to do something different.

“People just saw me as this girl in a bikini in movies kicking butt — maybe not the brightest bulb,” the star told Forbes Woman publisher Moira Forbes and the audience of 100s of women entrepreneurs and leaders. “It took three and a half years of condescending nods and pats on the back of “good luck” or “go back to endorsing things” or “go do a perfume”.”

The Honest Company has built its credentials on a sound approach to creating environmentally-friendly products. On its website, the company details its approach to designing products while avoiding harsh chemicals and additives. Although most companies will consider an ingredient as toxic only if it has immediate health impacts, The Honest Company says that it takes into consideration the potential long-term effects and possible exposures to chemical-related illnesses, etc.

Their concern is for probable damage causing gaps and other areas of vulnerability that can cause potential health issues such as carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, allergenicity, neurotoxicity and many others. The company also says it is committed to staying relevant on up-to-date science in toxicology and is also expanding its list of “toxic offenders” like phthatates and parabens.

The Honest Company is also planning to expand, says The Sin City star; in its sights is China, where lenient regulations have resulted in shoppers losing trust in many household products made in the country. The Honest Company has also taken one step further than most – it tries, Alba says, to live up to its names by being transparent and honest about its products and operations. A unique home delivery subscription service and affordable products have allowed them to build more business. Alba’s appeal as a star and a mother has also helped and empowered the company to engage with women consumers.

One thing Alba and her company will not do is to sell out to the big guys. The big corporations buy over aspiring and hopeful start-ups all the time – but having raised US $ 70 million as venture capital, Alba and her team believe that The Honest Company has the potential to grow while remaining true to its cause.

Alba’s business model has come off our favourite concept – Hollywood success aside, women who, in their homes or at their workplaces, find needs that are not currently being fulfilled by products and services, will always have the opportunity to start something new. All businesses, once upon a time, were ideas and the future seems to the same for a long time to come.

(Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at [email protected])

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Jessica Alba’s Honest Company – A billion dollar partnership

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