INTERVIEW


typically be a palm source, we now use sunflower in some cases to make a more sustainable footprint for finished products.


TP: Where is the Clariant R&D ‘brains department’ located? MH: Every one of our regions is capable of doing R&D work for our customers. We have a contract R&D facility in Germany, the Clariant Innovation Centre that hosts a large part of our R&D expertise. But many experts are also based


in India and China, in our new One Clariant campus in Shanghai, or in our technical application development centre that are everywhere: Latin America, North America, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, North Asia, and China.


TP: How is your R&D pushing the envelope in terms of cosmetic chemistry? MH: We have recently developed a new polymer for rheology modification, Aristoflex Eco T. We’ve taken a natural base polymer, Biogum Tara, that we had already in our portfolio, and modifying it to make it a higher performing rheology modifier. This is competing with standard


products like carbomers but they are biodegradable. We feel this is an industry first for that level of performance and rheology modification.


TP: Do you have thoughts about the threats and opportunities for Clariant? Do you see Chinese personal care ingredient makers as a potential threat, for example? MH: The ever-changing cosmetic industry is providing both opportunities and challenges both for us and our customers, and there are different ways to look at it. With China, we see the success


of the local Chinese brands as a good opportunity for us. Their aspiration is to be big global multinationals. They start with China and move into the rest of Asia, and some are now looking at Europe and North America as places to enter with their brands. If you look at how


sophisticated their brands strategies are, there’s clearly great opportunities to grow with those customers. That’s why we’re making investments in China.


TP: Do you worry about the direct competition with Asian ingredient suppliers? MH: Clearly, we have an eye on the rise of local competition, but we also feel that as you build a cosmetics brand, what becomes more important than just low price is brand reputation and image. Therefore, companies are


looking to buy from reliable suppliers that can provide the quality that they need on a consistent basis, and also to deliver very innovative ingredients time and again, to be able to improve their brands and market them better to their consumers. We believe multinationals like


us are better suited towards having that continuous pipeline of new developments.


TP: To stay ahead? MH: It’s not just about us staying ahead, it’s about keeping consumer brands ahead of their competition too. That’s what our customers want. They just don’t want the same thing everybody else has, they want something new. Chinese brands are always


looking for the next new ingredient to put in their formulation. They can advertise it quickly online, get the trends going, and their products sold. They’re very agile in that aspect. If anything will change, it will


be some of the Western brands trying to be more agile like their Eastern competitors that they’re running into right now; being able to qualify ingredients faster, get new products onto the market quicker. At the same time, I expect


“There used to be more of a psychological impact of brands, the cachet of using a particular brand. Now, if you claim you’re going to give redness


reduction, you better be sure your product gives redness reduction” Michael Haspel, global vice president of personal & home care, Clariant


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some of those Eastern brands to slow down a little bit in their agility because they will become larger brands that have more value, and then they will want to protect them as well.


TP: Are there any other trends you see right now? MH: The major trend we see is more educated consumers. They want products that actually work, they want efficacy, but they want efficacy in combination with safe, natural and mild. They want the best of both worlds.


TP: Haven’t consumers always wanted products that work? MH: There used to be more of a psychological impact of brands, the cachet of using a particular brand. Now, if you claim you’re going to give redness reduction, you better be sure your product gives redness reduction. The difference is there’s


influencers out there on TikTok or Instagram advertising what they believe is a good product, but they can equally talk about what they believe is not such a good product. With more educated


consumers and more voices in the marketplace, we have an onus to make sure everything we deliver to our customers is highly effective and truly showing a difference for them in their final formulations.


TP: Does Clariant get involved with social media influencing? MH: The closest thing we do is in collaboration with some of our distribution partners and our own media communications team. We do some of this in China using a similar app to TikTok, there’s a lot of B2B promotion of our products in that space.


TP: Do social media influencers keep you up night? Or maybe regulation? What do you worry about? MH: The main thing right now is economic recovery and our ability to sell more of our new speciality ingredients that we’ve launched. Our biggest market, Europe, is a bit stagnant. In China, we see some green shoots, but I think a fully- fledged recovery will take some time. Regulation is something we


can work with to help shape, but we have to live with when it comes. So I try not to worry about what’s coming and work on being prepared for what’s coming by doing what we need to do to. PC


www.personalcaremagazine.com June 2024 PERSONAL CARE


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