Cosmetica Laboratories Opens A Los Angeles Facility To Boost Its Indie Beauty Business

Cosmetica Laboratories Inc. is making a big play to service indie beauty brands by opening a branch in the Los Angeles suburb Woodland Hills.

Kathie Elliot, vice president of sales, marketing and product development for the cosmetics manufacturer, cites explosive growth in the indie beauty sector as a major factor driving the decision to plant a hub in Southern California. “Indies are growing 40%-plus when it comes to color, and skincare is taking off a little bit faster than that,” she says, adding, “It’s a great opportunity to focus on these emerging brands because they have the growth opportunity and the innovation.”

Cosmetica Laboratories Inc., which has established a beauty industry foothold by servicing brands for over 30 years out of its Toronto headquarters, has planted a branch in the Los Angeles suburb Woodland Hills.

By opening the Woodland Hills location, the company is expecting to boost the number of indie brands in its client portfolio by 10% to 20% in the next two years. Currently, indie beauty brands constitute about 20% of the Toronto-based manufacturer’s clients. Cosmetica’s expansion comes as the cosmetics manufacturing sector is being rocked by changes, including the arrival of players tailored to indie beauty brands and acquisitions such as ANJAC Health & Beauty’s purchase of Cosmetix West.

“Indies are growing 40%-plus when it comes to color, and skincare is taking off a little bit faster than that.”

For Cosmetica, which has established a foothold in the beauty industry over the course of 30 years, supporting West Coast indie beauty brands is nothing new. According to Elliot, it began assisting with the development of emerging brands more than a decade ago. “It was very, very small volume, but we grew with them over the last 12 years,” she says. “Some were multimillion-dollar businesses and being bought out by the big brands. So, we know that kind of scenario works out for us really well.”

The Woodland Hills facility caters to rising brands by allowing them to embark on their businesses with smaller minimum order requirements (MOQs) than possible at Cosmetica’s 270,000-square-foot Toronto headquarters. The facility expects to reach beyond traditional beauty brands to influencers, who are increasingly acting as decision makers for the brands they partner with and starting brands of their own.

Shannaz Schopfer, who heads Cosmetica’s Los Angeles innovation hub as general manager, was previously senior vice president of strategic development at Anisa International and director of the West Coast division at Intercos.

The L.A. location is convenient for brands in the fertile indie beauty ecosystem on the West Coast. “Brands can make sure the product is exactly the way they want it right here, [and] show their team, show their influencers,” says Shannaz Schopfer, general manager of Cosmetica Innovations USA and head of the L.A. facility. “A lot of these brands don’t have the financial means or the manpower to fly up to Toronto, do all the shade matching and, then, fly back.” To further help indie beauty brands, the lab will produce public relations samples in small amounts for desksides and other media appointments.

“What I love about working with smaller brands is they’re ready to go. They have the agility, but they also need a lot of support on the operational side, and that’s the part that we can offer them.”

Cosmetica’s 5,800-square-foot space in Woodland Hills boasts a coffee bar, ping pong table and large couch to foster creativity and encourage collaboration while being conducive to holding client meetings. The hub will concentrate on Cosmetica’s strengths in key merchandise categories such as lip products, mascara, foundation and skincare emulsions, and is primed to push the envelope on product formulas and formats. In April, Schopfer told Premium Beauty News, “We will have on-site PD and chemists working with clients on developing new concepts in cosmetics and skincare.”

In fact, originality in the beauty segment is what Cosmetica is after. Fueled by market research and client requests, it’s exploring raw material breakthroughs and improving upon clean formulas to court brands responding to the demands of eco-conscience consumers. Cosmetica offers an extensive range of services from stability testing and regulatory compliance to project management and manufacturing solutions.

With senior chemists on staff, Cosmetica’s facility in the Los Angeles area is expected to push the envelope on innovation in beauty product formats and formulas.

Elliot says, “What I love about working with smaller brands is they’re ready to go. They have the agility, but they also need a lot of support on the operational side, and that’s the part that we can offer them because we’re an organization that’s really buttoned down on processes, scale up, quality, and they’re going to not have a problem with managing that.”