Clarins Takes Natural Ingredient Traceability to the Next Level with Land Acquisition

The Clarins group has acquired 115 hectares of land in Domaine Sainte-Colombe, France, including 50 hectares of farm land, which will be used to produce and process plants for the company's beauty products.

The first cultivation of organic plant matter using regenerative practices is planned for autumn 2024, per the company. The first harvests are planned for 2025/2026.

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Eventually, Clarins will harvest about 50 species of trees and plants from the region, including nopal, quince, almond, apricot, lavender, lemon thyme and cornflower.

By 2030, the project will reportedly produce one-third of the plants Clarins uses in its products.

The acquisition follows Clarins' 2016 acquisition of Le Domaine de Serraval in Haute-Savoie, France, which supplies the company's laboratories and factories with 2.5 tons of plants.

The land acquisitions align with Clarins' broader mission to enhance the traceability of its supply chain. 

In January 2024, the Clarins Group joined 15 cosmetics companies in the TRASCE (Traceability Alliance for Sustainable CosmEtics) consortium for the enhanced traceability of beauty ingredient and packaging supply chains.

Sponsored by FEBEA (Fédération des Entreprises de la Beauté), TRASCE will support participating companies in mapping their supply chains on a common digital platform, Transparency-One.

By using a common platform, the TRASCE participants hope to develop a common analysis of the industry's and companies' CSR-related risks, which will allow organizations to uniformly track progress.

"I am proud of this strategic advance towards an integrated, more vertical, ethical and sustainable supply," said Virginie Courtin, Clarins managing director, upon the acquisition of the new land. "For 70 years, Clarins has harnessed the science of plants to develop ever more effective and innovative cosmetic formulas. The acquisition of the Domaine illustrates this approach of continued progress towards more excellence, safety and traceability, for all our clients."