Glossier: Greenwashing or Sustainable?

Since it was founded in 2014, Glossier has presented itself as a minimalism-driven brand, toting simplistic branding and a “skin first, makeup second” motto. Glossier promotes a user experience-focused business model, involving the consumers in the cosmetics’ production process. Since its conception, Glossier has blown up and become a household name. With all eyes on Glossier, questions have been raised about their sustainability practices.

Despite stating to be cruelty-free, Glossier has never claimed to be a completely green, carbon neutral brand. Even still, their branding is a form of greenwashing, sometimes called the “green sheen.” This facade of environmentalism occurs when marketing makes a company seem user-oriented and minimal, so environmentally-conscious consumers will gravitate towards the brand. This deceiving marketing tactic can be seen through Glossier’s minimalistic web and packaging designs, as well as their social media activism. Glossier has been called out by environmentalists and consumers for greenwashing on multiple occasions, but how true is this claim?

Glossier’s Emblematic Minimalist Branding

Source: Unsplash

Glossier has launched multiple products since the company started, with some cult favorites being the Boy Brow eyebrow gel and Balm Dotcom lip balm. The sleek packaging and user-friendly products attracted the attention of many celebrities wanting to get the “model off-duty” look, especially from 2016-2017. The core products of the brand are lightweight, easy-to-use products that have a natural finish on the skin.

Glossier Play launched in 2019, and seemed to be Glossier’s fun, more experimental sister. This line had brighter colors in eyeliners, lip shines, and glitters. It appeared to mark a new era of Glossier, as the company seemed to be departing from their natural-looking makeup. The issue was that these products completely broke away from Glossier’s minimalist brand. The Glossier Play line excluded the classic easy-to-use, minimal products most consumers shopped at Glossier for. So, when Glossier Play started to receive criticism from environmentalists, no cult followers rushed to defend the company.

The main issues with Glossier Play were the packaging and the formulation of the glitter. Glossier’s usual packaging is the iconic pink bubble wrap pouch, filled with cardboard boxes containing the product. As part of the rebrand, Glossier Play products were boxed in cardboard packaging and then individually wrapped in foil. Unlike the pink pouch, the foil was not only non-reusable, but also non-recyclable. The glitters from the Glossier Play line, Glitter Gelée, were made from PET, a plastic, non-biodegradable substance. PET is banned in the UK because of its negative environmental effects. Glossier’s use of PET caused enough backlash and decrease in sales that the company made the decision to quietly discontinue the Glossier Play in 2021. In this instance, claims that Glossier green washes their brand are correct, as this line was a direct divergence from the minimalist brand they had created. 

The fallout Glossier faced in 2020 for green-washing, as well as mishandling of employees of color, has since been addressed, and the company has attempted to make strides towards sustainability since. Their new deodorant launch this year has refillable packaging and doesn’t contain any aluminum. This refillable concept was first introduced in their eyeshadow, which has a compact wherein eyeshadows can be switched in and out. Similarly, they recently relaunched their cult favorite lip balm, Balm Dotcom. The relaunch was focused around the product’s modified applicator, which now doesn’t require a finger to apply, as well as its new vegan ingredients replacing beeswax and lanolin. 

Glossier’s transitions towards sustainability show a greater move towards green products in the beauty industry. Newer brands such as Kosas and Ilia make claims of being sustainable, and seem to avoid the greenwashing pitfalls Glossier previously fell into. The social accountability placed on these newer brands have started a transition in the beauty industry to an overall goal of legitimate sustainability. As consumers, it is important to recognize the difference between green companies and green-washing. That being said, it is also important to recognize that brands are capable of change, if held accountable, like Glossier.