MBDC provided the recently announced assessments for Henry Rose, a line of fine fragrances by Michelle Pfeiffer, resulting in Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold overall product certification and Platinum recognition in the Material Health category.
In pursuit of certification at the Gold level, MBDC assessed the formulas for each fragrance down to the parts per million, as well as encouraged materials which were sourced from renewable resources and designed for the Circular Economy. Each product component was evaluated on the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program’s five criteria: material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship and social fairness. MBDC worked directly with Henry Rose and industry leader International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), to ensure the fragrances met each criterion.
Pfeiffer began the Cradle to Cradle Certified journey after struggling for over a decade to find a fragrance that was healthier and more sustainable while still providing beauty.
“I had given up wearing fragrance altogether, I missed it,” said Pfeiffer. “I finally decided to create a line that could compete with other premium fragrances in the marketplace, but was fully transparent with its ingredients and didn’t feel like a compromise.”
This collaboration comes a year after MBDC and IFF created the first Cradle to Cradle Certified fragrance, PuraVita. PuraVita served as proof that a fragrance could be designed to embrace each of MBDC co-founder William McDonough’s Five Goods: Good Materials, Good Economy, Good Energy, Good Water and Good Lives.
Similar to PuraVita, Henry Rose’s certified fragrances are free of category 1 sensitizers, molecules which are likely to cause allergic reactions, as well as any ingredients which are on Cradle to Cradle and/or the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) banned lists. Cradle to Cradle Certification goes beyond solely restricted substances and evaluates each molecule according to its impact on human and environmental health, ensuring products are safe then circular, demonstrating benefits for people and a potential to recirculate in biological or technical cycles.
By engaging MBDC for Cradle to Cradle® assessment and then certification, Pfeiffer and Henry Rose are actualizing their goal of being 100 percent transparent in an industry that has not traditionally been very open. Cradle to Cradle Certified, as a third-party, peer-reviewed standard, communicates to customers that products are made with healthier and safer materials which are designed for circularity but also renewable and clean energy, optimized water usage and that all people throughout the supply chain are treated with dignity.
“Collaborating with Michelle, Henry Rose and IFF has been an exciting opportunity to bring together fearless people who want to go into the future insisting on product quality,” said McDonough. “The five fragrances are the result of unwavering ambition of everyone involved coupled with deep science bringing us fragrances we can confidently call ‘goods’ for everyone to elegantly enjoy.”
Read more about Pfeiffer’s path to healthier and more transparent perfume:
- Vogue: Michelle Pfeiffer on the Power of Fragrance, and Launching Her Own Clean Perfume Line
- Bloomberg: Michelle Pfeiffer Thinks You Should Know What’s In Your Perfume
- W Magazine: Michelle Pfeiffer on the Radical Transparency of Her New Fragrance Brand
- Forbes: Michelle Pfeiffer Launches Henry Rose, a Transparent Fragrance Brand
- Fast Company: Michelle Pfeiffer’s Groundbreaking New Perfume Line is About Safety and Sustainability, not Vanity
To learn more about the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program, contact Jay Bolus.
