Shampoo, deodorant, make-up remover, scrub… Customers will be able to find this in the second Unbottled boutique, which opens its doors on Wednesday, April 10 at 6 p.m.e district of Paris. Common points of these products: they are all solid and without plastic packaging.
At the head of this brand born in 2020. Sarah Pouchet and Benjamin Legros. A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, the former worked at L’Occitane and Estée Lauder, while the latter, a former Grenoble Ecole de Management employee, began his career at a mergers and acquisitions consultancy before joining a private equity fund.
Cardboard packaging
Together, they wanted to drastically reduce the plastic bottles present in our bathrooms. “Plastic is very practical, but it is a false friend. We are used to using it without worrying about what will happen to it after we throw it away, and many bottles still end up in nature.”laments Sarah Pouchet.
So the couple created solid products packed in cardboard. Unlike classic liquid shower gels, these do not contain water. Enough to reduce their volume, and thus the impact of their transport.
Four years after launching the first products on the market, Unbottled has about thirty references for prices from 9.90 to 17.90 euros per unit.
Everything is produced in a laboratory near Aix-en-Provence. As for the composition, the founder points out the formulas that are very well rated on the Yuka application. “For raw materials, we always prefer procurement in France when possible. When it is not, we look for responsible sectors abroad”she specifies.
Five more stores are coming
Today, the brand says it has a turnover of more than 10 million euros, without specifying the exact figure. In order to get there, among other things, she used the spotlights where she was staying “Who wants to be my partner?” » in 2022
The couple received two offers from Delphine André and Jean-Pierre Nadir, which they rejected as too greedy. It has previously benefited from new development money, raising €1 million in 2021 from a relative and Thierry Petit, co-founder of the e-commerce site Private exhibition space.
The company, whose products are already sold in more than 900 Sephora stores (a brand owned by LVMH, owner of “Echos”) in Europe, intends to strengthen its presence in France. It aims to be distributed in more than 500 pharmacies by the end of the year, compared to about 150 today.
The entrepreneurial tandem, which opened the first store in 2022 in Paris, plans to open five more in major French cities in 2024. “We hope to continue this opening momentum in the years to come”, dismisses Sarah Pouchet, whose company employs a dozen people. The brand will also soon expand its skincare range, starting with sunscreen.
Young brands and big brands
Unbottled is part of a rapidly changing market. If soap had always existed, “the development of solid products in other categories, such as shampoos, dates back less than ten years”analyzes Emily Mayer, head of studies at Circan, an institute specializing in consumption.
Young brands have positioned themselves in this niche, such as Respire, Lamazuna or even 900.care, before big players like Garnier or Yves Rocher follow in their footsteps. First available in specialty stores, the solid products are now also sold on supermarket shelves. “But apart from soap, mass-distributed solid cosmetics remain a very small market.”shade Emily Mayer.
It must be said that brands face several obstacles. “The use of solid hygiene products is not in the habit of the French and they are sometimes discouraged by their price, often higher per unit than the traditional product.”although the brands assure that their use is longer.
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