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Published on February 28, 2008

Being a top executive at a prestige brand in the beauty industry has got to be a glamorous job, right? Getting dolled up and attending the gala shows, rubbing shoulders with the stars and celebrities.

Very nice, says Daria Myers, now what can we do about the environment?

The president of Origins - the luxury cosmetics brand she helped create for Estee Lauder in 1990 - has never lost focus on keeping things natural when it comes to skincare.

Myers had been with Laude's Aramis division until the advent of Origins and served as senior vice president for global marketing, then switched briefly to Lauder's Aveda brand before being named president at Origins.

She flew into Bangkok from New York recently to help launch Origins' new organic line and stood out at the party in her elegant, cream-coloured dress made from natural fabric.

"We started work on the organic line at the end of 2005 with the aim of earning recognition for a totally organic product, as pure as pure can be," she said.

It's about more than "talking green", Myers stressed - it's about meeting the strictest requirements of the United States Drug Administration (USDA) for organic products.

"Organic", she says, doesn't just mean natural. It means the ingredients were grown in tested soil, nurtured with certified techniques and never came in contact with chemical additives.

Among the nine Origins products, the hair-conditioning oil is 98 per cent "certified organic", the Body Pampering Massage Oil 95 per cent and the Foaming Face Wash 73 per cent.

USDA regulations require at least 70 per cent, and the rest must be approved non-agricultural substances. Matching these standards requires a great deal of effort, Myers said, as well as a significant financial investment.

The brand's commitment goes a lot further. At its manufacturing and retail facilities, Origins uses electricity generated by wind power. America's Environmental Protection Agency promptly made the firm a member of its Green Power Leadership Club.

As well, 50 per cent of all of its products' outer packaging is recycled fibre, as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and the boxes are made using only wind power or hydropower.

The treatments are free of petroleum, parabens, paraffin, phylates - and animal products, except for "cruelty-free" honey and beeswax.

Myers believes organic items represent the fastest-growing category for beauty products, with lots more potential around the world - particularly in Asia.

"Origins is available in 26 countries," she says. "The main market is the US and Britain and it's been established for 12 years in Japan and Hong Kong."

Myers pointed out that the brand cares about human issues in other ways as well.

"We don't want to tell people what they should look like. That's why there's no celebrity attached to our image. We want to create a new mindset across the ages, and promote the lifestyle idea that health is the new wealth."

The green movement, Myers said, is the right way to go.

"Those who love beautiful clothes and cosmetics are now looking for a way to go green. I see it going from 'hippie' to 'hip'. The organic lifestyle can grow even stronger in our consumer-driven world - it can be elegant and chic too."

Vipasai Niyamabha

Special to The Nation