INTERVIEW #99 GITTI
Based in: Berlin, Germany
Founded in: 2019
Founded by: Jenni Baum-Minkus
Shop at/ship to Shipping worldwide and some exclusive concept stores such as The Store x Soho House Berlin, KaDeWe, Bon Marche Paris, Nice Beauty and Breuninger.
Price range: 9.90€-125€
Instagram: @gittybeauty
Hello gitti and welcome to A Sustainable Closet, tell us, what is gitti?
gitti is a beauty brand from Berlin offering conscious products produced in Europe. We strive for a dual power of beauty and mindfulness: making beauty sustainable by taking care of ourselves and our planet. That's why we develop innovative beauty products based on natural and effective ingredients coming in sustainable packaging options that are better for you and the planet. Our aim is to improve existing products as well as offer new innovations. Everything started with a water-based nail colour formula which is free of harsh-smelling solvents and thus odour-neutral, easy to apply and lasts up to three days. Perfectly suited for people who are sensitive to traditional nail polish smell and like to change manicures often. As we wanted to also offer more long-lasting colours, we developed a plant-based formula with up to 82% natural origin ingredients, providing intense colour payoff and shine. Nowadays gitti has a range of different product lines including nail colours, nail care, makeup and skin care. With our products, we want to wake up/ change the industry and offer better alternatives.
What makes your makeup and beauty products sustainable?
Our aim is to offer sustainable products to our customers by carefully selecting all components, starting from the ingredients to the packaging to the production and shipment of the products. For the ingredients, we are aiming to use the highest possible percentage of natural ingredients while offering excellent performance. Our strict "No-List" excludes all ingredients that are in discussion to have a negative effect on the environment (and as a consequence also on our bodies). Further, all our products are vegan and also PETA certified (which guarantees that we don't test on animals anywhere in the world - fortunately in the EU animal testing for cosmetic products is already banned.)
For packaging, we are either using recycled materials like 100% recycled aluminium, recyclable materials like glass or refill options like our customized refillable lipstick system. The production of all products takes place in Europe, with a focus on Germany and Italy. We only select partners that are certified for fair conditions, a transparent supply chain and sustainable production, e.g. offering CO2-neutral production or renewable energies. The shipment of the products is plastic-free and CO2-neutral. Further gitti as a company is climate-neutral.
We are super curious about the production and how these beautiful products come to life.
All our ideas are born and developed in-house by our R&D Team and of course supported by input from the whole gitti team and our amazing community. We are always studying the market, looking for new potential innovations, active ingredients and sustainable packaging solutions. Our aim is not only to improve existing products that are on the market, for most of our products we start with a blank sheet of paper and try to think about products that do not yet exist in this form and that would offer a clear added value for our customers. Once the idea is born and the detailed concept created, we are looking for the right partner/supplier that helps us to scale up and manufacture the product. Here we rely on partners with high expertise as well as sustainable and fair conditions.
Who is the typical gitti person?
gitti is for everyone. For us as a Conscious Beauty Brand, it's important to convey that beauty and diversity are much more than just something on the outside. It's about how you feel and showing who you really are, what you stand for and how you act. Beauty products can express your own personality and emphasize your individual charisma. Beauty products can let you be yourself.
What has been the largest gain so far on your gitti journey?
gitti was born at my living room table, so I was solely responsible for everything at the launch of the first collection, which sold out within a few hours. Within the last two years, we have grown insanely fast. The team has gotten a lot bigger. The fast growth has definitely presented some challenges, we had to recruit and onboard very quickly. Of course, 2020 is very present there, scaling in the midst of a pandemic in our second year on the market has definitely been very challenging. Keeping the team together and doing it all digitally. There are a lot of young people on the gitti team, so relationship-building was a top priority, especially with the home office situation. It also took a lot longer to procure raw materials that we urgently needed from specific suppliers without alternatives. For the development of new products, we also brought in new suppliers who didn't know us and couldn't meet us in person. It certainly did us a lot of good that we were digitally positioned right from the start.
What do you think needs to change in the beauty industry to make it more sustainable?
I believe that we are already on the right track. The food industry, for example, has led the way and already attaches great importance to sustainability, even among big companies. It's not just about the end product is sustainable, but the entire value chain should be taken into account. If there is a good product that has been tested for all criteria and it is then shipped in packaging that has been chosen because it is cute... then that is not sustainable. It is also important that everyone pulls together, the big and the small companies.
What would you advise consumers who seek to create a more sustainable beauty routine to do?
We believe that fewer, but better and multifunctional products are essential to a conscious beauty routine. That is why we attach great importance to the fact that our products can be used in different ways. The lip sync, for example, can also be used as a blush or a lip shadow. The Everybalm can be used from head to toe, even for dry hair ends.
What's the best thing about gitti?
That we have an amazing community that is always by your side.
What's up next, do you have anything juicy to share with our readers?
We just launched our first Skincare Line at the end of September and are very proud of what we have created with it. We have been working on it for a long time. And there is now a complete conscious beauty routine from gitti. There will also be many more gitti colours to make the cold season a bit more colourful for us.
