Amanda and I have been obsessed with fragrance all of our lives—from the first eau de parfums we purchased when we were kids to having the honor of working for the largest fragrance company in the world for a combination of 25+ years. However, a lot has changed for us—we traded successful careers to disrupt an industry monopolized by a handful of companies. Insular and antiquated, we saw an opportunity to be real change-makers in this space. Our goal is not to play investigator, but simply to change things up because we all deserve better. Fragrance shouldn't be a secret. It’s just been behind closed doors for so long, and there has never been accountability or transparency between companies and consumers.
What do we mean when we say we want to do things differently?
The three main pillars of Esas are as follows:
We list ALL Ingredients
We believe you should know everything going into and onto your body. That applies to fragrances, too. Read the ingredient list of your favorite perfume, though, and you’ll likely get down to “parfum” or “fragrance” as an ingredient. It’s similar to the listing of “natural flavors” on a food packaging label. What’s really in “parfum” or “flavor,” and why can companies get away with not detailing everything that goes into their products? One of the main truths is that the fragrance industry considers their formulas a trade secret and doesn’t want their scents to be commoditized. The threat that another company may replicate a fragrance if all ingredients were to be listed has been blown completely out of proportion. For Esas, the benefit of giving consumers the knowledge of what goes into our products far outweighs any risk of our scents being copied. We source organic, all-natural ingredients that are good for you, and we list every single one of them.
We changed the business model
Perfumes have been around for thousands of years, and somewhere along the way, there became an enormous disconnect between the people who make the products and the people using them. The constant exposure to toxic chemicals on the planet and people making these products is something we feel passionately about and want to prevent. We also saw the use of phrases like “all natural” and “sustainable” plastered on products that were very far from that. You might think that by using synthetics, a company isn’t depleting the earth and therefore sustainable. But nobody talks about the carbon emissions from making molecules and the harmful effects to the environment when these forever chemicals end up in oceans and ultimately our bodies. There needs to be end-to-end accountability. Here at Esas, we pride ourselves on being an organic beauty brand that owns each step of the process. From sourcing local, organic, plant-based ingredients to manufacturing and bottling them in a sustainable manner, we know that our business model is safe for the people that make them, good for the people who use them, and does right by Mother Nature.
We are re-envisioning the scent experience
As we said before, we’re not here to point fingers. We have the utmost respect for modern perfumery. Fusing traditional perfumery with innovative and proprietary techniques, we are here to make fragrances that are healthy with zero compromise. It’s time to empower a new generation of voices in the industry who want to do better. Defining this three-pronged approach at Esas has helped us to follow our “health-first fragrances” mission and further layout our plan for how we continue to mix it up in the industry. We should be looking beyond the bottle to decide what’s in vogue. We live and breathe only using ingredients found in nature (and sharing these with consumers!), treating employees and Mother Nature with respect, using an end-to-end process that is entirely sustainable, and not placating to the oldest players in the industry.
Take the time to learn what's in your fragrances and take ownership of your health.
xx, Seda
