Act Against Cruelty to Animals: Adopt India’s Premium Vegan Lipstick for Those Glossy and Nourished Lips (2021)

• Q. Tell us about yourself and your background.
• Klome was conceived in 2017. We are very proud to be an all-Indian brand – conceived in India, made in India and now selling in India. The thought behind Klome was why can’t Indian brands manufacture luxury products – comparable in product quality to international brands? We wanted to fill this need and we are slowly reaching there.
  
  After doing my B. Tech (CS) I joined my family business of electronics manufacturing in 2015-16 where I worked for 2-3 years. During a visit to one of our suppliers in China I was delighted to see a lot of animals like ducks, swans rabbits, etc. in their courtyard. Being a pet lover myself I initially thought that maybe the animals brought them good luck as per Feng Shui. Later on I was horrified to know that the animals were meant for animal testing because the supplier was also manufacturing cosmetics and animal testing is mandatory in China. In India even though animal testing is banned but many manufacturers are importing animal-tested products from China and relabelling them as Indian products across sectors and not just cosmetics.
  
  When I returned to India and did my research on animal testing I realised how inhumane it was and completely avoidable it is. Today we have access to advanced modern labs where we can do artificial testing, skin cultures, etc. which give us more reliable results. We can even replicate skin tissue and see how to responds to various formulations. This led to the idea of creating a brand like Klome where there is absolutely no animal testing in any of our products. We also ensure that none of our raw material suppliers are supplying raw materials subjected to animal testing at any stage of production. Klome also ensures that none of our formulations has any animal ingredients or animal by-products.
  
  Once I decided to launch a vegan cosmetic product I zeroed in on lipsticks thinking they were the simplest. This is where I was grossly wrong – lipsticks have multiple variants and numerous intricacies. They can be matte, glossy, cream, pastel, crayon, liquid, etc. In line with our philosophy of “Live and Let Live” we created some of the finest vegan lipsticks in India which are completely free from any animal ingredients or being subjected to animal testing at any stage. To compete with the select vegan lipstick brands priced exorbitantly, Klome came up with an ultra-luxurious push-bottom mechanism housing and our products were very aggressively priced at almost 60-70% lower than the established brands.

• Q. How challenging was it to start producing vegan lipsticks?
• In a normal lipstick animal fat and beeswax is used as base products. The base product is the main constituent in a formulation, and it has to be moisturising for your lips and also it should not slide or stick. For us the biggest challenge was creating a base product using plant, vegetable oil and starch which would give that buttery smooth feel. We experimented a lot with jojoba oil, cocoa butter, mango seed butter, etc. for getting the base product which had the right pay-off, colour and staying quality. Fortunately we have very good formulators in our team and we finally got the formulation just right. However, when we launched our lipsticks, our formulation was not perfect and there were some complaints of chapped lips. For those few complaints we developed a special lip oil to act as a primer before the application of the lipstick and also after the lipstick application to get that balm finish and also prevent chapping of lips. Also, within 3 months of launch we could tweak our formulation to such an extent that the chapping problem was not only eliminated completely but also make our lipsticks extremely nourishing which can be used every day.

• Q. What were the personal challenges you faced, given your diverse background it was indeed a huge leap?
• I like to get involved in doing multiple activities simultaneously. Even today when I am working dedicatedly for Klome, I have 3 additional ventures on which I am working on concurrently. During my 1st year of engineering I launched an e-commerce store for pet supplies which was the only such store back then. I developed the website, did the procurement, managed customer relations and order fulfilment all by myself. Being an introvert, talking to strangers gave me a great feeling. The store did very well but I had to shut it down during the 2nd year due to investment constraints. I decided that after my engineering was complete I will revive the project and the brand. However my peers were not very inclined to the idea as it seemed commercially unviable to them. I joined my family business of electronics manufacturing but found the work very mundane and routine with no challenges and excitement. That was because it was a 32 year old business and my father had already put in place all systems and processes to run the business smoothly. When I finally decided to launch a vegan cosmetic brand I discussed the idea with my father who advised me that FMCG was an extremely competitive sector and I will need to innovate or perish. After evaluating many products like face wash, body wash, etc., I zeroed in on lipsticks because they are used by everyone, even women who don’t do a lot of makeup. Secondly, every woman needs multiple shades of lipsticks and I thought it would not be difficult to launch a lipstick brand. My challenges started once Klome was launched – I had no idea of customer expectations and complexities involved in the numerous types of lipsticks that could be produced.

• Q. What are you trying to achieve though?
• I’m trying to achieve a natural beauty brand, something which is sustainable. We are continuously working on making a sustainable and natural brand which is out there for the masses. There is also a misconception that since we are all vegan, natural and organic, the product formulation and performance isn’t that good, so we want to fight that myth too. The first reason I started Klome was animal cruelty. When I did more research then I started thinking how can I get more sustainable products out there, rather than making money out of this brand I want to create something that gives value and utility to my customers. This I think is what we’re trying to achieve.

Where Can You Find Them?
www.klome.in

• Q. What would you say makes Klome stand out among other beauty brands?
• Sustainability is a key focus area at Klome. We want to make a significant contribution to our planet by promoting sustainability every step of the way. E.g. Klome was launched with no single-use plastic – no tape or bubble wrap was used in our packaging. We used to recycle cardboard and use corrugated mesh for packing. Initially all our products were shipped in potlis made out of gunny bags. But when some logistics partners started refusing pick-ups we had to revert back to corrugated boxes.
  
  I feel corrugated boxes are not sustainable enough for us so we have developed vegetable starch bags which are 100% biodegradable, water soluble and compostable. We are sending vegetable seeds (depending on the season and the region concerned) along with our shipments so that customers can cut them into pieces, plant them and within a month they will start getting vegetables. We also encourage our customers to return the housing back to us at our expense, once they have used the product completely. We are one of the few brands, if not the only one, which incentivises its customers to recycle the components normally discarded after use.

• Q. Tell us a bit more about your lip oil?
• I will give you a brief about our lip oil. We launched it with our lipstick but the lip oil became such a hit with our customers that we had to launch it as a standalone product now. Initially we did a survey and people thought that a lip oil won’t work in the Indian market particularly in places like Delhi when it’s so humid in the summers. It would be too sticky on the lips but the formulation is such that when they started using the oil they realised that it doesn’t feel sticky, it nourishes and gets absorbed in the lips very easily so a lot of people made it their daily regime and they wanted the lip oil as a standalone product. When we launched it as a standalone product we made sure that the plastic footprint is as minimal as possible. We used a glass bottle and inside it we changed the plastic roll on to stone. In our lip oil you get a quartz stone roll on. Quartz stones are supposed to have their own healing effects, so our lip oil has been a major hit.
  
  Also, as a brand we work on a lean philosophy. You will be shocked to know that only 2 people are involved in Klome – me and my designer. We two have been working throughout, we have got the brand from where it was to here. I work on Klome from 9 pm to 12 am because from 8 to 8 I am busy in this manufacturing plant. It is only at night when I can actually do my work, so Klome lives on that.

• Q. So you have a team of two people?
• Yes, me and one designer. I had a freelance designer earlier who was one of the founding people who helped me design everything, but then she left due to other engagements, so right now it’s me and one more intern who helps me with the day-to-day communication and all the routine work.

• Q. What do you like to do in your free time?
• I was born in a family where people work and have their own businesses, so from a very small age I had this thing that I wanted to do something on my own and make a name out of it. I love challenges, I am highly energetic and can’t sit idle, so right now I am heading the manufacturing and supply chain of smart electricity meters, beside that I am working on Klome. I am also working on my new venture which is going to be launched in the next 2 months and again it’s going to be something revolutionary. I saw that there’s a gap in something related to baby care and it’s a new technology in baby feeding bottles I have been working on that for the past 1½ years. So you know I am always on some products. I am also a big animal lover, I had a dog but she expired recently.

• Q. So now that you have launched lipsticks what are you planning to do next?
• We have been researching 3-4 products and you can expect a liquid lipstick in a month’s time. We have also perfected a crayon lipstick formulation which is 100% vegan, but not 100% natural as it has silicones in it. We have been working on that and my aim is to have a 95% eco-suit compliant product. The final testing is ongoing where we are sending samples and getting feedback on that, so the 95% organic, natural lipstick is out there for people to pick-up. We will also be launching a liquid lipstick with similar claim that of a normal lipstick. We are coming up with a whole makeup remover set where we have created a makeup removal oil which is again 100% organic 100% natural and it will exfoliate and nourish your skin in addition to greasing out all the makeup. Right now people put on lipsticks and long-stay eye-liners for 7-8 hours, so the oil will come with jojoba oil activator which will nourish your skin and will help you clear the skin completely. We are also launching 2 kind of pads – 100% natural and organic made from compressed wooden pulp, that is something again very different and not seen at all in the Indian market.

• Q. Are these makeup removing cotton pads reusable?
• Yes they are reusable, you can reuse them at least 30 times, and one pad will effectively be used for a month’s time. So that pad will be effective for your lips and cheeks, whereas eyelids are a bit sensitive. We are giving terracotta bamboo fibre cloth makeup remover pads, it will be a set of two depending on person’s skin type, if your skin is not very sensitive you can use the 100% natural, or if it’s sensitive skin you can use both in combination as per what you need. Also we are coming out with a face loofah, again this is 100% natural made from plant’s root and it is directly coming from the oriental side so that it’s going to be bit hush hush. But it has a lot of healing properties, it can be used as it is without putting anything on top of it. It’s a face loofah, in itself it has healing, brightening and good skin properties and it can also be used with a face wash on it to cleanse your face. So, these are 3-4 exciting products that we are going to launch in the next few months. We are already working on the final packaging and getting them ready.

• Q. Do you have any suggestions on how we can become more conscious as consumers and support sustainability? What can a customer do to Increase sustainability especially in a beauty regime?
• One of the biggest challenges I have seen is how to use a lipstick bullet once it is broken rather than discarding it and buying a new one. We are writing a detailed blog for this hack as well. A customer can use a hot knife on the broken part and then putting the broken part on the lipstick and placing it in the freezer. This way the customer can continue using the lipstick.
  
  Another important observation that I have made is normally women have around 25 lipsticks of which only 2-3 are used frequently whereas the rest are simply sitting idle. A lipstick's normal shelf life is anything between 24-36 months. I would tell my customers to follow influencers on social media platforms and learn how to mix and match different shades of lipsticks to get that perfect colour rather than going out and buying another one.
  
  Also, women need to use lipsticks which have nourishing agents so that you can use them as a lip balm as well.