Despite a forecast 20% drop in sales due to the health crisis this year, German mascara specialist Geka is looking to the future, with its expanded headquarters set to be inaugurated in January 2021, a continued sustainability push and new innovations in the pipeline.
Germany-based Geka is aiming to become more efficient and agile thanks an investment—up to €25m—in its headquarters, which is also set to give it a boost on the innovation front.
The company is adding an extra 10,000m2 to its headquarters in Bechhofen, Germany in a move to bring its three sites (in Bamberg, Bechhofen and Königshofen) under one roof. At the site, Geka is also increasing automation, adding screen-printing lines and growing its metallization and lacquering capacities, and creating a center for 3D-printed prototypes.
When it comes to environmental measures, the company appointed a sustainability manager earlier this year, signed up for the SBTi (science-based targets initiative), which enables companies to set emissions reduction targets, and in September, received the EcoVadis platinum award.
More sustainable materials are a key part of its strategy. Geka already manufactures mascara bottles from 100% PCR PET and caps from 100% PCR PP as well as its castor-oil derived EOSgreen and EOSgreendelta fibers. This summer the company launched Reborn, a 'green' packaging collection for eye and lip make-up. The range features the CharmingLASHES mascara, whose fiber-based brush is made of a castor oil derivative. The tube is made from PCR-PET and the cap from PCR-PP. Bio-based materials are also a focus for Geka, although the company notes that these solutions require longer development times.
Filing between 20 and 30 patents per year, Geka puts a strong focus on innovation. It is gearing up for a major launch with a US brand next year, and in October it launched PureDefinition, a bi-injected mascara brush made with the company’s Sandwich technology. The brush’s alternate rows of conical bristles and slim wedge-shaped discs are designed to separate and lengthen lashes.
While mascara is its core business, and it has already entered the lip applicator category, Geka is aiming to expand into other segments. “A few years ago, we strengthened our lip portfolio by developing new lip applicators (a business segment that has been quite impacted by the health crisis), and applicators for facial skincare treatments,” Geka CEO Florent Lafond said in an exclusive interview with Luxe Packaging Insight in July. “We also have projects in the pipeline for makeup, hair and beard products,” he explained.
