Chanel celebrates 100 years of innovation and sustainability in the world of beauty

To bring her creations to life - the N°5 perfume in 1921 followed by make-up and skincare launches a few years later - one hundred years ago, in 1924, Gabrielle Chanel founded the Société des Parfums Chanel and invested in a laboratory-factory in Pantin, France, where her creative imagination became a reality thanks to the scientific expertise and savoir-faire of artisans and manufacturers. Over time, the R&D Innovation Centre in Pantin was joined by those in the United States, Japan, South Korea and mainland China. More than 300 researchers and craftsmen employed in the five centres share their know-how in synergy, serving an integrative and multidisciplinary organisation. These five sites are connected to various open-air laboratories, where the plants from which the Maison extracts its most important active ingredients are cultivated. These are true botanical research, cultivation and experimentation centres for the creation of natural ingredients with specific extraction and separation techniques that respect natural ecosystems.

A network in which all knowledge is interconnected and shared between dermatologists, formulation managers, statisticians, engineers, colourists, biologists, phytochemists, botanists, farmers and beekeepers who are melipona experts. This is a major investment for the company, which closed 2023 with a 16% increase in revenues to close to USD 20 billion, with double-digit growth for all product sectors, including beauty, a segment that, among other things, has seen a change in leadership with the recent appointment of Simona Cattaneo - former general manager of the Italian luxury footwear brand Tod's - as president of the Fragrance & Beauty division.

Returning to the theme of innovation, Chanel has developed integrated and responsible agriculture around the world, at the heart of the thousand hectares of a network of plant supply chains it owns: from the camellia japonica Alba Plena of Gaujacq at the foot of the Pyrenees to the solidago virgaurea of the southern Alps in France to the vanilla planifolia of Madagascar to the swertia of the Himalayan mountains in Bhutan and the coffea arabica of the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, the open-air workshops are the cradle of the brand's skincare creations: experimental sites for the production of plant-derived active ingredients, but also for social and environmental innovations and express the company's strong commitment to the development of sustainable supply chains through partnerships with local players.

For example, since 2002, Chanel has contributed to the creation of plantations in Madagascar and financed several fundamental research projects on the country's endemic vanilla. It is also involved in a reforestation programme in the southern region of Mananjary, with the aim of preserving soil and ecosystems in view of future climate change. With this programme, it wanted to contribute to improving the living conditions of local populations, helping them to increase their income through crop diversification. Again, in 2013, it partnered with Bhutan's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, working in particular with the National Biodiversity Centre (Nbc), which invited local farming communities to cultivate swertia. The aim was to secure and master the production of the plant for use as a cosmetic active ingredient, while helping isolated communities in the region to implement new cultivation methods and establish new permanent sources of income.

Raw materials, but not only. Chanel's research has always contributed to the development of integrative beauty, where women's well-being passes through their body and spirit in harmony with their surroundings. This extends to other scientific fields: a team dedicated to understanding women in every dimension of their lives (social, emotional, cultural) contributes to the creation and continuous enrichment of a database of more than 60,000 faces. This research is complementary to the studies on skin and its ageing started more than ten years ago. Moreover, the brand was one of the first to integrate a sensory analysis laboratory in 1993 and, more recently, a neuroscience department.