Opening Lines
Partners in Packaging
By Jennifer Kwok, Managing EditorIn this issue of CPC Packaging, we bring you our annual Contract Services Guide. This guide is meant to help you, the beauty product marketer, navigate your way through the often-confusing world of contract manufacturing, contract packaging, and private-labeling. The relationship between a marketer and a contract-services provider is, in many respects, a partnership. These providers can work with you to get your products out the door and on to shelves. However, the safety of a final product does not lie with the contract packager. Ultimately, it lies with you, the marketer.
This message was reinforced at the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors Cosmetic/Technical Regulatory Forum, which took place February 23 in Redondo Beach, CA. Conference speaker Tom Raffy, president of contract manufacturer and packager GAR Labs in Riverside, CA, said, “FDA says that the final seller of a product is the one who is responsible for the safety of the product. As a final seller, FDA puts the responsibility on you because you receive the lion’s share of the profits. If you hire a subcontractor, such as a contract manufacturer, you are still responsible for the safety of that product.”
Although they are not responsible for the final quality of your product, good contract service providers still want to help you. Based on the knowledge they gain about products and ingredients from their own raw material and packaging suppliers, contract service providers often have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to issues such as product integrity and product-package compatibility. In addition, these providers have a vested interest in providing a successful product or package. “If, due to a poor product, a relationship with a client turns into an adversarial one, we lose in the end by losing future business,” said Raffy.
“The biggest challenge is educating our clients on the realities of the timelines for formulating and packaging a product,” said Raffy. “Developing the idea, making a test formula, doing safety and stability testing—there are a lot of things that you have to make sure go right.”
This includes testing the compatibility of a product with a package. Formulators only produce a product; they are not responsible for the package that a marketer chooses. However, some suppliers like GAR Labs will do some tests at no charge.
Ada Polla Tray is president of skin care brand Alchimie Forever LLC, which we cover on page 113. As a brand owner, she advises other marketers to find manufacturing and packaging partners that know the rules. But ultimately, she, too, understands where the line of responsibility lies. “You are responsible for defining your packaging and finding suppliers,” she says.