The Honest Company is committed to selling safe and toxic free products for the home and little ones.
Actress Jessica Alba is well-known for her film roles, but she is also has a meaningful side gig as the founding member of the Honest Company. The online store came into fruition when Alba became a mother and saw the need for natural and eco-friendly products for babies. With co-founder Christopher Gavigan, Alba sells a range of items for little ones and also for the home - from sustainable diapers and organic baby powder to bubble bath and laundry detergent. Shining the spotlight on sustainability and transparency, the items on the site are backed by the Honestly FREE Guarantee with products that are sourced from sustainable and non-toxic materials. In addition to their green commitment, for every product purchased, The Honest Company makes a donation to families in need through a host of partnerships with nonprofits that work on social and health issues.
The core values of the Honest Company are reflected by Alba and the team who are all concerned parents that are focused on creating products that are safe and easy to use for families.
Actress Turned Entrepreneur
Jessica Alba, actress and mother, is on the cover of Forbes Magazine’s “America’s Richest Self-Made Women” issue – and it is not because of her acting career.
At 34-years-old, Alba has been making lists like Maxim’s Hot 100, People Magazine’s Most Beautiful, and Playboy’s 25 Sexiest Celebrities since the early 2000's. And while Alba still remains a competitive contender for all those honors. Alba spends most her public time on the covers of business magazines.
From actress to entrepreneur, Alba co-founded the Honest Company (owning about 20 percent) in 2012 after having two babies with husband of seven years, Cash Warren. Faced with the impending purchase of baby products prior to her first daughter’s arrival in 2008, Alba found slim options when it came to obtaining safe and nontoxic products.
Jessica Alba’s Honest Company has had a bumpy ride since its inception in 2012. But the company just landed a $200 million investment and announced a bunch of big changes.
The Honest Company, which started with household products and baby items with an emphasis on “clean” ingredients, launched the Honest Beauty line in 2015. Hair products came in 2016, and a millennial-focused skin care line launched last year. Starting in July, Honest Beauty will be completely overhauled, according to WWD, which notes that the company’s biggest demographic for beauty products is moms ages 25 to 35.
The beauty line will relaunch with fewer products, new formulations, new packaging, simplified product names, and a lower price point. (For example, a face oil that is currently $55 will cost $35.) “Having too many things isn’t always a good thing, and being more specific and curated in your offerings is actually better,” Alba told the trade paper.
Honest Beauty currently sells via its own site, at Target, at Ulta (hair only), and on Amazon, and will continue to do so once the new products launch. (Many of the company’s products are currently discounted 25 percent at Amazon.) The prices have always seemed slightly high for Target, so the price correction makes sense. Daniel Martin, the makeup artist now most famous for doing Meghan Markle’s wedding makeup, will still be actively involved in the beauty line in his role as creative color consultant, according to a company representative. Jennifer Yepez, Alba’s personal hairstylist, used to be an ambassador for the hair care line, but there is no one in that role at this time.
The changes will be limited to beauty and new baby products for now, though a brand representative tells Racked that “there is a lot more innovation to come in the next year” for the company. The brand has added an in-house lab to focus on product formulation and innovation.
This feels like a fresh start for a company that has dealt with multiple lawsuits and some terrible PR over the past few years. In 2016, a lawsuit alleged that some of its cleaning product ingredients were falsely labeled. That was settled in 2017 for $1.5 million, and a similar suit over false claims was settled for more than $7 million a few months later. The brand has also been called out for making sunscreen that doesn’t work. It had to recall baby wipes because some were contaminated with mold. Then it had to recall organic baby powder for possible contamination. All in all, it was a series of very unfortunate events for a company whose name is “Honest.”
The Honest Company was once valued at $1.7 billion in 2015, with prospects of an IPO and rumors of an acquisition by Unilever, which eventually acquired Honest’s competitor Seventh Generation instead. Now, the company will use the $200 investment from L Catterton, a large firm that invests heavily in the consumer brands, to fund its new innovation labs and expand globally. A sale or IPO seems to have been tabled for the moment.
Jessica Alba is approaching similar financial ranks of mega-celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé Knowles, and Judge Judy. Sources can estimate that with her acting career, and more importantly her entrepreneurial ventures, the savvy mogul is worth an approximate $350 million and is predicted to be the only woman so far who has made the forbes list for reasons outside her original profession.
The enormously popular brand has now pushed the limits even further – expanding beyond baby products. Alba and company are actively involved in creating dish soap, kitchen cleaner, detergent, nipple balm, multivitamins, and tampons.
And even with her business-minded success, Alba keeps her acting career close to her heart. She starred in the 2016 action movie The Mechanic alongside Jason Statham.
If you’re looking for The Honest Company products, they can be found in Target, Whole Foods, Nordstrom, and honest.com.