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Being sustainable is about being better. When Floral Street founder, Michelle Feeney began her collection of fragrances and home scents, she wanted to create a brand that was better for customers and would influence the Beauty industry to be better too. “From the very beginning, I wanted to make Floral Street a beacon for change to stir and stimulate the fragrance industry,” Michelle stated over email. Since Floral Street debuted its first seven signature scents, Michelle and her her team have crafted sustainably-sourced scents in collaboration with international conservation organizations, created an industry-first compostable fragrance box and bio-plastic tubes (made from sugarcane) for her body creams. For a luxury fragrance brand that debuted in 2017, being sustainable and affordable is no small feat. Yet, as Michelle explains it has also allowed her to be braver and more innovative than some of her larger counterparts when it comes to adopting new plant-based packaging materials.
By launching an independent, sustainable brand we could offer consumers the opportunity to bring beautiful and ethical fine fragrance into their lives, all at an affordable price.
I was excited for the opportunity to learn more about what it takes to craft a clean fragrance brand. My perfume journey began when I was seventeen. I caught a whiff of a scent so delectable with its rich opening scents of vanilla and so me with its closing notes of smoky-spice that right then and there I knew that it was my scent. And, it was for the next decade until I read an article about the 4,000 chemicals used in fragrances. Sadly, that ended my love affair with that particular perfume, which had been called out by name in the article.
I’ve tried many clean scents since then, carefully reading the ingredient list of each. One of them has been Floral Street’s Ylang Ylang Espresso, a creamy and spicy scent noteworthy for its many awards. So, as someone who has a personal interest in the scents that adorn my body, it’s always interesting to delve deeper into how a product is created while learning more about the sustainable initiatives and challenges it takes to create a clean brand.
What inspired you to create Floral Street?
When I was CEO of St Tropez, I was walking through London’s Covent Garden to my office one day. I looked up at the ‘Floral Street’ sign and thought, wouldn’t that be a great name for a fragrance brand! I loved the vibrancy and diverse culture of that London spot, and it was also home to the original Victorian flower market which inspired Floral Street to be ‘powered by flowers’.
From the very beginning, I wanted to make Floral Street a beacon for change to stir and stimulate the fragrance industry. By launching an independent, sustainable brand we could offer consumers the opportunity to bring beautiful and ethical fine fragrance into their lives, all at an affordable price. I wanted to help people that were curious about fragrance to become connoisseurs of scent, much like wine or chocolate. I saw an opportunity to engage with consumers in a unique and immersive way through a journey of fragrance discovery.
How are the products sustainably made?
I realized when I launched Floral Street that sustainability was going to be the new luxury and that the future of Beauty is vegan. From inception we have been committed to responsible practices with core values of environmental consideration and partner with those that share our ethos and principles. Our fragrance manufacturer, Robertet, is a world leader in sustainable, natural, raw materials, all traceable to source, and protecting the environment is their second nature. They have an unparalleled approach to ethical practices and responsible sourcing of ingredients, and they support suppliers and communities globally.
However, it’s not just the fragrance that’s involved in being ethical, you have to consider the whole life cycle and every element that goes into the final product. From the raw materials and how they are processed, the recyclable and reusable packaging through to the responsible manufacturing methods and supply chain. So, from source to scent you know exactly where our products come from.
When we were developing our scented home collections that we launched this year, I realised that what we didn’t put into the products was just as important as what we did put in. Taking out any harmful element and creating them with plant-based wax and naturally derived vegan oil ensured they were clean and conscious!
We are a transparent company and have the accreditations to back-up what we say. We are internationally accredited by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for being vegan and cruelty-free and I am proud that we have just received The Vegan Society certification that means our products meet the Vegan Trademark criteria. These endorsements help consumers globally to easily identify that our products are free from animal or animal-derived ingredients and will not have been tested on animals now or in the future.
We pioneered the first in-fragrance, biodegradable ‘pulp not plastic’ box and we give back via meaningful collaborations. By only purchasing FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paperboard for our recyclable packaging we are able to carbon balance with the World Land Trust which helps to protect the world’s critically threatened forests.
If you had to choose, what’s your favorite product of them all and why?
The perfume would have to be our vibrant and sparkling Electric Rhubarb. It got me through the last couple of challenging years and reinforced to me how the power of scent can really help to elevate your mood and keep you feeling positive. Then from our scented home collections it is the new plastic free Scented Reeds. I am love, love, loving them! I place them all around my home to scent-scape my spaces and bring different moods to different rooms.
What are some challenges the company has faced during the creation or development of the brand?
As a start-up or ‘up-start’ brand as I like to call us, every day can be a challenge. We are up against much bigger brands in fragrance that have deep pockets and power. When you are in a large global company ideas get funded and supported but it is much more challenging in a smaller business to shout loud. However, because we are an independent, ‘clean’ brand and I was brave enough to develop sustainable innovation in Beauty such as our pulp fragrance box we were embraced by many fantastic partners. These included Sephora US and Mecca in Australia who have helped us tell our sustainable brand story and have supported our global growth.
How does Floral Street give back to the community?
We are a sustainable brand that partners with responsible suppliers, supporting their businesses which also drives our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) principles and practices (sustainability, accountability, transparency) . So, for us it is all the way along the chain. We feel good about ‘giving back’ via our collaborations. The first being with the Royal Horticultural Society on our Electric Rhubarb perfume, which we launched at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London. A percentage of sales flows back to this leading UK gardening charity, to help enrich lives through plants to make Britain a greener and more beautiful place. And more recently we have partnered with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, a not-for-profit foundation, on the launch of our Sunflower Pop fragrance.
When creating a new product, what does the timeline of events from start to finish entail?
We launched with eight fragrances in 2017 and they actually only took about a year to create as our master perfumer, Jérôme Epinette, was so inspired! However, it usually takes about eighteen months to get a fragrance to market. I create a mood board, send it to Jérôme in New York and then he brings it to life in scent form. He crafts different samples which we work on together, modifying to really capture the mood of that perfume using sustainable ingredients. All our bottles have beautiful floral designs so at the same time we are thinking about what that might look like. We shoot flowers when they are in season to really bring the fragrance to life visually. The production process starts, and then the global distribution begins! Again, as a founder of a start-up I am responsible for everything from start to finish!
Was there a Floral Street product that you enjoyed creating the most?
I was so honoured to be approached a few years ago by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam to collaborate with them on a four-year partnership. They chose us because we are an independent, sustainable brand and together we will create fragrance and scented home products inspired by Van Gogh’s iconic masterpieces. I was personally invited to their museum to choose the first masterwork — and it just had to be the Sunflowers! With that as our mood board, the journey from painting to perfume has been an exciting one. Our new Sunflower Pop is a little piece of scented fine art to be enjoyed every single day!
How has creating this company changed or impacted your life?
Because I have worked within global beauty companies on big brands, I think I naively thought that things would be easier than they turned out to be. When it is your company, it’s almost like having another child. You are completely immersed in it, even when you are asleep! It becomes very personal. Each day I have to really focus myself on the enormity of the task at hand and that can be quite lonely because ultimately it is all down to you! However, I love building great teams, and seeing our independent British brand on the shelves of global retailers like Nordstrom brings me so much joy.
Being a founder in this digital world with its multi platforms brings an additional dimension. It’s not just about ‘in person’ anymore, it’s all about global content. I’ve had to become very agile, switching my head between everyday business interaction, jumping on an Instagram Live with an influencer and even doing ‘live from London’ connections on QVC US! The positive thing about being a small company, though, is that everyone is so close to the business experiencing successes and challenges, and the successes always seem like bigger wins.
What products are your go-to’s for the holiday season?
I love to put together Floral Street gift boxes, with our clean and sustainable perfumes and scented home products. What’s wonderful is that our beautiful fine fragrances are priced affordably, so people can buy them as gifts without having to spend a fortune.
At this time of year, I usually burn a mix of our smoky Fireplace and crisp White Rose candles because the scents and the glass pots beautifully complement each other. I might light a Midnight Tulip Candle or pop Scented Reeds in that fragrance in one of my favourite vessels, to create a warm and spicy mood. And a little tip! Tuck a few diffusers amongst your non-scented festive foliage to emit a subtle continuous scent. Smell is the strongest trigger for memories, and when you want to create new ones, fragrance is a beautiful way to enhance and remember that moment.
