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Here’s an adage that any product development executive can appreciate — a brand is only as strong as the innovative muscles that drive it.
In the global cosmetics market, much of the heavy lifting can be credited to a handful of specialized laboratories you’ve never heard of. In fact, one of the leading labs in the beauty care industry is headquartered right here in Idaho Falls.
Elevation Labs specializes in liquid color cosmetics, as well as certified organic skincare and haircare. It’s the brainchild of Doug Rooney (an alum of Melaleuca, inc.) and local developer Gary Voight, who launched the company as Northwest Cosmetic Labs in 1995 near the corner of 17th and Holmes Ave. Today, Elevation Labs consists of two sprawling manufacturing and development centers — a 180,000-square foot facility here in town and another in Colorado (founded in 1995 as Colorado Quality Products).
“We’re more of an innovation company first, and a manufacturing company second,” said Michael Hughes, President and CEO. “We invent new products you would see in a Sephora, an Ulta or a department store such as Target or Walmart.”
Which exact brands, you may wonder? Suffice it to say, these are name brands anyone would easily recognize.
“Our customers come to us because our team here is very ‘on-trend’ with what’s going on in the marketplace,” Hughes said.
From market trends in Asia to global supply chains, Elevation is known throughout the industry for its clean, natural, organically certified products. It started with a simple lineup of body washes and shampoos, and now offers a full range of skincare emulsions, liquid foundations, concealers, sunscreens, hand creams, body butters, liquid color cosmetics, lip balms and mascaras.
Staffing in general, as well as many key positions, are drawn locally as much as possible. Chemists and lab technicians make up about 20 positions in the R&D lab, including graduates from University of Idaho, Idaho State University and Brigham Young University-Idaho. Elevation employs roughly 400 employees, and often adds up to 150-200 more during peak production.
The senior leadership roster has a more international flavor.
“Our new VP of supply chains is from France, and we have a plant manager from our division in Colorado who is from Egypt,” Hughes said. “I myself am from Ireland. I came to the U.S. and worked for Proctor & Gamble for 18 years, then most recently I ran a big beauty care factory over in Iowa City. So Ireland, then Iowa, then Idaho — see the trend? Maybe it’s Iran or Iraq next. But hopefully I’m not going anywhere. At least that’s the plan.”
As COVID-19 has taken its toll on a myriad of market sectors, the beauty care industry has been no exception. At Elevation, the effects of the pandemic have been somewhat mixed.
“For color cosmetics—lipsticks, foundations, etc.—those things are struggling right now, especially as people are wearing masks,” Hughes said. “Also, they are stuck at home, so the demand has definitely dried up a bit.”
But where masks negate the need for color cosmetics, they tend to increase the need for skincare products. (Ever hear of maskne? More technically known as acne mechanica, it’s acne formed as a result of friction and pressure on the skin from wearing a mask.)
From the beginning of the pandemic, hand sanitizer was also an obvious consideration.
“Internally, we knew it was going to be a criteria for keeping ourselves open and keep our employees safe,” Hughes said. “Sanitizer is not super-complicated compared to other things we make. We have the infrastructure to do it, obviously.”
In fact, Elevation donated all the sanitizer they made at the outset of the pandemic. More than 7,000 bottles went to local law enforcement, shelters and charities. Even now, much of the product is donated to schools.
Whether by random chance or by circumstance, the challenge of the current crisis has found a perfect fit with Elevation’s latest rendition of its corporate mission statement, which puts an emphasis on creating a positive impact on the community.
“I think we’ve done that quite well through things like our STEM programs that we’ve rolled out,” Hughes said. “Our R&D team — our chemists and engineers — will go into classrooms and teach students how to make hand lotion and perfumes, and to show them that there is a surprising link between science and beauty care.”
Other outreach efforts include a summer STEM day camp at Melaleuca Field, which was started in 2018 with the Idaho Falls Chukars, YMCA and other partners. It is focused on a round-robin approach of interactive hands-on experiment stations. The event (which took a hiatus in 2020 due to COVID-19) has brought in more than 600 participants.
For Hughes, such programs are indicative of the overall philosophy of the company and its global reputation in the beauty care industry.
“Idaho has a reputation for being a straight-talking community,” he said. “Real salt-of-the-earth people here, and our customers get that sense from working with us. There’s no New York or L.A. slick-talking stuff here. We have people here celebrating 20-plus years with us, and they’re just as excited to be a part of it now as they were the day they started.”
Click here to read more from the January issue of Idaho Falls Magazine.
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