Cosmetics and personal care packaging is long overdue for a makeover, and new beauty and wellness brand Ace of Air is ready to kick things off. Launched on Jan. 28 — and co-founded by model Petra Nemcova — Ace of Air introduces a new way to think about sustainable packaging. Rather than creating jars or bottles that can simply be recycled, the new brand offers its products in "rentable" packaging, gamifying this further with a points system that rewards sending empties back and other planet-friendly deeds.
In other words: There's so much life left in the packaging material, even when you're finished with the brand's moisturizer or supplements. "Our valuable primary packaging and durable Boomerang Box shipper have been designed and developed to be reused 100-plus times," Petra Nemcova and fellow co-founder and CEO Stephanie Stahl tell TZR via email. "We package our products in zero-waste, refilled containers so that with us you 'buy the product and borrow the package' so this slow beauty brand and our revolutionary packaging can cycle on and on."
Similar to other clean beauty brands, Ace of Air is tackling both skin care and supplements right out the gate, from the Illuminate Me Halo Moisturizer ($54) to the Mega Me Vegan Omega Biomix Supplement ($76). Each product includes a $2 rental fee, while the Boomerang Box has a $3 fee. "All of Ace of Air’s products are Leaping Bunny certified and are free of harsh ingredients such as parabens, silicones, sulfates, formaldehyde, mineral oil, petroleum, phthalates, and more," add the co-founders.
Consumers can use the Stellar Rewards program to "gift" their "Planet Points" to three charities, or "Planet Partners": Ocean Conservancy, Peconic Land Trust, and 5 Gyres. Moreover, the brand also thought through how shipping empties back to be sterilized and reused can take its very own toll. "We partnered from the beginning with UPS to design and develop a cool, super efficient, durable reused shipper," say Nemcova and Stahl. "We ship 100% carbon-neutral ground shipping with UPS. This is part of their well established carbon-neutral program."
