Complex supply chains and climate change make "clean beauty" near impossible, but some keep trying

EAST GARAFRAXA, Ontario (AP) — Julie Thurgood-Burnett had no idea that her COVID-19 lockdown whim of starting a lavender patch on her husband's family farm outside Toronto would turn into a small business. She had never been a farmer, but before long she had a bright purple field and a new hobby of creating lavender oil for her friends and family, who liked it so much she ran out.

And then she had a brand, Hereward Farms, which she wanted to be “authentically sustainable." To her that meant avoiding plastic packaging, even though it would have been cheaper. It also meant sourcing as many raw ingredients from Canada as possible, which turned out to be much harder than she expected. She was able to get Canadian-made beeswax and sunflower oil, and work with a Canadian supplier, but not everything comes from Canada. Most of Hereward's essential oils and all of its dried flowers (except lavender, of course) come from the United States.

“You go down this dark hole of trying to figure out where things are sourced from,” she said.

It's a challenge for small brands with environmentally friendly values because the beauty industry, worth billions of dollars and dominated by a few major brands, has an uglier underbelly. It can be nearly impossible to trace some ingredients to their source, according to supply chain experts. The making and disposing of cosmetics contributes to planet-warming carbon emissions, deforestation, pollution and waste. Climate change in turn is exacerbating extreme weather events like heat, drought and flooding that disrupt production. And there’s little regulation governing beauty products in many countries. But despite the uphill battle, many business owners who care about being eco-friendly are trying their best to tackle these problems.

Consumers have begun demanding sustainability and transparency from their beloved multi-step skincare routines, seeking out what's popularly known as “clean beauty”. But dubious claims about “green” and “pure” products abound.

Dale Rogers, a professor in the business school at Arizona State University who studies supply chains, gave the example of “sustainable” palm oil, an ingredient commonly featured in eco-friendly cosmetics brands. “There’s sustainability certification groups that will certify ingredients. So palm oil might be sustainably sourced, for example, but then it gets blended with other palm oil and you start to lose track,” he said.

“Very few” major beauty companies are doing the kind of research needed to actually know where their materials come from, said Bindiya Vakil, CEO and founder of Resilinc, a company that maps supply chains for businesses. And Vakil said that even when big companies are willing to support the effort to trace ingredients to their origins, suppliers aren’t always willing to answer those questions. Investigating entities can then turn to public domain information to try to fill in the gaps, but it’s imperfect.

And “brands are changing their suppliers all the time,” said Homer Swei, senior vice president of healthy living science and consumer safety science at the Environmental Working Group, which offers a third-party certification for beauty products focused on human health. “So even if you spend $1 billion to define the supply chain today, tomorrow will be different and it’ll be obsolete.”

Legislation in some countries can crack down on companies, making it illegal for them to source from suppliers that, for example, use forced labor or harmful chemicals. But environmental regulations lag behind, and profit motives and the promise of sustainable branding claims “align against greater disclosure,” Vakil said.

Any third party can create their own certification or sustainability effort, including beauty companies themselves. The Estée Lauder Companies is a founding member of an initiative called the Traceability Alliance for Sustainable Cosmetics, according to Meghan Ryan, their executive director of responsible sourcing. It's not a certification, but asks suppliers to voluntarily input information about their production and “uses a variety of tools to conduct due diligence,” she said in a statement.

Major beauty retailers Sephora and Ulta Beauty both have labels on certain products calling them “Planet Aware” or “Conscious Beauty,” respectively, but neither company would answer questions from The Associated Press about why certain criteria for those designations were chosen, how many of their total product offerings get those labels and whether they have plans to expand the number of those types of products.

Swei said the best certifications on the market are fully transparent ones, but added that “climate change is moving supply chains all around the world,” making full transparency more difficult. Vakil agreed that extreme weather events fueled by climate change have been disrupting companies more and more, especially those who rely on farmed materials susceptible to heat, drought, flooding and damage from hurricanes and wildfires.

Many small brand owners have the motivation to be more transparent and selective about their ingredients, but some described spending hours tracing where things came from, having to switch manufacturers and accepting smaller profit margins. And entrepreneurs, just starting out, sometimes don't know what questions to ask their suppliers, or don't have enough leverage to demand answers.

Rina Clarke founded Buck Naked Soap Company when her infant son developed a skin reaction to traditional cosmetics. She said she's been “constantly disappointed” to find that she can't make soaps with certain highly desired scents, such as sandalwood and strawberry, because she's determined it would be impossible to do so by her company's set sustainability and health standards. Many species of sandalwood, for instance, have been overharvested and some are now facing extinction.

“As much as I want for us, as a business, to be competitive with other businesses, it's hard,” she said. “We don’t want to be a hypocrite is basically what it comes down to.”

Charlie Razook, who founded men's skincare line Jackfir, said it took an extra-long time to launch the brand because he spent multiple years getting third-party certifications, including from the Environmental Working Group, and rejiggering his products' formulas to achieve his health and sustainability goals. But he still had to give up on his original intention to sell everything in glass containers instead of plastic, because beyond manufacturing constraints, quite simply, “men like tubes.”

Clarke also said it's hard for eco-conscious brands not to price out some customers. "Sustainability oftentimes costs money,” she said.

The odds are against their goals in many ways, but small business owners like Razook, Clarke and Thurgood-Burnett keep trying. They say the extra effort is worth the frustration. All described customers who have demanded transparency and sustainability and been happy to find brands that are willing to try to meet that demand.

And Thurgood-Burnett has gotten personal satisfaction from the quest, too.

“It’s such an intimate relationship because you’ve put it in the ground and you’ve cared for it," she said of her lavender crop. “I go out and sometimes just sit there with the plants, and I love that the bees are there, and we're doing this really neat ecosystem. That wasn’t the reason why we started it, but it’s become that.”

This story has corrected a quote from Homer Swei to read, “to define the supply chain ...” rather than "did you find the supply chain ...”

Follow Melina Walling on X at @MelinaWalling. Follow Joshua A. Bickel on X and Instagram.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Wind blows through lavender plants, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at a farm in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Dried lavender buds sift through a processor, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at Hereward Farms in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Stephen Burnett processes dried lavender, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at Hereward Farms in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Bunches of cut lavender hang on display, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at Hereward Farms in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Cadence Thurgood bundles fresh-cut lavender after harvesting, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at Hereward Farms in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A jar of face cream sits out for sale, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at Hereward Farms in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Lavender-infused beauty products sit out for sale, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at Hereward Farms in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Julie Thurgood-Burnett, owner of Hereward Farms, poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Jessica Froll, right, of Arthur, Ontario, takes a picture of her 1-year-old daughter duirng a visit to a lavender field, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Cadence Thurgood places freshly-cut lavender in a bucket while harvesting, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at a farm in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Cadence Thurgood cuts lavender, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at a farm in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Weston Grubb carries a bucket of fresh-cut lavender while harvesting, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Lavender plants grow, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, at a farm in East Garafraxa, Ontario. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

NEW YORK (AP) — Mauricio Pochettino views the U.S. women's team as the example for his men.

“I think that is going to be our inspiration,” he said. “That is the objective to match.”

Pochettino held a 48-minute introductory news conference Friday, three days after he agreed to coach the Americans through the 2026 World Cup and two days after he landed in the United States. The 52-old Argentine replaced Gregg Berhalter, fired from his second term on July 10 after the Americans were eliminated in the Copa America's first round.

“We are here because we want to win. We are winners,” Pochettino said. “We are going to compete, and compete is completely different than to play."

His first games will be friendlies against Panama on Oct. 12 at Austin, Texas, and at Mexico three days later. While the U.S. men haven’t reached the World Cup semifinals since the initial tournament in 1930 and haven't gotten to the quarterfinals since 2002, the American women have won four World Cups and five Olympic gold medals.

Wearing a dark suit, white dress shirt with no tie and a pocket square, Pochettino was flanked by U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone — a world champion and two-time gold medalist — CEO JT Batson and sporting director Matt Crocker.

"One of the most important things that we need to be inspired by is the women’s team,” Pochettino said.

He coached Spain's Espanyol (2009-12), England's Southampton (2013-14), Tottenham (2014-19) and Chelsea (2023-24) and France's Paris Saint-Germain (2021-22), winning a French league title. Crocker knew Pochettino from their time together at Southampton, where Crocker was academy director.

“He would pretty much physically hug everybody in the club,” Crocker recalled.

At Stamford Bridge, Pochettino worked alongside Emma Hayes, who won seven league crowns while managing Chelsea from 2012 until becoming the U.S. women's coach last spring. She helped recruit her former colleague.

“I didn’t need to ask. She explained everything,” Pochettino said.

Hayes ran her first U.S. practice on May 28 and led the Americans to an Olympic gold medal 74 days later.

“I was teasing Poch that it only took Emma two months to win an Olympic gold medal, so I’m curious what he’s going to do in two months,” Cone said. “We want to set ourselves up for being able to win any game that we are in.”

Pochettino is heading a national team for the first time, becoming the 10th U.S. coach in 14 years and its first foreign-born leader since Jurgen Klinsmann from 2011-16.

“We need to believe that we can win, that we can win not only a game, we can win the World Cup, because if not it’s going to be so difficult the journey,” Pochettino said. “We want players that arrive on the day one in the training camp thinking big.”

Pochettino isn't going to judge players by poor performances in a pair of September friendlies and he said the 637 days before their 2026 World Cup opener was sufficient time to prepare.

He is likely to have his full player pool available for just eight one-week training periods before the team gathers ahead of the World Cup.

“Everyone thinks that there is no time to prepare,” he said. “I am in the opposite side. I believe that there is time enough. ... I don’t want to create an excuse for the players to say, oh, yeah, but now we don’t have time to buy the new ideas, the new philosophy.”

Talks began in Barcelona in July.

“We spent a lot of time with him,” Cone said, “just being as open and honest and transparent about the good, the bad, the ugly of U.S. soccer and what he was stepping into because we wanted, if he chose to come here, we wanted him to know exactly what he was getting into, what he was up against, where the opportunities were, and Emma played a huge part in that.”

Negotiations were complicated by the need to settle his previous contract with Chelsea and club officials concentrating on the Aug. 30 transfer deadline and then going on vacation. USSF officials could afford Pochettino’s salary only with the help of gifts from hedge fund and asset management firm heads.

“Unless he was willing to work for much less,” Cone said.

While some have proclaimed the current men's group the most talented the U.S. has produced, Pochettino was more restrained and said “it's a very good generation of players.”

“We have very talented players. I think, of course, the confidence was a little bit low after the Copa America,” he opined. “We need to show that we play as a collective on the pitch.”

Pochettino dined at Fasano Fifth Avenue on Thursday night with American soccer stakeholders that included Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, Los Angeles FC co-managing owner Larry Berg, Philadelphia Union chairman Jay Sugarman and vice chairman Richard Leibovitch. He plans to travel with USSF officials to Atlanta next week to search for housing near the office and training complex under construction in Fayetteville, Georgia.

His news conference — on Friday the 13th, for those who are superstitious — was in a Warner Bros. Discovery screening room at 30 Hudson Yards on the far west side of Manhattan, just eight blocks from Berhalter's introduction at Glasshouse Chelsea on Dec. 4, 2018.

Pochettino is bringing along his longtime staff, assistant coaches Jesús Pérez and Miguel d’Agostino, and goalkeeper coach Toni Jiménez, and will hire at least one addition.

While Pochettino spoke in accented English, he conversed mostly in Spanish when he arrived at Southampton and Pérez was among his interpreters. Pochettino was perturbed when he heard the translation at a news conference after saying he felt “contento.”

“I am not `over the moon.' Why do you say `over the moon?'” he remembered.

Now Pochettino says his family is indeed “over the moon” about the move to America.

“If I am happy, I am motivated," he said. “My family has seen me in the last few weeks, few months I think with fire in my eyes," he said, pointing to his face. "That is the most important thing."

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, left, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, and U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone laugh during a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, smiles after a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, right, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, shakes hands with U.S. soccer sporting director Matt Crocker at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, left, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, shakes hands with U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)