Victoria: Welcome to The Chemical Show, the podcast where Chemical means business.
I'm your host, Victoria Meyer, bringing you stories and insights
from leaders driving innovation and growth across the chemical industry.
Each week we explore key trends, real world challenges, and the
strategies that make an impact.
Let's get started.
Welcome back to The Chemical Show where Leaders Talk Business.
So you are getting a special episode today from New York Society of Cosmetic
Chemists, NYSCC, suppliers Day.
What you're going to notice is that I have a couple of
interviews that were done on site.
And I recorded the majority of my podcast episode, including my observations
about what's hot and what's not at supplier's day while I was there on site.
So audio quality is what it is.
We're tuning it up to the best we can, but you are getting the
live on the floor experience.
I'm recording this at NYSCC Suppliers Day 2025 at the
Javits Center in New York City.
A place that is full of booths and people and innovations,
and everybody is talking about.
Beauty and science and the intersection of the two.
so this is a great event.
Had an opportunity to talk with a wide variety of participants, people
at booths, people walking the floor.
Innovators, buyers, sellers, and more.
And what I wanna talk about today are some of the key trends and
topics at suppliers Day 2025.
So.
A couple weeks ago I had a chance to talk with Sunnie Desai of
Kline + Company, and she brought us a precursor to suppliers day.
And so if you haven't listened to that yet, go listen in.
And I will say I saw some of the same things and more, and
maybe a few different things.
I also have a couple recordings for you with innovators, in the
chemical space and in the beauty in personal care ingredient space.
So.
You're gonna hear some of that.
But what stood out for me and people, across the conference asked
this question and you guys asked this question, you know, what's
the sense, what's the sentiment?
What are the key trends?
And so what I'm gonna tell you is.
It is just as important.
What's missing as what was said.
So first of all, it was a big show, a full show, lots of people here.
So everybody from, formulators and brands and, personal care ingredients
companies, chemical companies, the whole group of media and
innovators and other people buzzing.
So lots of great indie brands and a lot of great innovations show up here.
In fact, I had the chance to talk with.
It's Christoph Krumm from Sironix and you're gonna get a chance to
hear from him as well, where we talked about the bio surfactants
that they're introducing today.
So what's interesting though is what's missing, there's a number of things that I
think we're missing this year at Suppliers Day that perhaps have been part of the
conversation for the past several years.
So let's just kick off with.
Sustainability.
The word sustainability and sustainable was largely absent from conversations,
absent from the imaging and imagery that companies are using on their
booths and their big displays absent from the conversations other than when
people specifically brought it up.
And you know, why is that?
And as one person I spoke with today said, well, at their company, we are
shifting from sustainability to innovation and an innovation focus, and so that
is one of the key trends I've heard.
Of course, this is a place where there's a lot of innovation and that's no surprise.
We're seeing innovations on the uprise.
I've been hearing this from leaders across the industry and certainly saw this today.
I.
But what's missing is a conversation on sustainability.
And I think that resonates with what we're seeing across the industry generally, um,
across consumer sentiment and just the changing dynamics of the world we're in.
Why?
Right.
Part of it is it's just really stinking hard to get truly sustainable,
metrics and to make a difference.
And so kind, you know, companies have moved away from some of those.
Big, sweeping sustainability goals and getting more pragmatic.
Pragmatic about delivering value, pragmatic about bringing innovation
to company, still sustainable.
We talked about that recently, but doing it in a more
innovative, approachable manner.
And frankly, what's missing and what I've seen missing across this
conference today is sustainability.
The second trend and what's important to talk about, what's missing is natural.
a year ago, two years ago, the word natural was used widely.
Everybody was talking about natural products.
Natural ingredients probably went hand in hand in a lot of ways with sustainability.
But natural is not something that I've seen, that I've seen talked about.
It's been replaced with plant-based, again, it's been
replaced with performance.
So big emphasis on performance, and.
That's one of the big things that has been, that's been here, right?
So they shift from natural to performance
Here is Christoph Krumm from Sironix talking about the performance trend and
how that is affecting their business and their go-to-market strategy.
When we just think about the trends that are, you know, trends that we've been
talking about here at the show today that you guys think about and you look
at as you're taking your product to market, what trends does it really hit?
Why, why are people.
Buying Furasoft from Sironix..
Christoph Krumm: It's an interesting question.
If you had asked me this when we spun out as a company, I would've told you
bio-based is the innovation, right?
That is the the reason for existing.
Yeah.
That's really not the case.
As we found bio-based ingredients matter, people still want them.
The reason for existing for us is performance.
People want to come to us for something that gives really exceptional
foam and they want something.
Where they're gonna have that performance, they're gonna have that mildness.
And they, they increasingly are coming to us for sulfate and dioxane free products.
So they're looking to solve some regulatory or consumer
driven innovation challenges.
And they're looking to do that while maintaining the performance.
They don't wanna lose that brand equity of the products they have now.
They wanna reformulate into something that's gonna look, feel,
smell, and work, in the way that they want those consumer products.
Victoria: and then, and Sonny teed this up, a lot of
conversation about neuro cosmetics.
And so neuro cosmetics is this idea that a topical treatment will, create.
Performance, not just performance enhancements.
We're always looking for that.
We makes more mood and neurological benefits.
not a hundred percent certain where we're going with this.
Certainly it's a trend that's talking about, what else is missing?
just from a pure display perspective, there has been almost no displays
of like lab equipment and formulations and stuff a year ago.
A bunch of these things this year, just one or two.
So again, maybe moving a little bit away from the technical, the chemistry
of it and more into the performance of it, which I think is also where
this neuro, neuro cosmetics come in.
The other piece we're talking about is microbiomes.
you know, I don't know, for me personally, when I've been listening,
reading social media, watching social media, all this stuff, I
keep hearing all about gut biomes.
Seems to be the thing that people are talking about, but a lot of this is
about microbiomes on the surface of the skin and the effect that that has.
Um, and so I think this ties in, in fact, I think this is a whole trajectory of
what we're seeing between, this shift away from using the words sustainability and
natural moving towards more innovation, neuro cosmetic, plant-based microbiomes.
Still with a whole focus on performance, and the opportunity to do so.
As I'm recording this, um, just wrapped up day one of the conference.
In fact, I'm only doing day one of the show this year.
So these are the key trends and topics that I'm hearing.
I'm also integrating, as I mentioned, a couple of interviews
that I did on the site.
Um, talking about some of these performance improvements and
some innovations that companies are bringing to market.
And again, it's all about innovation for performance, which we're gonna
hear about when I talk to, my guests that are on here and elsewhere.
So, thanks for joining me.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks for letting me take you on the journey.
I'm actually, if you're watching this, go watch this on YouTube.
I've got a lot of different video clips, and some images that I've brought in.
And keep listening.
Keep following, keep sharing, and we will talk with you again soon.
as we wrap up today's episode, I'm actually bringing you a couple of
short interviews that I did on the trade show floor at N-Y-S-E-C suppliers
Day with a couple of innovators that are bringing new products to market.
So these are products coming to you soon, both of which are tying really
into this performance trend, so the first of which is John Harold,
who is the CEO of Ncco Verde.
And Cinco Verde is an innovative new startup.
They're actually working with independent chemicals to
distribute their products, and,
they have a new approach to zinc oxide for sunscreen formulas and other things.
So, uh, just hearing about how that product came to market, how it addresses
those trends is a really interesting little clip and a new product that I
think you guys are gonna be excited about.
And the second one is Christophe Crumb, who is the CEO of Sironix and
I met Christophe on a virtual event.
Back in like 2020 back when virtual events were the thing
and we got into a breakout room.
And anyway, we got connected.
And it's been an interesting to see Christophe's and Sara's
journey, as they've shifted and transformed their focus.
And Christophe's already talked about that today on the podcast.
when he started talking about how their focus.
Is performance rather than being bio and natural, although that is a fundamental to
their product that they bring to market.
So I think, um, some lessons that you can learn from these innovators
is adaptability, identifying.
New opportunities, new markets, new uses for some existing technology.
'cause in both cases, both, uh, Ziko Verde and CI are using some existing
technologies that are in play already.
So anyway, Enjoy these little snippets of insights from Suppliers day and
let me know what you think and if there was anything that stood out
for you while you were at the show.
Okay, I am here with John Harold, who is the CEO of Zinco Verde.
Hey John.
How you doing today?
Hi.
How you doing?
So tell us about who you are, just briefly give us an introduction to you.
John Harrold: Oh, um, so I am a biophysical chemist at Material
Scientist who works in developing advanced materials in green chemistry.
Victoria: Awesome.
So tell me about Zinco Verde.
John Harrold: So, Zinco Verde is a company that makes metal oxides using a
novel process that uses 99% less energy.
And because we're using less energy, we're doing it in a process that we can actually
enhance those metal oxides that we make.
Victoria: Why are you here at, uh, suppliers?
Say this here.
John Harrold: So, metal oxides are in everything.
They are, quietly make mono life possible.
And one of the things that they're in is sunscreen, which is our
beachhead market, pun intended.
Uh, so sunscreen, middle based sunscreens are the ones you're
really supposed to be using.
And, but people that use 'em, 'cause they kind of suck, but
our material solves that problem.
We're able to make a sunscreen or a customer's gonna make a sunscreen that
feels good going on and goes in clear.
And generally people will use it more
Victoria: because nobody wants the zinc oxide like the old,
uh, surfers used to wear.
Right?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That, that
John Harrold: stuff like that goes on feel cakey.
And you look and look pasty.
That's not gonna happen.
because of our process, we're able to make something that's
very consistent shape in size.
These, they're non nano, but they're quite small particles and so they spread
out really well, very evenly spread out.
It's kind of like if you see a, um, a screen like for your window screen.
Yeah.
And you don't notice that you're blocking half the light coming
through because everything's very evenly dis displaced out.
Right.
That's the same thing that's going on with the, uh, materials when
it's spread out on your skin.
Victoria: What trends does this tap into?
So when I think about kind of personal care and what's going on across this
business and industry, what trends do you see fitting in that you guys are?
So, I'd say
John Harrold: there's a couple questions.
Number one is in the skincare industry, there's this clean
beauty, which is really important.
There's people who are making, really questioning with the ingredients right
inside of what they want, and they wanna have something that's better for you.
So they know they, you use middle based sunscreens, but they really want them.
And there's like.
Such a wealth of information available for people.
People.
So they are seeking something better.
We're seeking a better material, and then we can provide that for them.
We make our material here in, in America, in Philadelphia.
So people also really like the domestic supply chain for a number of reasons.
One, you know, if there's any interruptions, our material just still
get made, so people are not worried about it, not being able to find it if there's,
if there's trouble getting the materials.
So this is something we're really excited about, but moreover, I think.
People want something that's better for the environment.
Right.
But that's not really enough for them to move, move people.
They want something that, well, it's gonna be better environment,
but also needs to be significantly better than what's out there.
Yeah.
Right.
So there needs to be sustainable.
They also needs to change, move the needle a little bit.
Yeah.
And those things together needs be
Victoria: improved.
Yeah.
John Harrold: Yeah.
Are gonna get people to change their behavior.
And that's, that's how we're in
Victoria: Love it.
Thank you.
All right.
I am with Christophe Krumm.
Who is the CEO of Cis they're here launching a new product.
So, Christophe, tell us a little bit about Sironix.
Christoph Krumm: Yeah.
Uh, so Sironix is a startup company developing, new
surfactants platform technology.
We are a spin out from a university, so we developed this
at the University of Minnesota.
Spun that out as cis renewables.
And we've been developing this platform ingredient technology that's based
on bio waste, agricultural residue.
So we use otherwise waste materials, turn them into valuable ingredients.
And in this case, uh, surfactants, and those surfactants have really interesting
applications, especially in personal care.
Victoria: Yeah, and I think one of the things that's interesting,
Christophe, that we talked about is.
That, unlike other bios, surfactants, you're actually using traditional
chemical processing technology,
Christoph Krumm: right?
Yeah.
So we don't use fermentation, we don't use enzymes To make this, we
use what we call simple pots and pan.
So, uh, simple reactors, pressure systems.
We use a solid catalyst, simple distillation process and outcomes.
A surfactant that has really unique properties, but it's
based on plant-based ingredients.
So we have a hundred percent active, uh, and a hundred percent plant-based,
input, and we can drive really interesting innovation with that
chemistry approach as an output.
Victoria: Awesome.
So when you think about this, and I know you guys are here really promoting
your product, and it's ready for formulations, it's ready for prime time.
What products do you see this going into?
Christoph Krumm: So our ingredients, are in the rinse off category.
So we make onic surfactants that have incredible foam,
they're incredibly mild on skin.
And that that foam feel that you get when you rinse that off
leaves your hands feeling really nice, or your skin in general.
And it's really mild on skin, and that's something that a lot
of folks are looking to achieve with their personal care products.
They want something that's gonna give you that really nice foam,
gonna give you something that cleans well, but it still feels good after.
It doesn't feel like it takes all the oil off, your skin doesn't
feel like it strips your hair.
It still feels safe and natural in a way.
Victoria: Yeah.
Well, and in that course, that's also when people are thinking
about bio-based products.
Mm-hmm.
They often think that it does.
Feel better, do better, et cetera.
Although
Christoph Krumm: that's not always the case, although that is not always
Victoria: the case.
Right?
I often like to say, you know, why, which was around and used for soap for years is
very harsh, very natural, and very harsh.
So it's not always the case.
Christophe.
Thank you.
Christoph Krumm: Thank you so much.
Outro: Thanks for joining us today on The Chemical Show.
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For more insights, visit the Chemical show.com
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You can find me at Victoria King Meyer on LinkedIn, and you can also
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Join us next time for more conversations and strategies
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We'll see you soon.