Keeping up with Kim Kardashian

Will her ‘sustainable’ SKKN line drive positive change within the beauty sector?

“On June 1st, Kim Kardashian announced the launch of her new skincare brand ‘SKKN by Kim’ in partnership with Coty to millions of her followers on Instagram.

As with anything the Kardashian family does, the launch created hysteria among beauty fans, but it didn’t escape criticism with some accusing the brand of greenwashing despite offering refillable packaging.

But are criticisms over SKKN’s sustainability claims justified? Or can Kim Kardashian’s latest business venture be credited with pushing forward in the fight to clean up beauty and normalising refillable packaging devices?

The SKKN by Kim line consists of a “visionary nine-product ritual”, setting back consumers almost $600. However, once someone has purchased a product, there is a cheaper refill option for future orders which neatly slots into the secondary packaging.

However, there has been a lot of backlash against the brand’s claim of being fully refillable and environmentally friendly. That’s because people are claiming the packaging is “reusable”, rather than refillable and contributes more waste because of this.

Each SKKN by Kim product comes in its delivery packaging, made from what looks like paperboard, followed by two key components. First, there’s the secondary outer packaging, which is designed in organic shapes in neutral tones reminiscent of stones and intended to be displayed proudly on show. The brand explains these outer containers are designed to last, as they’re refillable and shouldn’t be thrown away (they aren’t recyclable).

Then, there is the primary packaging – refillable inner bottles and jars. These are made from 50% recycled plastic and therefore 50% virgin plastic. These are thrown away once empty and are fully recyclable save for the pumps.

It’s because of this that Kim Kardashian is getting widely criticised for false advertising and greenwashing, after an activist TikToker published a video showing what the refilling process looked like in reality. The video by @acteevism has since been viewed over 7 million times.

The main concern is that the packaging is being sold as refillable, when it’s actually only reusable, similar to a decorative box that neatly covers a cardboard tissue box. The outer “refillable” packaging used to hold SKKN’s products housed in hard plastic bottles and jars is purely there to make the item(s) look nice in a bathroom – it does not serve a useful function beyond this.”

Rich Quelch, Global Head of Marketing at Lifestyle Packaging is the author of this article