Prose, which has stirred up interest and popularity all over social media, is deepening the mark it has already made in customizable hair care with a new 43,000 ft² customization centre in Commerce, just south of downtown Los Angeles. Between this west coast flagship, “AI” innovation, and arsenal of ethically sourced plant-based ingredients mixed and matched to order, one could intuit that it is a new-age product line for customers wanting targeted hair and skin health solutions.
Cutting its carbon footprint to better serve a growing customer base, however, is a compelling addition to its value proposition with the second facility. At the formal opening, journalists, influencers, and tastemakers had an opportunity to see how the shampoos, conditioners, styling products, and hair health supplements were customized. They would also learn the company philosophy through a series of activities, including creating a custom scalp serum following a consultation with trichologist Bridgette Hill, usage and styling tips from celebrity hairstylist Kathleen Riley, and making a charm bracelet with Los Angeles’s Charmed LA for a special send-off.
‘We’ll give you a bit of a glimpse behind the curtain to show how we can pull off true personalization at scale, so you can see how the special sauce is made,’ said Mike Fortner, VP of brand marketing, who was on hand the opening along with fellow with Helen Nwosu, VP of social impact, and several of his Brooklyn, NY-based colleagues. While the parent company is based in Paris and has an all-female research-and-development team, the company launched its US headquarters in 2017 with a mission to bring together customization, efficiency, and flexibility for the end customers. It also doesn’t hurt that the operation is climate-neutral, a public benefit corporation and a Certified B corporation.
‘We started with the very simple insight that no two of us are exactly alike,’ Nathenson continues. ‘Not only do we each have different needs for our hair and our skin, but those needs will change throughout life. We flipped the model, so rather than mass producing something and selling it to people, what if we wait until people purchase the product? From there, we can make it just for them and only them, and truly customize their order to their specific needs.’
This adds up to millions of possible formulas, and according to Nathenson at the event, it is powered with Singular AI, a proprietary platform designed to personalize products for the customer. The customer begins her new hair journey with an online questionnaire consultation that is very in-depth, so it can suss out what she needs for her hair and skin. It also factors in diet, stress levels, zip codes, climate, and geography.
‘The Los Angeles area was the ideal choice for our new customization centre due to its proximity to our west coast customers,’ said Nwosu. ‘We are proud to leverage cutting-edge technology and strategic planning to minimize carbon impact and reduce our overall environmental footprint while maintaining the highest quality in our products. As innovators, we’re thinking about how to do things differently from the traditional, mass-produced beauty model. What we are ultimately saying is that you, the customer, matter and that you don’t need to fit into a box … that you are perfect the way that you are.’
As sustainability is a cornerstone of Prose’s made-to-order operations, the presence of the west coast customization centre will reduce shipping time and will result in a 50 per cent emissions saving for downstream shipping, or 1·04 kt CO₂e of carbon. The facility is also designed to incorporate renewable energy through energy-efficient design elements in lighting, water consumption, and overall layout.
Nwosu added that 55 new jobs will be added, allowing those hired to be part of the LA team to have a career path to grow with Prose. ‘We’re bringing people along on the journey with us, and the idea of making something locally and employing local people is really important to us and our customers.’
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