Creating a customised product for every need is always a form of art. Marco Esposito, founder and owner of Cosmlab Spa, a company specialising in ‘contract’ cosmetic and pharmaceutical development and research, knows this well. His is a great love of precision and respect for companies’ ideas, which become reality thanks to Cosmlab: from customised formulas to the production of finished products, including marketing, trend analysis, sales force training, material analysis and label consultancy. The potential is countless and spans a wide range of possibilities, including skin care, cleansing, perfumes, therapeutic skin products, body care, pet care, baby lines, hair and intimate products.

From skin care to perfumes, via therapeutic and children’s products, the potentials are many

A DREAM CAME TRUE

Esposito retraces the steps that led him to found Cosmlab Spa: ‘The company was founded about 10 years ago after a path closely linked to my personal life,’ he recounts. ‘After my university studies, I started attending trade fairs and street markets. From the fairs came the first collaborations with businesses. It was then that I fell in love with the ‘contract’ mode and started to study it, thinking about how to develop a cosmetics company. I learnt how to use the first machines in my garage and pushed on until I realised my dream’. He continues: “Today we not only work with big brands but also with start-ups, helping young people to create new projects from the initial to the final stage. I do this because I see my story in them”.

The focus on young people adds to the relationship with the customer: ‘Many factories lack this aspect. I, on the other hand, try to put myself in my customer’s shoes, explaining my story and conveying my love for this job’. The aim is to create a product from scratch following the customer’s specifications, after sampling, in order to give a regular and certified product to be put on the market. “We work on quality to keep prices low to ensure competitiveness,” he says. “This approach has led us to exponential growth in the last four years, with about 150 per cent increase in turnover each year, data in hand. The staff also grows: as of today, between internal and external staff we have a team of about 20 people whom we also support with bonuses in addition to their salary.

But we expect new hires.’ A new site is also on the way, in addition to the ones in Milan (head office), Villa Literno (CE) where the laboratory is located, and in Spain, in Valencia: ‘We are building a new site next to the one in Villa Literno, in order to have more space, which will house new machinery and staff. It is 5,000 metres and will be ready in two months. We expect at least 10 more people in the company by 2025’.

THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Cosmlab is oriented towards foreign markets: ‘We are an ISO 9001 certified and GMP certified company. The latter to work in the United Arab Emirates, where we plan to open a branch, where they are investing heavily in our target sectors. For example, there they are focusing on alternatives to botulinum for cosmetic solutions’. And he concludes: ‘We are expanding abroad, as demonstrated by our office in Valencia. We have an in-house manager who only works on internationalisation and reference agents everywhere, not only in the European market but also internationally’.

Extract from Repubblica, Focus Cosmetics