When evaluating a way to cut carbon emissions, many companies have historically favored offsets. No, not the rapper Offset—an outsourced project that many enlist to reduce their carbon footprints, like planting trees or a solar farm.

But lately, an alternative is more in fashion (and other businesses): carbon insetting. The process—which focuses on carbon-reduction initiatives within a company’s own operations—has gained traction over the past few years, noted Sandra Brandt, director of the International Platform for Insetting (IPI), as businesses work to understand the environmental impact of their supply chains.

• The move makes particular sense for land-based industries with agricultural supply chains, Brandt noted, like apparel and food and bev.
• IPI, which was formed in 2015 to support businesses that are insetting, counts H&M Group and Nespresso as members.

Another likely contributor to the interest in insetting? Carbon offsets have come under scrutiny. Companies are looking at insetting as an “investment into your business rather than a donation,” Brandt said. “That’s also why we often actually say insetting is offsetting brought home.”

Ready, (in)set, go

Farmer-owned dairy cooperative Organic Valley is one of the latest companies to get into insetting, announcing a new program in March to reach its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050.

“We have a really close relationship with our supply,” Nicole Rakobitsch, director of sustainability at Organic Valley, told us. “We know who our farmers are; we have long-term relationships with them, and so it just felt like a more authentic approach.”

• The company will debut 30–50 new insetting projects this year within three different categories: energy, improved manure management, and agroforestry, she said.
• Ready for a vocab lesson? Its agroforestry efforts include silvopasture, a process of integrating trees with grazing livestock; windbreaks, which means planting trees in a row to block wind and prevent things like soil erosion; and riparian buffers, aka an area of vegetation near lakes, streams, and wetlands that helps with things like filtering runoff and blocking bank erosion.
• Rakobitsch said the move will allow its ~1,700 farmers to participate in the carbon market—where carbon credits are sold to buyers like a company or the government—with Organic Valley.
• The co-op pays its farmers for these projects (a minimum of $15 per metric ton per year), and has an agreement in place that they’re only applied to Organic Valley’s climate goals.

Here’s how other food and bev companies are approaching insetting.—EC

In a seeming twist, Puig—not L’Oréal, as had been rumored—is the conglomerate now set to acquire Byredo. Puig did not reveal financial details of the deal. (Puig declined comment to Retail Brew, directing us to a press release about the acquisition.)

Byredo, founded in 2006, offers a range of fragrances, candles, and cosmetics and is a hot-ticket beauty brand, growing 63% YoY, according to Business of Fashion. In 2021, the company reported $134 million in sales, up from $70 million in 2019.

Chemical romance: For Puig, which counts the likes of Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gautier as part of its beauty and fashion portfolio, the deal marks a play for the niche fragrance market.

“Niche fragrances are like this new subset of prestige or luxury fragrances that are being marketed differently,” Marie Driscoll, managing director of luxury and fashion at Coresight Research, told Retail Brew. “These are fragrances that you don’t smell everybody [else] wearing. They lend an air of mystery to the wearer, so that you lean in and ask, ‘What are you wearing?’...It’s playing on exclusivity, and how that makes you feel special.”

• Although Byredo has gained more recognition over the past few years, stepping into the mainstream, it still has a niche audience, an added benefit for Puig, according to David Schneidman, director at Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group.

“With that, they definitely have the ability to continue to evolve and grow not only with the brand proposition that the company already has but then leveraging the machine of distribution and capital investment to drive that market awareness,” he said. “It’s a huge opportunity for them.”

• He added that Byredo had a unique brand proposition and the new deal would provide them with more capabilities and distribution.

A new accord: While the jury’s out on whether Byredo can be considered fully niche, both Driscoll and Schneidman agreed that beauty brands within the category, like Byredo, that have stepped away from more traditional gendered marketing, have seen more recent success.

“Gender-neutral and more men’s cosmetics will start [to become] more important,” Schneidman said. “[Companies] are going to be leveraging these other types of inclusive brands to continue to expand their reach with men, women, nonbinary, and then across all the different types of ethnicities and nationalities, because everyone…wants a brand speaking to him or her...And I think these conglomerates are starting to recognize this.”—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

A stitch in time: From layoffs to an IPO, an inside look at the ups and downs of Rent the Runway over the last 17 months. (Fast Company)

Getting fresh: GoPuff is betting on its prepared-food biz, forming buzzy brand partnerships and tapping execs from Yum! Brands and Whole Foods. (ModernRetail)

New age: Newer anti-aging skincare brands are using new tactics to reach new demographics. (Thingtesting)

Candid convos with industry icons: Hosted by Brew cofounder Alex Lieberman, the Imposters podcast delves deep into the personal and mental challenges some of the biggest names in biz have faced while reaching their most resounding achievements. Listen here.

Welcome to a special edition of Time Machine inspired by American fashion and design icon Isaac Mizrahi, whose eponymous brand recently switched owners (again). 

• In 1987, Isaac Mizrahi founded his New York-based label and debuted his first collection at a trunk show at Bergdorf Goodman, earning instant praise. In 1992, Chanel acquired a majority stake in the brand.
• On January 9, 1989, the CFDA awarded the designer his first of two Womenswear Designer of the Year awards.
• On August 11, 1995, director Douglas Keeve’s documentary, Unzipped, was released. It followed Mizrahi through the arduous process of creating and showing his 1994 collection.
• On October 2, 1998, after years of faltering sales, Chanel and Mizrahi agreed to formally shut down the label.
• On February 25, 2003, nearly five years after the closure of his eponymous label, Target announced a diffusion line with Mizrahi. It debuted in August of that year, and would go on to be an enormous success. The line was discontinued in 2008.
• In September 2011, Mizrahi’s label was acquired by Xcel Brands for $31.5 million.
• On January 5, 2012, the first season of Project Runway spin-off Project Runway: All Stars debuted, with Isaac Mizrahi, among others, as a recurring judge.
• On March 17, 2016, the Jewish Museum unveiled a retrospective of Mizrahi’s work titled Isaac Mizrahi: An Unruly History, because, what better way to sum up the designer’s colorful career?
• And finally, on May 31, 2022, Xcel Brands sold a 70% stake in the Isaac Mizrahi brand to WHP Global for $46.2 million in cold, hard cash.

Any brand worth their salt needs to be able to engage with Gen Z, but not all brands get it right. Luckily, the VP of marketing for cookies and crackers at Campbell Snacks and the managing director of retail and e-commerce analysis at Morning Consult both know a thing or two about that. We’re tapping into their insights on June 15 in NYC at our second Checkout Forum, sponsored by Amazon Ads. Come for the open bar and tasty treats; stay for the knowledge.

Doors open at 5:45pm ET and spots are on a first-come, first-served basis. Register here.*

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• From Glossier to Under Armour, a roundup of retail exec moves in May
• Retail execs are more willing than ever to offer resale: report
• Bobbie’s baby-formula bump trickles down to retail partner Lalo