Trilogy makes mark as alternative in cosmetics 

Source: ONE NewsTrilogy skincare

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Natural skincare company Trilogy has received rave reviews in the likes of Fashion Quarterly and Vogue and is now enjoying success in the Australian market.

Trilogy co-founder Sarah Gibbs started the business with her sister Catherine de Groot in 2002, creating skincare products that only use natural and organic ingredients.

"We're very interested in recyclability, traceablity of products, we don't test on animals, so Trilogy's about responsibility essentially," says Gibbs.

She says women in particular are looking to make an alternative choice and this has been central to the success of Trilogy's products.

"I think there's 25,000 skincare brands in the world, so the fact that Trilogy is a responsible business gives us a very strong point of difference in all of our markets, including Australia."

Trilogy expanded into the Australian market five years ago and its products are now the third best-selling brand in the large department store chain, Myer.

Gibbs says the company's success in Australia comes from thinking of it as a separate market.

"We've put Australians into the Australian market. We also adapted our marketing strategy to be more direct, which suits the Australian market better. And, we've been very, very patient," she says.

The company has recently opened an office in the UK to service the UK and Irish markets, and has emerging markets in Asia.

Its presence in the US market is small which could be seen as a blessing recently as its exports have not been overly exposed to the weak US dollar.

"The pound's worrying me currently but we obviously have hedging strategies like every export business to manage these things, and it's part of exporting - you have to work with it," says Gibbs.

Gibbs says building brand awareness using its strategy of public relations techniques takes time and says Trilogy is not ready for the US market yet. Instead, it will continue to focus on its current markets.