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Acure Organics
This brand is not only focused on using the latest in science-backed bioactives—think chlorella growth factor and argan stem cells—but also on getting fair trade and USDA Organic certification whenever possible, and donating a portion of proceeds to providing free mammograms to at-risk women, too. In just 15 months the contemporary face, body, and hair care line has quickly gained a cult-like following in natural products stores, including Whole Foods, across the country.
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Andalou Naturals
What does natural beauty look like in the future? Get a glimpse with this sophisticated, surprisingly affordable personal care line featured as Delicious Living Beauty and Body Awards' Breakthrough Company of 2012. The line of hair and skin care products features plant stem cells and other up-and-coming science-backed bioactives such as probiotics, enzymes and superfruits.
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Artisana
Artisana's new Superfood Nut Butters are part of the trend we call "nut butters plus," with some far-out-there ideas. The company added foods like algae, goji and spirulina to their raw nut butters for interesting color (blue! pink! green!), flavor and nutrition.
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Aura Cacia
This company never fails to impress with its sustainable business model, continuously introducing fair-trade ingredients and global initiatives. Its latest products are convenient Aromatherapy Mists, which make essential oils accessible to the mainstream. Launched in conjunction with the brand's National Moment of Chill Campaign, Aura Cacia represents a growing movement toward focusing on consumers' wellbeing.
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Avalon Organics
This year, Avalon is living up to its organic name. The classic natural brand reformulated every product in order to get the NSF/ANSI 305 "made with organic ingredients" certification. Expect to see more industry veterans raising the bar in the natural personal care category with even cleaner formulations that earn consumer trust.
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Back to the Roots
The company behind this mushroom kit stood out as much as their kit itself. We just can't say enough about the mushroom guys. Their story is amazing to say the least, and their dedication to sustainability and cause marketing is extraordinary. In 2012, they're on track to collect, divert and reuse 3.6 million pounds of coffee grounds (the soil for their product) from Peet's Coffee & Tea.
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Begin Again
Begin Again is a toy company that, apart from carrying truly sustainable products, has an even better ethos. Their mission is turning kids off toys made from petroleum and onto toys made from natural materials—"from oil to soil." The company offers plant-based artist kits, rubber wood blocks, corn-derived tea sets, and more. And they aim to inspire future consumers (kids who 20 years from now will be making buying decisions) to value sustainability.
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BluePrintJuice
One look at the packing for these unpasteurized, cold-press juices and it's clear: It's about the juice, the whole juice, and nothing but the juice. This fresh approach to juice comes in five delicious detox-supporting flavors: Green, Red, Yellow, Gold, and White. Each is filled with a bounty of fruits and vegetables that attribute to their hue.
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Brad's Raw Foods
Brad's Raw Leafy Kale Chips combine amazing nutrition with surprisingly delicious—and addictive— taste leading us to wonder which came first: the kale chip trend or Brad? The company's Vampire Killer flavor is particularly good, with its garlicky punch and sprinkling of cashew-based vegan cheese. There is no longer any excuse to eat unhealthy potato chips again.
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Broo
The husband and wife team behind Broo are beer body care pioneers. With more than just trace amounts of beer, the handcrafted, microbrewed products include shampoo, conditioner and body wash. This brand delivers on legitimate and clever marketing and packaging.
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The Brooklyn Salsa Company
This company uses local, organic, direct-trade ingredients to make ethnic-flavor-inspired salsas. While they manufacture in New York, they'll soon be making salsa elsewhere to distribute to new regions with the same local food model.
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Castor & Pollux PetWorks
The first #2 recyclable pet food packaging has arrived, and it’s only a matter of time before other companies follow suit. Castor & Pollux have been making organic dog food for seven years, and released their new package in tandem with their organic small dog food formula. Sustainable packaging, while previously overlooked, is primed to become the next big food trend, as owners' values trickle down into pet products.
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Cid Botanicals
Finally, an example of sophisticated bilingual packaging; equal weight given to English and Spanish, with clean type and design (not dumbed down). Products are also vegan, sourced from South America (not China), and feature unusual stevia flavors (mocha, passion fruit).
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Daiya
Two years ago, Daiya changed the face of nondairy cheese with their soy-free, vegan shredded cheeses now sold across the country and used in popular pizza chains. This year, the company released cheese-style wedges in common cheese flavors—cheddar, pepperjack and havarti—positioning them for nondairy cheese domination in delis.
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Dang Foods
Featuring a line of all-natural dried coconut chips at their very first show, this small family company is young, energetic and determined to bring the best quality to market. They have a great story and a simply delicious product that's bringing a new side of the coconut to market.
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Derma e and MyChelle
Two leaders in the natural facial skin care category rebranded their solution-driven products to further relay a simple message, one that could easily be the catalyst for natural personal care soon outpacing conventional: Natural products really do work. With the rebrands came new products, of course: MyChelle's Daily Defense Cream and Derma e's Evenly Radiant skin brightening line.
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Dolphin Organics
After launching less than a year ago, Dolphin Organics has already generated quite a buzz in the natural personal care industry for its innovative, easy-to-understand labeling system that clearly categorizes ingredients as organic, natural, or synthetic (always blank) and an NSF/ANSI 305 certification to back it up. Tailor-made for discerning parents who need a little help making smart purchases for their children.
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Eco Nuts
Eco Nuts isn’t just a natural company. They’re the natural company that genuinely thinks of sustainability across their products' entire life cycle. The naturally sudsing dried nuts have been used for centuries by indigenous Asians. Free of chemicals, Eco Nuts contain no packaging, making them an ideal cleaning product for the super-green consumer.
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Elements Naturals
While this company has sold compostable baby wipes since 2009, Elements Naturals introduced the first 100 percent BPI-certified compostable diaper at Expo West 2012. They are made entirely from plants and have unparalleled performance (no risk of diaper rash, supreme absorbability), making the company a leader in the market for zero-waste baby care.
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Flavrz
With an eco-friendly and low-sugar focus, this organic company is pioneering what liquid drink mixes (such as MiO) should be doing for consumers. Flavrz is the only organic drink mix on the market with fruity flavors geared toward energy, immunity and sports performance. No surprise here: the drink was created by a mom whose goal was to create healthier drink and soda options for her kids.
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Genuine Health
Genuine Health, a Canadian company, has introduced to the U.S. their Vegan Proteins+, a mix of five high-quality plant-based proteins, including cranberry. The product fits in well with the growing protein powder trend—going beyond the bodybuilding audience with higher-quality, clean, nutrient-dense ingredients
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Ice Box Water
This is much more than just another company that sells water. Ice Box Water is dedicated to influencing the entire category and changing the way water manufacturers think about packaging. They are focused on building awareness around the impact of bottled water on our environment—truly a company whose sustainability efforts are far from centric.
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Madécasse
These bars are actually made in Madagascar, greatly increasing the fair-trade impact. The company is still positioning (plans to change the name, etc.) but on-site manufacturing could be the next thing in fair trade.
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Maison Le Grand
This unique line of vegan pesto offers bold and creative flavors. Maison Le Grand specializes in cold-processed sauces inspired by the gourmet quality of fine European cuisine and the West Coast influence on healthy, natural foods. The company seamlessly combines tradition and innovation.
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MegaFood
Their new vegan line is set to position the brand to capture the growing vegan market—and they may benefit from people unhappy over Procter & Gamble's recent New Chapter buyout. MegaFood calls their whole-food supplements "artisan," referring to the laborious process by which the company works with small farmers to create the supplements.
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Natural Vitality
Known for its commitment to organic nutrition, Natural Vitality took another step in this direction of helping to overcome the nutritional impact associated with industrialized farming with the launch of its Vitality B and Vitality C plants-sourced supplements. These farm-to-capsule complexes contain nutrients and cofactors as they exist in nature, taking whole food supplements to a whole new level.
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New Chapter
Following on the success of Zyflamend, the #1 selling herbal product in the natural category according to SPINS data, says the company, New Chapter has launched targeted preventive versions for heart, prostate, and breast health. These whole food supplements reduce inflammation in multiple ways—and cater to the healthy aging and prevention market.
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New York Superfoods, Inc.
Why settle for peanuts when you can crunch on more nutritious chia seeds? New York Superfoods' Chia Chargers Be Kind nut butters blend in chia for a distinctive texture and appearance, boosted with flavors like chocolate, paprika and coffee.
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Nordic Naturals
A new Algae Omega supplement—in vegetarian softgels or vegan drops—delivers both EPA and DHA and is a major move toward diversity and sustainability for this category-leading fish oil producer.
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NurturMe
So smart: the first dehydrated, organic baby food made with fruits and vegetables. The product is lightweight in low-carbon-footprint packaging (no bottles, jars, or squeeze packs). Good for toddlers, too, stirred into regular food (sweet potato powder into mac and cheese).
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Oh Baby Foods
Offering wholesome purees made from certified organic ingredients grown and harvested at their peak of flavor, Oh Baby Foods offers some of the most surprising and tantalizing flavor combinations in the baby food category. Plus, 100 percent of their ingredients are grown by U.S. farmers.
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Ojo
This "visionary drink" or eye nectar is based on the insight that eye health supplements are not well tolerated in pill form. Inspired by his patients' intolerance of AREDs vitamins, ophthalmologist Dr. Luchs created the liquid formulation. Bonus: It tastes good and comes in a well-designed package.
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On by Sensuva
This revolutionary arousal formula for women had a very impressive presentation and demonstration at the show. The product is non-numbing, safe and all natural. Most products in this category function on menthol or vaso-dilators (such as L-arginine), but On uses botanical ingredients.
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One Degree Organic Foods
Their one-step-beyond-organic "veganic" growing methods forgo animal byproducts to improve soil—a new response to core organic consumer demand for transparency and integrity from seed to shelf. Plus, they're catering to the growing vegan trend.
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Organic America
The company's micro green blends of red amaranth, golden pea, basil, arugula, cilantro, and popcorn shoots are grown using sustainable farming practices to avoid soil erosion and pollution. In addition to looking beautiful, these certified organic greens deliver concentrated vitamins and protein.
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OY!
New to the United States, this European brand can capture that difficult-to-please customer—teens and young adults—with eye-catching labels that spell out the importance of natural and organic body care in a way we can all relate to: "no gunk" with "natural goodness" like green tea, prebiotics and willow bark.
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Sawmill Hollow Family Farm
This Iowa farm reintroduced aronia berries, a superfruit (higher ORAC than acai), back to its native North America. Along with other local superfruits, like blueberries and tart cherries, expect to see aronia popping up in health foods, overtaking acai and other exotics.
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Sir Richards Condom Company
Punchy marketing combines with social responsibility at Sir Richard's Condom Company. Their casein-free, 100 percent natural latex condoms are vegan certified by the American Vegetarian Association and free of parabens and spermicides. Following the Tom's Shoes model, if you buy one condom, Sir Richard's will donate one to a developing country to help curb preventable diseases.
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Solgar
Called No. 7, Solgar's new product—billed by the company as next-generation glucosamine (it doesn't contain glucosamine)—offers pain relief in seven days. Solgar is targeting active, younger people (weekend warriors) and not just those who have arthritis—a growing trend in joint care supplements.
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Sweet Earth Foods
This small central California–coast company is poised to make big waves with their plant-based healthy, convenient and unpretentious fusion food. Satisfying and delicious, their products (all vegetarian, some vegan) capitalize on the taste of fresh, heirloom foods with multi-ethnic flavors.
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Swisse
This Australian supplement maker made its United States debut at Expo West 2012 with a full range of vitamins and condition-specific supplements. Their unique bottle design stands out on the shelf and their adherence to strict manufacturing and health claims guidelines makes them a standout for retailers.
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Tcho
Funded by the people behind Wired magazine, Tcho is one of the most progressive companies in the chocolate world. It uses proprietary cloud-based software to evaluate their farmers' crop specifics in Ghana, Peru and other cacao-producing regions, and to actively communicate with farmers to improve ingredient quality.
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The Chia Co.
As chia continues to explode as an ingredient, this company cleanly grows, harvests, and manufactures all its products, with full traceability on every package back to the paddock where it was grown. Very modern package design, too. Along with oil, flour, and seeds, they’re about to introduce the first kids' smoothie with chia.
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Three Twins Ice Cream
Small-batch production and high-quality, local, organic ingredients prove it is possible to improve on an already good thing. Innovative flavors, such as Dad's Cardamom, Sea Salted Caramel and Chocolate Orange Confetti, add to the gotta-try-it factor. For each pint sold, six square feet of land is preserved.
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Vega
In a market crowded with products targeting the "freaks and hulks," Vega Sport stands apart. The Vega Sport Performance System is a fully formed systematic approach to sports nutrition, a la Gatorade's G Series. The company has grown like gangbusters, rebranded across its remaining SKUs, and landed investment from VMG Partners. Vega is well-poised to steal share in a hot category with its gentler, plant-based approach to performance.
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Veria Living
How do you get American consumers to understand and relate to ayurveda? With this new, modern line of dosha-based personal care products (Veria Inner Dosha, ID) and supplements (Veria Self Optimize, SO). Topical products cater to specific skin and body types and are complemented with targeted herbal supplements.
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Wembe
The Amazonian soaps from Wembe are organic, vegan, and earth-friendly, featuring pure ingredients through responsible sourcing in the Amazon rainforest. From the branding, varieties, and packaging, this product stands out from the rest.
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Yoga Earth
Following the coconut craze is an innovative delivery system that has a lower carbon footprint: Purity dehydrated organic coconut water powder. Yoga Earth's coconut powder contains absolutely no added ingredients, such as dextrose. It's also an interesting cooking ingredient. This could revolutionize the huge coconut water category; why pay for 97 percent water?
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YogaVive
This brand offers a variety of non-GMO popped fruit slices infused with bold flavors. The patented popping process allows all of the natural nutrients and whole food benefits to remain intact. The company's myriad of certifications—Ecocert, Kosher, Halal, Gluten Free, Certified Vegan and Non-GMO Project—show its serious about attracting core natural consumers.
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Yogi Tea
A more than 30-year-old company, Yogi Tea has had over 10 percent growth annually over the past five years. Their sophisticated marketing for solution-oriented herbal formulas for sleep, energy and appetite suppression is a standout in the tea category.
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Youtheory
This brand's clean, modern packaging catches attention, but it's the ingredients inside the bottles that are the true beauty stars. The company has taken a comprehensive approach to collagen—one of the leading nutricosmetic ingredients— by incorporating collagens type 1 and 3 (commonly used to support healthy hair, skin, nails, tendons and ligaments) with collagen 2 for bone and cartilage health. At Expo West, Youtheory introduced a collagen liquid sweetened with monk fruit.
Gaze into our natural products industry crystal ball and get a sneak peek at the future of healthy. These Nexty nominees, recognized at Natural Products Expo West 2012, represent some of the companies, products, people and ideas promising to shape tomorrow's natural products landscape. (Listed alphabetically.)
The Nexty nominations were given out in support of NEXT: The Natural Products Industry Forecast 2013, a report produced by New Hope Natural Media’s Nutrition Business Journal and Sterling Rice-Group. Available this spring, NEXT provides a deep dive into the trends and market forces driving the natural products industry today and identifies the companies, products, people and ideas that will shape tomorrow’s natural products landscape. To learn more and cast your Nexty votes, go to www.nextforecast.com/Nexty.
