Length / Less than 7 minutes
1. Where the name “Tailor” comes from.
Our name, Tailor, is no accident. Our brand was founded on offering skincare that’s tailored to your skin. So, “Tailor” just made sense, as it means the mission is clear and you can’t miss it, because it’s literally in the name.
2. Proudly NZ Made
Tailor is proudly made right here in New Zealand. Our products are manufactured in Christchurch, and our packaging is sourced from Whakatane and made in Wellington. By keeping as much of our supply chain local as possible, we’re able to support local businesses and reduce our carbon footprint.
3. It all began with a kitchen mixer.
Tailor came from very humble beginnings, from a kitchen mixer in Taranaki. Since then, we grew and relocated to Wellington, with our HQ in Lyall Bay on the beach front. In 2022, we relocated our head office to the big smoke, Auckland, where our NZ warehouse is based. Our team is still across Wellington and Auckland. In 2023, we opened our first warehouse in Sydney to better serve our Australian and international customers.
4. Tailor Testers, because absolutely no animal testing around here.
As we’re proudly 100% vegan and cruelty-free, there’s absolutely no animal testing. Instead, each year we put out a call for Tailor Testers—real people who get to try our skincare (for free!) and share their experience along the way. This process includes trialing a tailored routine for 4 weeks and sharing the results with us to showcase how our products work.
5. Skincare “firsts” in NZ
We’re super proud to have been recognised for innovation in the skincare industry, formulating a few “first of its kind” skincare products in New Zealand. This includes the first probiotic serum, Renew and the first vitamin C powder, Gold Dust. More recently we are ahead of the curve with using melatonin as a key skincare active found in Restore, this product has won 4 awards in its first year. Plus we’ve pioneered a new category of skincare products called “Skincare Boosters”, check out Elevate.
6. Our most requested product we haven’t made (yet).
The product our Tailor community asks for most? Sunscreen! And while we’d love to launch a Tailor SPF (ahh feels so cool saying that), it’s a (very) challenging product to formulate with the type of formulation we want to achieve (one does not simply exist) and the costs to undertake all the necessary SPF testing. We love that there are high regulations around an SPF, however there is a lot of investment required in this. But, rest assured, we’re determined to introduce one to our range when the time comes.
7. Created the first skincare refills—but we learned a lot.
Did you know Tailor was the very first skincare brand in New Zealand to launch compostable refills in 2020. Although we were pioneers in this space, after testing our refills with our Tailor community, we found that most of our community lacked access to compost bins, resulting in these refills ending up in landfills. Additionally, producing refill packaging would require the use of virgin plastic, which would be a step backwards for sustainability. There were other challenges too, like the need for separate manufacturing facilities, which increased carbon emissions from production and shipping.
For now, we’re sticking with eco-friendly packaging: recyclable glass bottles and boxes made from certified cardboard printed with vegetable inks.
8. Look Good Feel Better
Part of our commitment to social responsibility is partnering with the charity “Look Good Feel Better”, in their month-long campaign in Farmers, every year. During this month, we donate $1 from every Tailor product sold, and Farmers match this donation. LGFB’s mission is to help cancer patients feel more like themselves during treatment. This program provides cancer patients with tips, techniques, and products to face their journey with confidence, and we couldn’t feel more honored and grateful to be part of their work.
9. Locally sourced ingredients – with a few exceptions.
If the ingredient is not grown in NZ, we do have to outsource from overseas. Therefore, where possible, our ingredients are sourced locally in NZ. For example, our grape seed extract is a byproduct of NZ’s wine industry, and our hemp seed oil is sourced locally from Manawatu (this gives it’s unique green colour, unlike the yellow coloured oil sourced off-shore).
If you’d like to find out more about the ingredients we use, head to each individual product page, and scroll down to see a dedicated section for ingredients, with a detailed breakdown for each ingredient.
10. 3 rebrands to date
Over the past 12 years, Tailor has gone through three packaging rebrands, with the evolution of time, trends and customer expectations. So, in 2012 we started with just our blue glass and no boxes, then we transitioned to foils, including silver, gold, rose gold with white boxes, and then we rebranded to neon pastels in grey bio boxes (sourced off-shore using compostable bagasse). We encountered some logistical issues with this rebrand due to covid & their design so we opted to keep neon pastel colour palette but instead change our boxes to ‘Well Managed Forest’ certified card that can be compostable & recyclable, but most importantly are locally sourced.
Alongside this, our tube packaging has also evolved, to stay up to date with sustainability and technology advancements. When we first launched in 2012, our tubes were made from 100% virgin plastic. As new sustainable options became available, we transitioned our tube packaging to 50% PCR plastic, post-consumer resin, sourced from milk bottles. We opted for 50% as 100% was too rigid to squeeze product from.
You can read more about our neon pastel colour palette in our blog here.
Well, that was fun. Until next time…
Love,
Tailor x