Breitling CEO invests in luxury refillable skin care brand Soeder

15 Aug 2024 --- Bridging the worlds of luxury watches and skin care, Georges Kern, CEO of Swiss watchmaker Breitling, completes an undisclosed investment in Soeder, a high-end natural skin care brand with refillable packaging.

“Georges’ passion for true luxury, sustainability and authenticity is exactly what Soeder is all about,” says Hanna Olzon Åkerström, Soeder co-founder, on LinkedIn.

The investment signals a growing interest in the sustainable beauty industry from luxury brand leadership and a recognition of the increasing overlap between personal care and luxury lifestyle.

As part of the investment, Kern will sit on Soeder’s board of directors, lending his expertise in brand building and global market expansion.

Soeder plans to leverage Kern’s insights to accelerate its international growth and global prominence.

“True closed-loop model”

Founded in 2013, Soeder operates a refill network, which it brands a “true closed-loop model” consisting of over 130 refill stations. 

“Our glass bottles are designed for a correspondingly long service life. We also make bottles from locally recycled plastic to ensure a low carbon footprint,” details the brand.

Made without artificial additives, the brand utilizes cold-pressed oils and ingredients such as wheat protein and Swiss honey.

Soeder is based in Zurich and operates three shops in Switzerland. Its primary markets are Europe, the US and Asia.

As the refill positioning becomes more synonymous with beauty packaging, suppliers introduce a host of FMCG solutions addressing rising demand. Fasten Packaging, under global beauty solutions provider IBG (Innovative Beauty Group), recently unveiled its next-generation refillable jar concept, Goodloop, which has multiple decoration facets for custom branding.