L’Oreal opens $160 million North America innovation facility
The world’s largest cosmetics company is adding to its global research and innovation ecosystem.
L'Oréal Groupe has completed and held the grand opening of its new North America research & innovation (R&I) center located in Clark, N.J. The $160 million, nearly 250,000-sq.-ft. facility is the largest L’Oreal scientific research hub outside of France.
The center complements other L’Oreal R&I hubs in France, Brazil, South Africa, India, China and Japan. It employs more than 600 scientists, engineers and researchers working across product innovation, development and testing of safe beauty products.
"The U.S. plays a defining role in shaping the future of beauty," said Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO of L'Oréal Groupe, in charge of research, innovation, and technology. "With its diverse and demanding consumers and world-leading innovation ecosystem, it is the ideal environment to drive our vision forward."
The center partners with academics, biotech companies, and startups in the U.S. to discover, invent and scale-up new ingredients and product offerings, as well as innovations that are more sustainable, inclusive and personalized and tailored to varying consumer needs, skin tones, hair types and textures, and beauty expressions.
Products for U.S. brands such as Maybelline, CeraVe, Redken and Kiehl's will be developed at the center. Notable features include a 26,000-sq.-ft. modular laboratory, a consumer center for product testing and co-creation (accommodating up to 400 consumers daily), and an on-site mini factory to scale final formulations before full-scale production.
"This center embodies L'Oréal's uniquely end-to-end innovation model, from upstream advanced research on new breakthrough ingredients to the downstream development of formulas ready for scale-up to deliver high-performance, safe, and responsible beauty solutions," said Lavernos.
Sustainability highlights include 10,000 solar panels which meet 70% of the facility's energy needs, an eco-retention pond for stormwater management, and employee-led gardening and composting initiatives that create a green workspace.
[READ MORE: L’Oreal developing sustainable cosmetics generative AI model with IBM]
The North America R&I center broke ground in 2022 and began welcoming employees in mid-2023. Full operations will commence in February 2025.
Headquartered in Paris, L'Oreal Groupe operates a portfolio of 37 international brands, including New York City-based L’Oreal USA, its largest subsidiary.
