Anisa International celebrates 20 years of innovation
Embracing the brand’s core philosophy of creativity, innovation & entrepreneurship, the consumer is always at the centre of Anisa International’s thinking
With a reputation for reverse innovation, sophistication and superior quality, Anisa International is one of the world’s most renowned leaders in design and manufacturer of makeup and artistry tools. For 20 years, the brand has stayed true to the principles that inspired its founder Anisa Telwar: Design products and services that capture the imagination of our consumers and take the industry in new directions.
Created in 1992, Anisa International has seen a 25% growth in revenue from 2008 to 2011. According to Demeter Group, the Color Cosmetic portion of the beauty industry grew 3.8% in 2010, after two years of decline. Anisa International’s growth has significantly outpaced the category, even outpacing the skincare category, which has the strongest estimated growth for 2012 at 5.5% increase and estimate of 9% lift in 2011 over 2010.
Anisa International’s design success lies in its strategic partnership with customers, while retaining complete control over the entire process by successfully provided customers with a true brush design and serving as a manufacturing partner to deliver an intimate understanding of the industry, creative design and manufacturing capabilities.
“I’ve been working with Anisa for 15 years and love the integration we’ve had on all projects,” notes Bare Escentuals Vice President, Global Product Development, Sarina Godin. “They always have good insight to the market place, present great innovation and have extremely high standards for quality and service. The partnership has been wonderful and I look forward to working on more projects together in the future.”
Sephora Purchaser and Product Developer, Accessories, Rashy Eniage, adds, “When I think of Anisa International, three phrases come to mind - amazing design, constant collaboration and functional innovation.”
A subscriber to unconventional and effective marketing philosophy, Anisa International aims to disrupt consumer behavior and buying habits in an effort to create new categories and products. As opposed to simply improving upon existing product categories, Anisa International has succeeded in moving clients away from sable hair, and is currently leading the charge and further aligning the industry with synthetic-based products, like the innovative proprietary Natrafil® blends from DuPont™. The patented fiber delivers superior pick up and release similar to natural hair, without the fallout and breakage.
“The relationship with the Anisa team is unrivaled in the industry,” notes Laura Mercier Executive Director, Global Product Innovation, Linda Treska – a 15-year industry veteran. “They provide strategic insight to the market, dynamic innovations and proven performers, all while consistently delivering within our rigorous quality standards." Laura Mercier has been working with Anisa International for more than three years.
Anisa International tackles global product development via ‘reverse innovation’, a method similar to that of client, L’Oreal. Comparable to the launch of L’Oreal’s B.B. Cream in South Korea, which was then rolled out regionally in China, and finally, after gauging the product’s success, launched in the United States, the ‘bottom up’ versus ‘top down’ development allows Anisa International to gather feedback and input from makeup artists and consumers when shaping new products, like the Concurve™ liner brush. The Concurve was born out of the desire for an artist, Christina Cole, to deliver a flawless liner application – thus, the patented shape was invented. Cole then partnered with Anisa International incubator brand, adesign, to introduce the brush to the market.
“Working with the Anisa team means forgetting about the notions of "customer" and "supplier", and replacing those words by a unique one: "partner". With Anisa, collaboration is more than developing innovative products – it is about changing the face of the brush industry in each little step,” explains Sarah Perreard of DuPont Filaments. “The Anisa team leads our projects with an unrivalled professionalism, as if it were their only priority, up to its complete success. Really, no slogan could better describe this amazing company than ‘The Beauty of True Partnership’!”
“We are a growth company. Our mission is to keep expanding by taking our innovations into new geographies and the best retail opportunities and creating must-have products,” says Anisa Telwar, Founder & CEO of Anisa International. “As we evolve into a truly global organization, we’re not only improving our company’s performance, but we’re leading the beauty industry in a new direction."
Heritage of Innovation
Throughout the years, Anisa International has achieved many milestones and triumphs in the beauty industry. This timeline illustrates many of the brand’s most creative efforts.
1996 - Anisa International receives its first $1 million order from Elizabeth Arden just four years after its inception. In less than ten years, Anisa International achieves global expansion in 2000.
2003 - Anisa International builds the only large-scale American-owned brush plant in Tianjin, China, Anisa Cosmetic Applicators (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. The fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is the only female, American-owned brush factory in China, blending traditional Korean brush-making expertise, Chinese manufacturing efficiency and U.S. capital, management, design and quality control. Anisa International receives numerous awards for positive business practices that align with major international social and environmental initiatives and certifications. Specifically, the plant is one of the few brush companies that has passed L’Oreal’s rigorous standards for social compliance.
Receiving such awards showcases Anisa International’s focus on the core values of integrity, innovation, quality, fairness and strength of character that lay the foundation of the company. Anisa International dictates excellence in service with each client relationship, impacting how products are created and designed. In tandem with these core values, Anisa is passionate about mentorship as it relates to entrepreneurship, and remains committed to supporting the communities in which she lives and does business, assisting local, national and international organizations.
2004 – Anisa International is awarded the Target business – the company’s first retailer brand. The win marks the first time Target turned directly to a manufacturer versus operating via a distributor in the brush category.
2006 - Anisa International introduces consumer brand and product incubator, adesign brushes, developed upon the foundation of professional artistry and principle of launching innovation through tangible research and development as well as direct communication between client and manufacturer. Anisa International receives the Target Vendor of the Year Award.
2007 - Anisa International receives the ISO 9001 Award. The ISO 9001 is the internationally recognized standard for a quality management system, which focuses on an organization’s actions to meet and continually improve customer satisfaction and quality requirements.
2009 – Magnetic launches: Isotonic, Gemini, Interchangeables and Half Moon. The patent pending technology is unique in that a specific pull force insures that the stacked or foldable brushes are compact, easily portable as well as secure. The Isotonic later becomes an exclusive for Sephora, as the Brush Wand.
2010 - A joint effort begins between Anisa International and DuPont™, a global science company offering innovative products and services that has revolutionized makeup brushes for years to come. This partnership ignites the research and development stages of the proprietary blends of Natrafil.
“Anisa International’s partnership with DuPont, a prestigious company with a rich, storied past, is very exciting for us because our central values are largely the same. Both businesses are dedicated to sustainability and innovation, and that is why we are bringing Natrafil® to the consumer, a product that is the first of its kind in the U.S. We hope to provide to women everywhere the high quality of makeup brushes that reflect and meet their needs,” says Telwar.
2011 - Anisa International receives the Intertek Award for Workplace Conditions Assessment (WCA) Achievement Award, further reinforcing the company’s dedication to social compliance at its Tianjin facility. In the same year, various patents were granted, including Interchangeable Magnetic, which later also won HBA IPDA Award in the Tools & At Home Devices Category for the Bare Escentuals Brush with Genius Interchangeable Set. The judges recognized the ingenuity of using magnetic technology as it applies to cosmetic brushes to offer customers something truly beneficial that pairs seamlessly across any cosmetics portfolio.
Additionally, the patent for the Extruded Core was granted with unique variations rolled out throughout the year including sold core, striped core, wave core and glitter. The extruded cores offer a luxe high end look and can be found commercially in Kevin Aucoin brushes, Debenham’s collections and Kirkland Signature brand collections.
2012 – Anisa International receives U.S. patents for the retractable interchangeable magnetics and the Concurve™ Liner. Both innovations showcase the dedication the Company has to continuing to evolve its product selection to meet both the needs of its customers and their consumers.
The Company’s clients and industry peers also recognize the continuous stream of industry-leading products. Client Japonesque as Vendor of the Year for Innovation in their Safari Chic set and the Sephora Brush Wand won the HBA IPDA Award in the Tools category, as well as Best in Show. New launches for 2012 included Spiral Fusion, Casting Acrylic and Contour collections.