The last few years have passed as a blur; the word “unprecedented” has begun to sound more like a description of normal, everyday life. In 2022, the HSCG brought back our in-person conference for the first time since 2019 – it was incredible. Hundreds of excited attendees arrived, ready to learn and see each other again. Now, we’re looking ahead towards our next conference, taking place May 5-8, 2025 in Reno, Nevada (psst….you should sign up here before October 31st at 4PM EST).
The Annual Conference does take up a huge portion of our time here at HSCG Headquarters. But, it’s not everything. Trust me, we’ve been dreaming up new and exciting things to help you evolve and grow as a maker…and ways for us to evolve and grow, too.
HSCG Environmental Focus Incoming
If you’ve been following us for awhile you’ve likely noticed that we’ve been putting a big emphasis on environmental causes.
Awhile back, we introduced our Reduce Plastic Waste Initiative, where makers could sign a pledge promising to reduce their plastic waste. But then we thought…why not take that a step further? After all, handcrafted products generally are better for the environment; shouldn’t our makers be leading the charge in environmental consciousness?
That’s why the HSCG decided to create a new environmental initiative that we’ll be releasing this month. We’ll start with helpful resources to help you move into more environmentally-friendly practices, and release memberships/certifications in phase two. You’ll see some sneak peeks on our socials soon, but here’s a hint: this program is for everyone. Everyone can participate at some level. This project is being helmed by passionate environmental advocate and HSCG Program Coordinator, Camryn O’Donnell.
Impactful change can come in the form of gigantic leaps and bounds or tiny steps. We’ll be releasing plenty of resources to help makers take whatever steps they can/want to towards an eco-loving future.
In 2023, we announced that we’ve partnered with EcoSoap Bank, a humanitarian and environmental non-profit organization that saves soap to save lives. HSCG Members can join the EcoSoap Bank #ScrapPack for a $10 donation each month, which helps to provide soap and hygiene education to 100 people (that’s one HUNDRED people) and also supports the ongoing employment of 160 women – every. Single. MONTH. You can also send in your soap scraps to be recycled into new bars and distributed to people in need.
As for HSCG Headquarters, we’ve been taking steps to increase sustainability for awhile; in-office, we do everything we can digitally, including providing digital receipts for members to access anytime in their profile. We’re always looking for new ways to improve and “walk the walk”.
HSCG MoCRA Resources
If you’re not familiar with MoCRA and you live in the U.S – you should be. MoCRA is the Modernization of Cosmetic Regulations Act of 2022; it was passed in Congress and signed into law by the President on December 29th, 2022. It’s the first major update to the cosmetics laws since the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was first approved all the way back in 1938.
Last year, we worked with newly appointed HSCG Compliance Resource Specialist Marie Gale to create a MoCRA Resource center on our site, where you can take a quiz that helps you understand your obligations under this legislation (along with many other resources).
Marie has also been working on updating our Ingredient Lookup tool as well; this is a proprietary database where you can verify that your ingredient declaration is correct. A valuable and crucial resource that has taken hours of work and is still ongoing, so a huge thank you to the legendary Marie Gale for taking this on!
Other Updates & Resources
If you’re reading this, that means that we’ve just completely overhauled our blog – isn’t it gorgeous? The HSCG has been moving steadily towards modernization. Our shiny new blog interface will hopefully help you find the information you’re looking for faster.
Coming up on the horizon, we’ll be giving Professional and Supplier members the ability to add professional certifications to their listings. This means that if you’ve gone through the process of becoming certified through Leaping Bunny, for example, and are a Professional or Supplier member, you would be able to fill out information pertaining to your certification for us to verify so that your professional certification will display in your listing.
We’ll also be hosting more membership drives, a new scholarship program and more helpful resources over the next several months, but I can’t give you all the secrets…you’ll just have to follow us to see what’s coming!