Pai Skincare founder and CEO Sarah Brown: 'Clean is not a term I like'

When U.K.-based brand Pai Skincare first launched 14 years ago as an organic beauty brand, the clean category was barely in its infancy.

Since then, Sarah Brown, founder and CEO of Pai, has seen the rise and transformation of the clean category. She credits the clean beauty concept for "exploding" the natural category, but said she sees a lot of greenwashing and supports legislation and regulations around clean claims.

Brown came from outside the industry when she launched the brand, after trying to soothe her skin condition known as chronic urticaria, she said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. Pai has since become known for its hero Rosehip Oil, as well as products including its Rosehip Fruit Extract Cleansing Oil and Chamomile & Rosehip Soothing Moisturizer. Pai sells through U.S. retailers like Credo, Free People, Bloomingdales and Skinstore.

In 2020, Pai underwent a rebrand to focus on two main areas: packaging design and third-party certification. The packaging was updated to be more sustainable and better communicate Pai's brand positioning, and to incorporate third-party certification to provide credibility.

"We wanted to make the brand look more contemporary and relevant, and [ensure that it also] embodied and communicated our values," said Brown. "It took about two years. It was really about [asking], 'How do we sit within this clean category and this big movement?'"

In April 2021, the brand raised a Series B investment round of $9 million, which it used to increase its manufacturing output and distribution. The brand maintains a vertically integrated supply chain with a 12,000-square-foot office in West London, which houses a corporate office, a lab and a manufacturing facility.