It is no secret that supply chain regulation is tightening fast. The EU’ s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive( CSDDD), its anti-deforestation law( EUDR) and the incoming Digital Product Passport all demand something brands have never really had: continuous visibility, several layers deep. The existing materials supply chain leaders rely on, like spreadsheets and siloed databases, were never built for this more advanced purpose.
When we look at beauty and personal care specifically: brands know their Tier-1 suppliers well. They know the packagers, the contract manufacturers, the people they cut cheques to. This is not where the risk is. Most of the environmental, social and geopolitical risk sits further upstream, in Tier-2 through Tier-6. In a typical complex formulation, you might have one Tier-1 vendor sitting on top of a hundred raw material harvesters. No brand, on its own, can see that far down.
It’ s not just the brands that have to answer to a lot; it is also the suppliers themselves. Let’ s take a farmer or a processor five tiers back for example. They might have compliance requests from dozens of different brands who are all asking slightly different questions. This is known as“ audit fatigue” and it’ s why luxury brands are starting to team up instead of going it alone.
110 September 2026