Honest Broker

For actress, mother and skincare magnate Jessica Alba, luxury is about peace of mind— knowing that the things you buy won’t hurt you or the earth, writes Madeleine Ross

- Madeleine Ross

JESSICA ALBA NEVER ENVISIONED herself as a business mogul. She has always been conscious of the environment (“I think it’s a generational thing, this type of awareness,” she says), but she was never particularly entrepreneurial. The Dark Angel actress, who became a fixture on Hollywood sexiest people lists after lead roles in hit movies such as Honey (2003) and Sin City (2005), was content with her acting career until she gave birth to her first child. Honor, born in 2008, changed everything.

Having suffered from acute allergies and asthma as a child, Alba was determined to raise her daughter in an environment free from the irritants and chemicals common in baby, household and personal care products. She searched for goods derived from natural ingredients but found her options shockingly limited. She wondered: how, when her contemporaries were so concerned about the health of the planet and of themselves, there were no ethically produced, safe alternatives to the synthetic, cheaply formulated goods on the market?

Alba founded the Honest Company four years later. In the six years since 2012, her start-up has become a household name, with a staff of over 300 and a recent valuation of more than US$1b. Her brainchild produces baby products, personal care products, vitamins and household cleaning products that are vegan and organic where possible, and free of substances like BPA, silicones and polyethylene glycol. Honest only caters to the US market at present, but Alba says she “would love to expand into Asia”.