VIVAIODAYS started where many indie beauty brands begin—with a parent’s desire to create safe products for their children. Elina Lampaki and Marios Stamatelopoulos were two parents who created a website, VIVAIODAYS.COM, dedicated to safe, sustainable products for babies and toddlers. However, this business went a step further.
From the protective properties of turmeric in Borneo to the healing properties of olive oil in Greece, Elina & Marios personally witnessed powerful healing traditions gifted by nature. The products themselves are inspired by centuries-old remedies from around the world with formulations that are certified COSMOS ORGANIC, cruelty free, gluten free, and vegan—all packaged in 100% recyclable sugar cane tubes and bottles.
But they didn’t stop there—as part of the brand’s core value of embracing the virtue of love and compassion for others, each product sold funds a School Day for a deserving student somewhere in the world.
I have to admit the branding is what caught my eye, but as I dug deeper, I fell in love with the story and the mission. Marios discusses the VIVAIODAYS vision in the interview below.
You’ve worked as an executive with some of the beauty industry’s great brands. What compelled you to walk away from the 9 to 5 and enter the entrepreneurial world?
It all happened naturally. It was a beautiful combination of determination, coincidences, inspiration, and some good friendships and relationships in the beauty business that came together at the right time.
The brand started as e-commerce site VIVAIODAYS.COM in 2015 as an online destination for sustainable goods and gifts for modern babies and toddlers. What was the strategy for starting as a retailer for other brands?
The whole idea was conceived by my wife and business partner, Elina Lampaki, back in 2009 when we were still based in Greece. She came up with the VIVAIODAYS concept in a brick & mortar retail format, presented it, and managed to get a retail store space in the most prestigious shopping mall in Athens. That was way back before the economic crisis. Then she chose to put everything on hold, as I was given a great job opportunity in California and we relocated here back in 2010. Soon after, in 2014, she had the courage and determination to realize her dream in a web format. The concept was the same: to curate top-class baby products that were organic and good for the planet, and to use 5% of total revenues to fund education initiatives around the world. At the beginning there was more passion and love for that mission than strategy.
Was a personal care line for babies and toddlers always part of the plan?
VIVAIODAYS’ organic world secrets for babies and kids came in the picture only at the end of 2015, as we traveled to accredit every education project we have funded through VIVAIODAYS.COM. In one of these journeys to Borneo to evaluate the funding of Bajau kids’ education, we came across some kids who were wearing a yellow turmeric paste—known as “borak”—on their faces for sun protection. We had a sudden inspiration: to rediscover many more centuries-proven remedies and old wisdom from around the world, and make products inspired by those remedies that deliver non-inflated promises and results, enhance them through organic science, and make them safe, pure, and good for the planet and others.
What was the opportunity you saw in the babies & kids category?
A few observations from our recent journey for the baby category:
There is a lot of talk about what products DO NOT have, but very little about what they DO.
Just to think outside of the box for example, there are so many diaper creams to treat rash, but not so many, if any, products to prevent it, like our olive oil balm gel.
Having said that, I want to add here that we see the opportunity of combining old-world wisdom with modern organic science to make effective, safe, and pure products that are good for the earth and others, and to extend the concept beyond the baby category.
The branding and packaging is stunning—it strikes the perfect balance of sophistication while having kid appeal. Can you share the creative process and inspiration?
What you see outside reflects what we have put inside. Clean honest packaging, made of sustainable recyclable material. Our featured animals are inspired by the origin of each remedy, and always matched with the hero ingredient. Where to begin? Filly, our blonde hair Japanese horse with a Tsubaki flower clip, was happy to be pictured in our Tsubaki Detangler, and our Olive oil balm gel features an Owl, which is a symbol of wisdom in Greece, with an olive branch in its mouth.
It is kid appealing as you said, but at the same time it is sophisticated, with a lot of attention to detail and a twist that makes the difference, like the formulas inside.
You have both a Plant Hunter and Formulator on your team. Can you share your formulation philosophy?
Our team is our most important asset! They are all friends we have known for many years, spread around the world, with proven global experience in their areas, and madly in love with our mission. Starting with the Plant Hunter and being consistent with the initial inspiration in Borneo, any product idea starts from him. He is a one-of-a-kind biologist, a vegetarian, and a traveler, and his main source of knowledge is thousands of books. We work with him to rediscover the actual stories behind the products, then our Marketing department cherry picks the ones for potential development. After that, our Formulator takes the lead and develops a formula inspired by the rediscovered remedy, enhances it by organic science that is certified by European COSMOS ORGANIC, delivering its promise and making it pleasant to use. It is really not as easy and simple as it sounds. Sourcing the right ingredient in top-quality and certified organic form, and achieving the sweet balance of organic integrity and stability with a pleasant application, is a Catch-22. For every launched product there were at least a couple of others that were dropped for various reasons.
You have both clean formulas but also clean packaging. Can you explain how you arrived at your sugar cane tubes?
Sugar cane is one of the most environmental friendly choices in packaging. For every ton of sugarcane plastic used for VIVIAODAYS tubes and bottles, 4.6 tons of CO2 are extracted from the environment.
What’s the distribution strategy for the brand?
We want to be available both in brick & mortar and online stores, where green-educated parents shop for skin & personal care products for their family. We want to work with trade partners that share our values, mindful of organic beauty, sustainability, and love for others. Those retailers can be organic beauty stores, green baby boutiques, organic grocery stores, sustainable design & lifestyle shops, and selective apothecaries. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the traditional big-box retailers giving space to true organic beauty brands, in the near future.
We started 4 months ago, with the aim to expand globally, but also patiently and selectively. We are in selective organic beauty stores and green baby boutiques in the USA, in selective apothecaries and concept stores in Europe, and we are currently working on our launch in Asia and Australia for early 2019.
Can you tell us a little about the brand’s School Days education initiatives?
That’s my favorite topic. Every product sold funds a School Day for a kid in one of our four funded programs. You can find all the information about our funded program on our website: www.vivaiodays.com/about-our-schooldays-program. On our homepage we share the number of school days we funded so far thanks to our customers’ choice. For the moment the four education programs we fund are related to fighting poverty, sending girls to school, and conserving wildlife.
You’ve just launched, but what’s your vision for the future of the brand?
I have a dream… A collection of organic world “secrets” for the entire family to enjoy, while in another part of the world, thousands of kids receive the gift of education daily!
