Witraporn Pimpla, founder of ZNYA, also believes that consumers would appreciate the novel regional ingredients the brand uses.
“Our products are from Thailand, a country that can grow things that cold weather countries cannot. We have high potential by exposing our brands with products that they cannot find in their own country for example neem products, or toothpaste made from from cloves and mangosteen.”
Pimpla’s ambitions for the brand lie beyond retail. She is planning to make ZNYA available to hotels, spas, hospitals and airlines.
Aside from resorts in Koh Samui and Krabi in Thailand, ZNYA can also be found on Bangkok Airways to its business class passengers.
She added that the brand would also be available as amenity and retail products in Bamrungrad Hospital this July.
“We believe that safe products are not only for retail but also every business is an opportunity to expand,” said Pimpla.
Demand for organic products rising
Pimpla believes that more and more Thai consumers were suffering from skin conditions but have trouble finding the right solutions.
As such, many of these consumers are turning to organic brands like her own.
“The market has definitely changed a lot. Before, the consumer would look for quick fix solutions. Today, they tend to learn more and wait even though organic products are not the magic solution that brushes off all problems right away,” she said.
For this reason, Pimpla said there were plans to expand the range of products offered to include a dedicated line for men as well as the elderly.
Developing products for people with sensitive skin brings its own set of challenges, Pimpla highlighted.
She said: “We must take into consideration the challenge that people with skin problems will face. We need to carefully formulate the products that people with skin problems can use and with that comes the high cost of products, because good quality ingredients do not come cheap.”
Pimpla added that the brand is strict about the ingredients it uses. For instance, one of its bestsellers, the Jasmine Rice Mask, contains only two ingredients, organic jasmine rice and turmeric rhizome, which go through a stringent selection process.
“We carefully select the perfect rice grain, which must meet our standards. We use only 12-month old turmeric root and only the rhizome part is used. Then the parts are tested for its curcumin properties. Once they meet our standards, then we will use them for the formulations.”
ZNYA uses organic locally grown jasmine rice grown in Northern Thailand.
“This specific rice farm is in the area which has never used any pesticide and chemicals in agriculture for more than half a decade, they only use seeds from their own harvest to grow the next crop and the texture of the rice grain is soft and pure.”
She elaborated that this particular grain of rice was more suitable for skin compared to other varieties.
“It contains high ferulic acid and allantoin, which can be used as a good natural sunscreen. Jasmine rice is also a good oil and moisture absorbent so it can perfectly absorb excess oil and moisture.
She added that rice is a good skin care ingredient for people with sensitive skin.
For instance, because the rice is softer it can be used to exfoliate skin without irritating it.
“People with skin allergy tend to have very sensitive skin, they cannot use normal salt scrub because salt edges are too sharp and those edges will irritate sensitive skin. Rice is a better exfoliating particle so those with sensitive skin do not need to worry about irritating it.”
