Future Origins, a U.S.-based venture founded by Geno, together with Unilever, Kao and L’Oréal, recently announced it has entered into a multi-year purchase agreement with Kao Corp. for NALO — reportedly the first high-performing, sustainable drop-in replacement for palm oil-derived fatty alcohol. This agreement reaffirms the industry’s shift toward sustainable and traceable raw materials in surfactants for cosmetics, personal care products and detergents.
Advancing Sustainable Ingredient Sourcing
NALO is a C12/C14 fatty alcohol developed as a sustainable alternative to palm oil-based fatty alcohols. It combines plant-based feedstocks with cutting-edge fermentation technology, offering high performance while being both low-carbon and deforestation-free.
John Gugel, CEO of Future Origins, explained, “Companies across the globe are looking for ingredients made from more resilient and traceable supply chains, and Future Origins has developed NALO to meet that need.”
Securing Supply and Palm Tree Forests
This deal represents the largest purchase agreement for NALO to date, the company reports, securing offtake for a majority of the planned capacity of Future Origins' first manufacturing facility.
"This development will be important for conserving palm tree forests and ensuring transparent, traceable supply chains,” added Daisuke Hamada, Kao senior executive officer.
In terms of manufacturing and commercialization:
- NALO will be manufactured at industrial scale in the United States. Future Origins is poised to deliver its first volumes of NALO from planned manufacturing sites in the Midwest.
- Early access for NALO will provide pre-commercial product samples for testing ahead of full-scale production, expected by Q2 2025.
This collaboration aligns with Kao’s Sustainability as the Only Path vision, as part of its Mid-Term Plan 2027.
Ingredient Sourcing, Reimagined
Priti Pharkya, Ph.D., SVP of business operations at Future Origins, highlighted the broader impact of the collaboration: “NALO is not only a high-quality ingredient that performs, but it will also enable our customers to grow their businesses in a more reliable and sustainable way."
The agreement is a key milestone in Future Origins’ mission to reimagine ingredient sourcing for personal care and cleaning products. With global collaborations like this, the industry moves closer to widespread adoption of sustainable practices, ensuring both environmental preservation and product innovation.
