Trilogy's Sarah Gibbs

Trilogy

Sisters, Sarah Gibbs and Catherine de Groot are the founders of the brand Trilogy. Trilogy is an Australasian, family-owned and run company known for leading the natural and organic skincare category with their 100% Certified Organic Rosehip Oil.

Trilogy provides natural, organic and sustainable products worldwide. In the past seven years Trilogy has grown from five products to 37 products and is now stocked in all Myer stores as well as pharmacies and health stores throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The Trilogy girls provide a corporate operation which is carbon neutral as their products are largely sea freighted, ingredients are ethically sourced, and packaging is recyclable. Both Sarah and Catherine had success with their campaign R-Proof this year, beginning internally with their staff committing to not using the 'R-word' (recession) and thinking of a new exciting way to offer their business. Success was evident and the staff were having such a good time that the R-Proof campaign was implemented in over 80 businesses including Myer and many other Australian pharmacies and health stores.

In late 2009 Trilogy launched a campaign to support the endangered Orangutans in South East Asia, with a $1.00 from every sale of the Certified Organic Rosehip Oil going to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

Interview with Sarah Gibbs

When did you begin Trilogy?

Sarah Gibbs: It started about eight years ago now; we've been on the market for seven years. I had a business manufacturing Rosehip Oil and we discovered that it was an amazing product for the skin. I was selling to the French and Japanese cosmetic houses and I thought to myself this looks like a great proposition. From there I had a chat with my sister, (I run Trilogy with Catherine) and we thought it would be great to work together as we had found a great product to start a natural skincare line with. That is how it came about, I guess, about eight years ago.


What is your aim for Trilogy?

Sarah Gibbs: We are about delivering a high performance natural skincare in a fuss free contemporary way. When we started Trilogy there weren't many natural brands in the market, we wanted to make natural skincare really accessible; so everyday consumers could use it and access it and want to use it and feel good about using natural skincare. That is really the aim of the business to mainstream natural skincare.


What inspires you?

Sarah Gibbs: We come from a seriously entrepreneurial family. I was asked the other day 'What were you fears when you started your business?' and I don't recall having any! I think it was just in our nature to do our own thing. Catherine had run businesses before we joined up for Trilogy and as had I. At one stage my mother, my father, my brother, my sister and I all had our own businesses; so, the inspiration was a combination of wanting to work together and discovering Rosehip Oil as well as our natural inclination towards working for ourselves.


What advice do you have for someone who does want to start their own business?

Sarah Gibbs: I think you have to tick everything off. You have to understand the finance, you have to understand the marketing, and you have to understand the sales. You really have to understand the whole business platform. If you have a great idea, but you don't know how to sell it, it's not going to work. Or if you have a great idea, but you cannot finance it, it's not going to work! We were lucky because when we first started, Catherine and I had complementary skills. I think it's about understanding what is involved, not just components of it, understanding the whole business concept.


Due to growing up on an Avocado plantation, did you always want to do something that involved freshly grown ingredients?

Sarah Gibbs: Yes, when we grew up on the Sunshine Coast it was a sleepy, lovely little town. I remember having rocket, which everyone eats now, I remember having rocket 25 years ago, everyone was very creative up there and obviously liked to make natural choices and grow their own food, that definitely had a big influence on me.


Are you surprised at all by your success?

Sarah Gibbs: No, we set Trilogy up to have and to be an international brand; we launched in Australia and New Zealand first then moved fairly quickly into the overseas market.

Whilst we are enjoying success, I think we have a long way to go. It is fun, very fun to be looking at new markets, but it was in our plan.

You have to have a vision and go for it. Stick to your plan. We are very focused on what our goals are and going out and getting them. We packaged the products to international standards from day one.