When it comes to collagen powders, The Collagen Co co-founder, Josh Woodley, believes that they are not all created equal. So, what is important to know about this relatively new, but booming, wellness category?
BD spoke to Woodley all about the importance of ingredients and formulations, the different variations available, and what you need to look for when picking a collagen powder.
Woodley also shares the highlights his brand, The Collagen Co, have achieved over its first year of business. With rave reviews, the brand is winning over consumers with impressive results to match.
Congratulations on The Collagen Co's first birthday - what highlights stand out over this 12 months of business?
Having launched during a pandemic and peak lockdown in Victoria, one of the standouts for us was being able to help our customers achieve great results with not only their personal beauty goals but also overall health.
Having the ability to make even one person feel amazing within themselves in such a testing time and to see the reviews from thousands of extremely happy customers has made all our efforts so fulfilling.
Over just a year in business, we’ve built The Collagen Co into a multi-million dollar brand, and have just secured an exclusive partnership with renowned wellness distributor, Frostbland, which has definitely been one of the highlights since the brand’s inception. This partnership will see us enter a new phase for The Collagen Co, helping us to expand into the retail space and reach more customers Australia-wide. It’s an exciting time.
What does being an Australian brand mean to you and why was it important to have your products made locally?
We’re extremely proud to be an Australian company and look forward to introducing our brand to the rest of the world. It’s important for us as a company to have our products locally produced as Australian food standards are one of the highest in the world, which not only enables us to keep our products at the highest possible quality for all of our customers, but these rigorous standards make products that are produced in Australia highly sought after internationally, providing us with a real advantage as we move towards global expansion.
However, this also means the Australian market remains highly competitive, which makes us strive to always do better in order to set ourselves apart. All our formulas are developed in Australia with adherence to these top standards, making all our collagen products extremely safe and effective for consumption.
The brand has already developed a cult following of loyal customers - what results have they seen?
We’re very grateful to have such a loyal customer base we’ve cultivated over our first year in business - which is testament to our brand promise, the results our customers experience and our highly engaged community.
We always get excited when a customer review comes through, as we see so many people getting results so quickly with our product. Glowing skin complexions within just weeks and insane hair and nail growth. So many of our customers have mentioned when they miss a day of taking their collagen, they really feel it. Our reviews really speak for themselves.
The formulation includes 15g per serve of bioactive collagen peptides - can you explain what this means?
After extensive research into the efficacy of collagen supplements and what was currently being offered on the market, we found there to be a significant gap waiting to be filled. Having worked with collagen in our previous venture - our Protein Water Company - we understood firsthand the requirements of a collagen product to achieve tangible results. Our research shows the minimum effective dose to be 10-15 grams of bioactive collagen peptides per day to achieve results fast.
Our market research identified that products currently offered on the market lacked sufficient amounts of quality collagen to achieve effective results - most containing about a third of this minimum effective dose.
With this in mind, we created our Premium Collagen Peptides, which contain a proprietary blend of Bioactive Collagen Peptides at 15 grams per serve.
Our Bioactive Collagen Peptides are broken down to a low molecular weight of 2 kDa through a controlled hydrolysation process, allowing for optimum absorption and bioavailability - so that the body can effectively utilise the collagen.
What types of collagen are there?
There are around 28 different types of collagen in the body, each with its own benefits to parts of the body. The three most common types of collagen are type 1, 2 and 3.
Type 1 is responsible for supple, glowing, youthful skin, and strong hair and nails. It’s also vital for the health of our bones, tendons, blood vessels and supporting gut health.
Type 2 helps to build cartilage, the connective tissue that acts as protection at the ends of bones and joints.
Type 3 is a major component of the skin as well as muscles, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels.
Often collagen supplements will contain just one of these types of collagen. Our bioactive collagen peptides stimulate all three of these, providing a total body boost.
Why does The Collagen Co opt for using grass-fed collagen?
We use 100% grass-fed, pasture-raised collagen so we know that our Collagen is coming from a healthy, pure, high quality source. It’s important to us that our collagen is sustainably sourced, coming from an ethical, no-waste producer. Free from toxins like antibiotics and pesticides, we ensure that customers aren't ingesting anything harmful while incorporating collagen into their life.
Most people understand the benefits that collagen can provide skin, hair and nails, but what other benefits can using The Collagen Co bring?
Collagen is great for your hair, skin and nails, but it also supports gut health, and helps to ease joint pain, build muscle, and strengthen ligaments and tendons.
We’ve had quite a few customers say that they didn’t even realise how much our collagen was helping with their joints until they missed a few days of taking it, and while the beauty benefits might get you onto our collagen, seeing the holistic benefits is what’s going to keep you hooked for life!
We also add hyaluronic acid to keep skin hydrated and plump, vitamin C which is a powerful antioxidant and helps with collagen synthesis, and biotin to aid cell renewal.
The beauty benefits of collagen are just the beginning - collagen also helps build the connective tissue of our bones and joints, and supports gut health, so our customers experience a boost in energy and overall health as well.
The range includes Unflavoured, Passionfruit Mango and Strawberry Watermelon - what was the process like in deciding what flavours to go for? Will you be expanding the flavours in the future?
The taste of our collagen blends was an extremely important part of the development of our formulas. We went through hundreds of samples and combinations to get what we think are the perfect blends.
We have some exciting new products launching in the coming months, as well as some additional flavours launching in our Premium Range.
What's one thing you wish people knew about using a collagen powder?
That not all collagen supplements are made equal. The results you receive from your collagen supplement completely depend on the quality and quantity of collagen per serving, as well as the molecular weight they are broken down into.
For visible results, the recommended daily intake of collagen is 10-15 grams. Not often do people actually look into how much collagen they’re actually consuming when selecting a collagen supplement, but it’s so important to achieving results in a reasonable timeframe.
What is also going to give you quicker, and better results, is if the hydrolysed collagen is broken down into a low molecular weight. This allows for the body to rapidly absorb and use the collagen.
What excites you most about the future of The Collagen Co?
We’ve been working on some exciting new and innovative products which we can’t wait to bring to our customers, some of which will be the world’s first in the collagen space.
We’re also looking forward to expanding our reach into international markets in the coming months, and can’t wait for the rest of the world to experience the transformative effects of our collagen products.
We’ve also been working on some exciting new partnerships in addition to our latest partnership with Frostbland, which will allow us to diversify the channels we’re reaching our customers. We’ve always remained focused on our core mission to create premium, great tasting collagen products that are accessible for everyone to experience, and these new partnerships will help us achieve this by increasing the accessibility of The Collagen Co.
We’re extremely proud of the growth we’ve experienced in just a year in business - this is only the beginning.
You can find The Collagen Co. exclusively online at https://www.thecollagen.co and on BEAUTYDIRECTORY here.
