Founded by mother-and-daughter duo Maxine and Darcy Laceby, Absolute Collagen has become one of the UK’s most recognisable ingestible beauty brands by combining science-led formulations with a strong focus on transparency and consumer trust. Since launching in 2017, the brand has built a loyal following for its ready-to-drink marine collagen supplements and its clear, educational approach to wellness. In this CEW Spotlight Series, co-founder Darcy Laceby shares her thoughts on the supplement industry, the growing importance of transparency, and why brands need to make proof and efficacy easier for consumers to understand.
CEW: You co-founded Absolute Collagen at just 20 with your mum, Maxine Laceby, what’s one thing you understood early about consumers that the supplement industry still gets wrong?
I understood quite early that consumers don’t just buy ingredients. They buy trust.
In supplements, it is easy for brands to put a recognised ingredient on the front of the pack and generally think that’s enough for consumers. But from a customer’s point of view, the questions are much more practical. Does it do what it says? Is the dose meaningful? Can I take it consistently? Can I trust the brand behind it? One thing I feel strongly about is that brands should not rely only on generic ingredient data or manufacturer claims if the customer is taking a finished product in a specific format, with specific packaging and a real shelf life. The product that matters is not the one fresh off the production line. It is the one the customer actually receives, opens, and takes every day. That thinking shaped how we built Absolute Collagen. We wanted to create something simple, easy to take daily, and backed by evidence on the actual product, not just on collagen as a broad ingredient.
CEW: You’ve spoken openly about growing confusion in the supplement market. From your perspective, what’s the single biggest misconception consumers have when they’re standing in front of a “supplement shelf”?
The biggest misconception is that if two products say the same ingredient on the front, they are basically the same. They are not. Two products can both say collagen, omega-3, magnesium or vitamin C, but the source, dose, form, stability, testing, packaging and evidence can be completely different. That is where consumers are being asked, unfairly, to do a lot of work. The supplement shelf looks simple from the front, but behind each product, there are so many variables.
With collagen, for example, I would be looking at the source, whether it is hydrolysed, the dose, the clinical evidence and efficacy behind the product, whether the format makes it easy to take consistently and whether it contains Vitamin C – a critical factor in collagen synthesis. A lot of brands may say it’s clinically tested, but is it? I’d always ask more questions: what’s the subject size, is there a placebo group, who ran the clinical, was it peer reviewed? The industry can overcomplicate things. Consumers are told they need this type for that, or this form for this outcome, but they are not always given a clear way to judge quality.
So my view is simple: don’t just read the front. Turn it around. Learn about the brand you’re purchasing from, find out if they have done the testing.
CEW: Please tell us more about your “Supplement Shelf Test” – what is it, and what does a supplement need to “pass”?
The Supplement Shelf Test, is something that’s started on my Instagram (@darcylaceby) as a way to simplify the questions I naturally ask when I look at a supplement. It is not about scaring people or making them distrust everything. It is about helping people ask better questions and become more informed.
For me, a supplement needs to pass a few simple tests.
Is the dose clear? Is the ingredient form explained properly? Does the claim match what is actually in the product? Has the brand thought about shelf life and packaging? Can they explain where the ingredient has come from? And would I give this product to a friend?
That last one is really important to me. Consumers cannot be expected to know everything about ingredient stability, light sensitivity, oxidation, moisture or supply chains. That responsibility sits with brands. A product passes the Supplement Shelf Test if it is clear, sensibly dosed, traceable, evidence-led, and easy to use in real life. The question is not just what is in it. It is whether it is still there when you take it.
CEW: How does Absolute Collagen approach consumer education and transparency around its products?
We try to make the science clear without making it feel intimidating.
That means explaining what is in the product, why it is there, how to take it, and why consistency matters. With collagen, daily use is really important, so education is not just about the ingredient. It is about helping people build a routine they can actually stick to. From a product point of view, we are very strict on sourcing, traceability, and efficacy. Our collagen is single source, and I want to know exactly where it has come from, how it has been produced, and whether it meets the standards we are comfortable putting our name to.
There are cheaper collagen sources available, but we have chosen not to use them when they do not meet our standards around quality, efficacy and traceability. Our marine collagen is single source, which gives us much clearer visibility over where it comes from and how it has been produced. That matters to me because in supplements, trust starts long before the product reaches the customer. We have also invested in product-specific clinical research. That was important to me because I wanted evidence on the product customers actually take, not just collagen as an ingredient in theory. For us, transparency means being able to explain the whole product properly. Not just the nice claim on the front, but the sourcing, the dose, the format, the evidence and the standards behind it.
CEW: What have you learned about building trust in a category where science, marketing and wellness trends often blur together?
Trust is built by being able to back up what you say. Wellness moves so quickly. There is always a new ingredient, a new format, a new trend, a new claim. But if you build a brand only around what is trending, trust becomes quite fragile. For me, the science has to come first, but it also has to be explained in a way people can understand. You can have good evidence and still confuse people if you explain it badly. And you can have beautiful marketing but not enough substance behind the product.
The strongest brands are the ones that can do both. They create products people genuinely want to use, but they also have responsible claims, proper evidence, quality control and transparency behind them. That has been one of the biggest lessons from building Absolute Collagen. A product can be scientifically sound, but it still has to fit into real life. It has to be easy to use consistently, and people need to understand why they are taking it.
CEW: What’s one change you would make to how supplements are sold or presented to improve consumer confidence immediately?
I would like proof to be much easier for consumers to see. At the moment, two products can look very similar from the front, but be completely different in terms of dose, form, sourcing, testing, efficacy and evidence.
Supplements are regulated as foods, not medicines, but consumers do not use them like normal foods. They take them in measured daily doses, often because they are looking for a specific benefit. So I do think there should be stronger, clearer regulation and verification around finished products. That means clearer expectations around finished-product testing, shelf-life validation, batch testing and stability testing. Brands should be able to show that the dose on the label is still meaningful throughout the product’s shelf life, not just on day one. Labels could also be much easier to compare. Consumers should not need a science degree to understand whether a supplement is well-made.
So the biggest change I would make is simple: make proof easier to see.
Clearer dosing. Clearer sourcing. Clearer testing. Clearer claims. And stronger standards that help protect the consumer. Good regulation should not scare good brands. It should help consumers know who to trust.
Read more about Absolute Collagen here
