ISSUE #37 JANUARY 8, 2021 A Publication of WWD Say It Loud In an age of digital activism, consumers are looking for brands to stand beside them — and help amplify their voice — when it comes to their key issues. For more, see pages 9 and 10. PLUS: Estée Lauder’s Stéphane de la Faverie reflects on a major milestone and Cindy Crawford’s New Year’s resolution. ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW BILLINGTON THE BUZZ 2 JANUARY 8, 2021 Beauty Bulletin spring, when people started clapping on their balconies for frontline workers, I, of course, joined them,” Green said. “Doctors By the and nurses don’t want to admit that they’re the type to need Numbers: emotional help. I began thinking about if there’s something more TikTok helpful that might be done, more of a person-to-person kind of thing.” Aesthetics When Green found out about the hospital’s plans for resting spaces Gain Search for its staff, called “recharge rooms,” she saw a path to a more direct Traction impact by raising funds to create Data from Spate shows them. The rooms, Green said, would growing search volume be reserved for relaxation, music, or for different social media one-on-one mental health counseling. aesthetics. BY JAMES MANSO The funds will also go to meditation and physical fitness apps for workers THE E-GIRL CRAZE taking over TikTok — and Google search — to use. “That really struck me, that was just the tip of the iceberg. A was something I could really wrap my multiplicity of alternative aesthetics mind around and was something from TikTok are bleeding into search I could focus on,” she said. engine traffic, growing as much as Green’s goal for her campaign, 5,000 percent, in the case of the which can be donated to on New cottagecore trend. “Even the term York-Presbyterian’s website, is to “aesthetics” has seen a strong raise $100,000. Thus far, she is growth over the past few years, halfway there. According to her but it really took off in 2020,” said campaign’s page, the Estée Lauder Yarden Horwitz, cofounder of Spate. Cos. Inc. and members of the “What I’ve seen in my own online Lauder family — chairman emeritus research is that these aesthetics are tied to a few different things, like Leonard A. Lauder and executive clothing and makeup.” Annette Green chairman William P. Lauder — have The aesthetics most popular donated a combined $50,000. include cottagecore, named for Fund-raises for Frontline According to Green, philanthropy its emphasis on prairie dresses and fragrance both take similar and agriculture. More fringe are Workers’ Mental Health qualities for success. “I tried to nostalgia-oriented ones, such as bring positive results to the industry the Nineties and Y2K aesthetics. ¬ Annette Green is bringing her the Fragrance Foundation, is raising which needed it so desperately More eccentric looks include trademark vigor to the frontline funds to support the mental health in those early days,” she said. angelcore, which focuses on white workers of the coronavirus of New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s “I’m a very determined person, and dresses, angel wings, ethereal pandemic. staff, which includes more than I always try to not be deterred by makeup and kidcore, which plays Green, president emeritus of 48,000 employees. “In the early the odds.” —James Manso with oversaturated primary colors. “When it comes to standing out online, the more bold your look is, the more you’ll be noticed on social Beauty by PopSugar Goes Out of Business media,” Horwitz said. “So, I think Beauty by PopSugar launched these looks are just going to get bolder.” Here, the top 10 growing with 19 products and 85 stock- aesthetics by search volume, year- keeping units, and was sold at Ulta, over-year through December 2020. on QVC and online. When it debuted, industry sources predicted it could Tk Caption TOP 10 AESTHETICS do more than $20 million in retail BY SEARCH VOLUME sales in year one. Creditors include Cosmax Ltd., 1. cottagecore: 286,190 O.T. Delivery Systems, Packaging 2. baddie aesthetic: 80,590 and Distribution Resources LLC, 3. soft girl aesthetic: 53,850 Performance Sourse II Ltd. and 4. kid core: 45,770 Beauty by PopSugar Woolston Consulting Group LLC, launched in 2018. according to court papers. 5. y2k aesthetic: 32,370 ¬ The parent company of a questionnaire to PopSugar The business listed between 6. kawaii aesthetic: 21,770 Beauty by PopSugar, a line of readers in order to map out a $100,000 and $500,000 in 7. clowncore: 16,580 products that made its debut at Ulta product line. PopSugar founder assets, and between $500,000 8. e-girl aesthetic: 15,260 Beauty in 2018, has filed for Chapter Lisa Sugar called launching and $1 million in liabilities in court 7 bankruptcy with plans to liquidate. beauty a “no brainer” given papers. The parent company 9. glitchcore: 14,940 The brand was founded by the popularity of beauty content of Beauty by PopSugar filed for 10. scenecore: 12,100 beauty veterans Pam Baxter on the website, which is geared bankruptcy on Dec. 31. SOURCE: SPATE and Cathy O'Brien, who sent out toward Millennial women. —Allison Collins now available at Clinically- Effective, Biocompatible Skincare NEWS FEED 4 JANUARY 8, 2021 Later this month, Hero Cosmetics will Hero Cosmetics Lands launch a new line called Clear Collective. PE Investment Hero’s sales grew 300 percent in 2020, according to founder Ju Rhyu. BY ALLISON COLLINS HERO COSMETICS, a beauty line with Dwight Lee and Andrew Lee. best known for its line of hydrocolloid The business has focused on selling acne patches, has secured a minority skin-care products online on its own investment from private equity firm site, as well as Amazon and Target. Aria Growth Partners. “We're a problem-solution brand. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, We want to help people who suffer but Hero is growing swiftly — the from acne or any type of breakout company said it posted 300 percent from products that work, and use our growth in 2020 and expects to do more products,” Rhyu said. than $80 million in retail sales in 2021. With the investment, Hero plans to This is the first time the company has develop more products and build out raised any outside capital. a leadership team, Rhyu said. “We're “We knew we were sort of at this at that point of really scaling the moment of scale and big growth, business so we're going to be hiring a and we knew it was time to get other bunch of leadership roles,” she said. people who could help us take the Later this month, Hero will launch business to the next level,” said Ju a three-step acne-prevention system Rhyu, Hero cofounder and chief called Clear Collective, which will executive officer. be sold at Target and on the brand's This is also the first deal from Aria, site. Hero's products are also sold at 'magic moment' with Mighty Patch Dunkalau noted that Hero has a new private equity firm founded Ulta Beauty, CVS, Anthropologie and — into other product format and been able to establish itself as a “skin by partner Trevor Nelson, formerly Urban Outfitters. product categories,” Rhyu said. authority and solution-based skin- of Alliance Consumer Growth, and Hero's focus has been on acne Nelson said Aria wanted to invest care company” in the competitive principal Jackie Dunklau, formerly treatment for the face, but the brand in Hero because the company has acne-patch market. of Cavu Ventures. They plan to is considering expanding into body built a “thoughtful platform” for “It feels like there is a lot of white invest in founder-led businesses care as well for a more “holistic” functional skin care. space for the brand both from across consumer product categories, approach, Rhyu said. “If you bring innovative products physical products because they have including beauty and personal care, “We've actually done a lot in other parts over time of skin a limited assortment now, and also as well as food and beverage and with a pretty tight [stockkeeping care, we believe there's going to be distribution,” Dunkalau said. household products. unit] assortment. There's a ton of an audience there,” he said. “The Michael Toure of Toure Capital Hero was founded in 2017 by Rhyu whitespace to bring — we call it the opportunity is huge.” advised Hero on the deal. Longwear franchise, and its Treat Essie Love and Color line. Its most recent launch, the Expressie line, was already vegan and eight-free. Goes Vegan, The reformulations were not without the occasional hiccup. “We have consumers that know exactly ‘Eight-Free’ what our colors look like, so we As of the end of 2020, had to hold ourselves to the highest Essie is only producing standards for performance,” said and distributing Carolyn Holba, general manager of formulas that are Essie. “That’s why it’s taken us several vegan and free of eight years to get here. There was a lot of testing done.” potentially harmful Essie’s vegan, eight-free status ingredients. BY JAMES MANSO will be a pillar of the brand’s Essie is now only producing and distributing formulas that are vegan and eight-free. communications going forward. ESSIE ended 2020 on a high note. “Consumers will increasingly see historically been used.” to do what we can to be positive forces As of the end of last year, the brand that communication in an in-store Holba also said new formula is extremely high,” she said.