![]() That’s largely not experience that one sees in a Harvard or Stanford MBA program, which serves as the training grounds for many brand founders these days. I helped traditional brands reformulate, and then I realized none of these founders had the kind of expertise I had,” said Abbitt. I had tried many of the brands in that space and was disappointed because I was such a Sephora girl, and knew what the Sephora girl was looking for. “All of these traditional color brands were coming in to present for Clean at Sephora, and merchants brought me into those meetings. ![]() “Working at a retailer, you learn very quickly what the big picture is versus learning about one silo or brand that may not be as transferable.”Ībbitt’s time working on Sephora’s first sustainable product initiatives, as well as having a firsthand look at its impending Clean program, directly informed her company Aether Beauty that launched in 2018. I say that because newer generations may not understand the business side if they go at it alone first,” said Abbitt. “So many people want to start a brand, but I always tell them to go work for somebody else first. Two of Sephora’s newer bets include CBD beauty brand Saint Jane, founded by Sephora marketing alum Casey Georgeson, and Aether Beauty. As of January, more than 25% of customers have opted into the model.īut this retail exec-turned-founder trend isn’t exclusive to Target. Rae Wellness launched out of the gate as DTC-only to support its subscription business. “If you walk the aisles, it’s a lot of existing legacy brands with one retail strategy, so I think it was critical for us to be a part of the brick-and-mortar business model but to also have a robust e-commerce strategy,” said Tebbe, In many ways, Odele is an outlier, most of the other lines that sit in clean hair at Target are from conglomerates like Unilever’s Love Beauty & Planet. In a homecoming of sorts, both Rae Wellness and Odele launch exclusively in Target doors this month. It was co-founded by one-time Target executives Lindsay Holden, a former home merchant, and Britta Chatterjee, who spent time in corporate strategy. New clean hair brand Odele, which is intended to appeal to millennial moms, also fits this bill in having founders from the world of retail. Moon Juice products sell for as high as $60 for a monthly supply, while Rae Wellness’ are $14.99. Moreover, wellness products by companies like Moon Juice, which is sold at Sephora, are much more expensive. Fellow supplement brand Olly, which sells at Target, appeals to the family with products for men, women and children. In Rae Wellness’ case, its proposition is that no prior ingestibles wellness brands were made exclusively for the mass female shopper. But they didn’t have the experience,” said Tiila Abbitt, founder of clean and sustainable color company Aether Beauty, of founders with far-flung backgrounds. ![]() “Some founders may have gotten pregnant or gotten a skin allergy and then started peeling away the onion in thinking about a brand, and more power to them. These executives have experience getting ahead of the next big trends in retail and are ready to pounce. Though the beauty and wellness industries have been flooded with founders from left field who have gone on to great success - think Tiffany Masterson with Drunk Elephant, who was a stay-at-home-mom prior to her life as a founder - a subset of merchandisers and product developers are now hoping to make their mark. “I built P&Ls from the bottom up and then understood the broader marketplace for women.” “My experience specifically was in apparel and home, but it really was understanding how to create a brand from scratch, creating assortments against those brands and then manufacturing products,” said Tebbe.
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