Walk into any beauty retailer these days and it’s hard to avoid a barrage of buzzwords like “clean” and “natural.” But understanding what such vague marketing terms actually mean is often even more difficult than trying to unpack fashion’s green claims, according to a new report by sustainability rating platform Good on You.

“There’s a general lower level of transparency in the beauty industry compared to fashion,” said Good on You co-founder Sandra Capponi. Specific claims abound, from cruelty-free formulas to eco-friendly packaging, “but there’s a lack of substantiation.”

The report, published Wednesday, analysed nearly 240 beauty brands. In some areas — like providing insight into efforts to curb brands’ environmental footprint — both the beauty and fashion sector perform equally poorly, the analysis found. But in others beauty brands tend to be particularly opaque, lagging fashion in providing details about initiatives to provide supply-chain transparency and prevent human rights abuses, it concluded. Good On You has ranked more than 6,000 fashion brands’ sustainability performance since it was founded in 2015, but this is its first foray into beauty.

The rating programme assesses companies’ efforts to ensure their operations don’t harm people, planet or animals based on publicly available information using a five-point rating scale that ranks brands from “We Avoid” to “Great.” Nearly two thirds of the beauty brands it assessed rated “Not Good Enough,” or worse. Only two — skin and haircare start-up Disruptor London and organic beauty brand Odylique — ranked “Great.” Top performers included indie labels Tropic and Pai Skincare, as well as larger labels like Garnier, Lush, and the Amorepacific-owned Tata Harper.

Brands including Revlon and Laura Mercier were among the worst-scoring companies, with both scoring fewer than 10 points out of 100. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.

That’s partly because the beauty industry has supply chains that are even more fragmented and complex than fashion’s, covering a dizzying array of components: A single eyeshadow pan might be minted in China and filled in Italy before it’s sold in Canada. It is likely to contain more than a dozen individual raw ingredients, each with their own distinct sourcing challenges. But brands also routinely fail to provide consumers with even basic information about what’s gone into their products, including detailed ingredient lists. “Of course that has huge human health impacts but the sustainability impacts are also real,” said Capponi.

Several commonly used raw materials are mired in controversies because of their links to environmental destruction or human rights abuses. The cultivation of palm oil, routinely used for its moisturising and texturising properties, has also contributed to significant deforestation. Almost all of the beauty brands assessed by Good on You use palm oil in their products, but fewer than half certify the source of the ingredient. Only 17 percent only use palm oil from certified sources. Even then, Good on You acknowledges that the certifications for sustainable palm oil also face criticism. Meanwhile mica, widely used in cosmetics to provide shimmer and sparkle, has been plagued by links to child labour. Nearly 80 percent of the beauty companies assessed by Good on You don’t disclose anything about their mica sourcing. And even when it comes to animal testing — arguably one of the most well-known ethical issues for beauty brands — nearly 80 percent of the brands analysed had no certification to show they’re not testing on animals.

Good on You says its website and app attract millions of users a day, who use its five-point rating scale to find brands that align with their values. It also works with retailers, including mall-owner Unibail Rodamco Westfield and Yoox Net-a-Porter, to help them promote more sustainable brands.

Its expansion into beauty rankings comes as retailers look to bolster the credibility of their sustainability claims amid a wide-ranging greenwashing crackdown. Regulators say they are looking for more transparency and precision in how brands are substantiating sustainability marketing.

Earlier this year, Sephora launched revamped sustainability labels two years in the making. The new “Planet Aware” labelling scheme is designed to highlight brands whose products are free from certain ingredients or that meet specific environmental criteria. To qualify companies will need to meet a minimum of 32 criteria across ingredient sourcing and formulation, packaging, corporate climate commitments and consumer transparency.

Good on You accelerated its plans to expand into beauty at the request of retail partners, including URW. The initial roster of beauty brands covered by its assessment partly reflect the portfolio in its mall locations.

“It’s something many retailers are grappling with; how to avoid greenwashing,” said Capponi. “That’s the next big focus; we have the information, now it’s about putting it in the hands of businesses to engage consumers and catalyse industry change.”

Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.

When Rhode opened a pop-up in New York in June, there were about one thousand people lined up before the doors even opened, every one of them hoping to buy the brand’s new blush or secure a glimpse of founder Hailey Bieber.

The pyjama-maker Petite Plume is taking a more low-key approach when it comes to its next big activation. For the holiday season, the brand will be launching its new line of homeware at Maman, a New York bakery with outposts across the US Northeast. Petite Plume will be sold on shelves in select locations, while baristas and other staff will don the brand’s aprons.

As a small, self-funded brand — and one without a celebrity like Bieber involved, though founder Emily Hikade’s background as a CIA officer is just as intriguing — Petite Plume’s real-life marketing strategy is to insert itself into buzzy locales rather than try to build one of its own from scratch. The brand has also partnered with the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and developed a collaboration with Veronica Beard that was stocked in 30 of that brand’s stores.

“The whole idea is meeting the customer where she is but finding a relevant way to do it,” said Fanny Quehe, Petite Plume’s chief marketing officer. “These partnerships help us capitalise on brick-and-mortar experiences without the massive investments that go into them,” she added.

Increasingly, it’s Rhode’s approach that’s the exception that proves the rule. Before the pandemic, temporary stores were a popular marketing strategy for online, direct-to-consumer brands; many had plenty of funding to throw into building elaborate setups that would only exist for a few months, and there were plenty of vacant storefronts in top-tier shopping neighbourhoods.

The glory days of pop-ups are long gone, however. Retail vacancies are at a decade-low in the US, and landlords are less willing to accept short-term leases. The expense is another hurdle: in the part of SoHo where Rhode had its pop-up, asking rents rose 27 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2024, according to CBRE. A few blocks over, another shopping corridor saw rents soar 60 percent in the same period. That doesn’t consider the cost of actually building out a temporary store, or staffing it.

Still, there’s a reason so many brands rushed to open pop-ups in previous years: creating a physical space that reflects a label’s vision is a compelling form of marketing, particularly when compared to social media ads and sponsored influencer posts. When done well, a pop-up could even get customers to do a brand’s marketing for it, in the form of in-store selfies and word-of-mouth.

Some brands are finding creative ways to produce that real-life magic on a budget. Petite Plume’s strategy of popping up in unexpected locations is one approach. Trunk shows and launch parties give people the opportunity to meet a brand’s founder over free champagne while they shop. Major events provide another opportunity: spa tools line HigherDose sets up wellness lounges featuring its infrared recovery mats and sauna blankets at Coachella and Art Basel. Draper James, the clothing line founded by actress Reese Witherspoon, will set up shop inside Hilton’s Graduate Hotels in college towns during big football weekends.

“The stickiness with a customer is much greater when you’ve had a personal interaction,” said Meg Bedford, chief executive of Loops Beauty, which hosts events with sororities and other clubs on college campuses. “It goes further than if it was just them buying our product at Target.”

Beyond Stores

Having a variety of different physical channels is important for brand-building, even when a company has stores of its own (as Draper James does), according to Murali Gokki, co-leader of the retail performance improvement practice at consulting firm Berkeley Research Group.

“Our data shows that customers right now have a plethora of choices and what they’re looking for is an excitement in how they purchase,” said Gokki.

Instead of opening a flagship, the skincare brand Orveda recently opened a spa in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighbourhood, to create a more “high-touch” experience for customers than regular stores, according to Coty, Orveda’s parent company.

At Orveda’s spa, customers learn about the brand’s premium products while using them during their facials. That’s the difference between a customer making a transaction and a customer becoming a proponent of a brand.

“A lot of what we saw post-Covid is that people are craving interactions,” said Andrea DiNunzio, general manager of luxury skincare, US, at Coty. “When you think about skincare, it’s a very intimate thing that requires a more intimate conversation that you have with a customer.”

Free Real Estate

For a profitable and self-funded brand like Petite Plume, opening a store is only justifiable when the financial risk can be mitigated, said Quehe. It often takes months, if not years, for permanent storefronts to break even, and even pop-ups are rarely profitable.

Partnering with another brand with an existing footprint or other consumer-facing businesses eliminates virtually all the costs associated with retail, save for product and marketing. And these costs can be split between the two parties.

“If you find a partner, it’s mutually beneficial. You just divide and conquer the expenses and there’s no fee to set up shop,” said Piper Parsley, vice president of brand marketing and e-commerce at Draper James. “Having two established brands come together allows you to cross promote on each other’s channels and … double your exposure.”

It’s even more effective when a brand hones in on a location where existing customers already shop. Loops chooses the colleges it works with based on whether there is a Target or CVS store near campus — retailers that stock its products.

“We first and foremost try to look at areas where we either know we have engagement from because people are shopping at the retailers around them,” said Bedford. From there, the brand finds content creators and micro-influencers in those communities to promote its products, combined with events such as spa nights at sororities with free Loops samples.

Breaking Through the Noise

Physical touchpoints that aren’t pegged to stores can also be a great way to form a closer, more lasting connection with customers or potential tastemakers.

Philosophy, another skincare brand under the Coty umbrella, transformed an old conference room in its headquarters in the Empire State Building in April into a clinic where influencers, key customers and beauty press are invited to meet with the brand’s scientific advisors and try out new products. The company also films its livestream shopping videos there. The primary goal is generating brand awareness, said DiNunzio.

Just like how many luxury brands woo their top-spending customers, HigherDose invites its most loyal shoppers and brand ambassadors to free wellness events. Whereas its wellness lounges at major events such serve as a top-of-funnel marketing channel to acquire new customers, the activations and experiences offered to top clients are a means of generating loyalty.

A 360-Retail Approach

In-store pop-ups, trunk shows and other events are not just an effective means of creating brand affinity but also serve as a proof of concept for future stores or major wholesale partnerships.

For instance, Draper James hosted a pop-up inside Sewing Down South, a pillow store in Charleston, S.C., which exceeded its sales expectations. The company had been considering opening its own store there, and the pop-up solidified its plan to start scouting locations.

Before it was able to land major wholesale accounts, womenswear brand Amir Taghi hosted trunk shows inside the homes of its top clients as a way to build a following. The travelling trunk shows began in Aspen and have gone around the country from Palm Beach to Los Angeles. Building on the success of this format — the label will generate more than $1 million in sales from trunk shows in 2024 — Taghi has signed on Moda Operandi and Elyse Walker as retail partners in recent months.

A full retail distribution strategy is ultimately necessary for sales expansion. One-off pop-ups and partnerships may be easy to facilitate but difficult to replicate at scale, according to BRF’s Gokki.

“When you host more events, it’s more inventory and more complexity, but not necessarily revenue add because you’re only there for a limited amount of time,” he said. “You need a permanent position with retail shelf space to really grow the business.”

Denim company Citizens of Humanity Group, which also owns Agolde, has one store of its own, in Aspen, Colorado. It approaches events and physical activations as part of its overall retail strategy. “We think of it as a triangle or a stool,” said chief executive Amy Williams. “One leg is the special events or partnerships that can’t be orchestrated in a store. And then we think about our retail partners such as Net-a-Porter.”

“The last piece of the puzzle is stores, which we hope to open a handful globally,” Williams added.

In its latest executive shuffle, Estée Lauder Companies has announced key leadership changes to its West Coast-based brands. Somer Tejwani will be promoted to SVP and global general manager of Too Faced, while Michelle Shigemasa has been appointed SVP and global general manager of Smashbox Cosmetics and Glamglow.

The two executives will serve as the successors to ELC’s global president of California brands Tara Simon. The news comes one week after the announcement that Simon would become the company’s North America president, succeeding North America group president Mark Loomis, who will retire at the end of fiscal year 2025. Tejwani, Shigemasa, and Simon will take their posts on Jan 1, 2025, followed by Loomis and ELC CEO Fabrizio Freda’s retirement at the end of fiscal year 2025.

Tejwani and Shigemasa will help Too Faced, Smashbox, and Glamglow “by elevating their brand equity, inspiring creativity, and enhancing consumer engagement through immersive brand experiences and product education,” said ELC executive group president Stéphane de La Faverie. Both hope to drive growth through innovative product launches and strengthening their respective brands’ equity in an increasingly competitive prestige beauty market.

Tejwani joined Too Faced’s marketing team in 2012, and the brand was acquired by ELC four years later. Shigemasa has recently held CEO roles at Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty, Shani Darden Skin Care, and Unilever Prestige. She re-joins ELC after serving 13 years at Smashbox in leadership roles through 2017.

Learn more:

Estée Lauder Companies Announces Leadership Changes

The beauty conglomerate names two replacements for its North America group president, who will retire in 2025.

In its heyday, Sears dominated the US from its headquarters in Chicago, once the country’s tallest tower. The retailer won over patrons with mail-order catalogues by taking advantage of the railroad system and the US Postal Service, but setting the stage for online shopping.

Now, Sears’ once-bright blue logo sits fading on abandoned, empty buildings in strip malls across the country, serving as a relic for passing drivers. And it’s struggling to hold onto less than a dozen stores it has left.

Sears is working with advisory firm Huron Consulting Group Inc. to help score rent concessions from its landlords of its remaining locations, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the private talks. A representative for Huron declined to comment. Sears and its parent ESL Investments did not respond to requests for comment.

The department store chain, founded as Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1893 and hailed in the 1980s as America’s largest retailer, has become a shell of itself. In 2005, Sears was acquired by discount retailer Kmart, under the leadership of billionaire hedge fund manager Edward Lampert.

Over the next decade, the business was splintered into 30 different divisions, stores were shuttered and thousands of employees were fired. Compiled with years of underinvestment and plunging sales, Sears snowballed into bankruptcy in 2018 with 687 stores, down from 3,500 at the time of the Kmart deal.

Sears exited bankruptcy under the ownership of Lampert’s ESL Investments in 2022 with 22 stores in the US and Puerto Rico, but is now down to 11 locations, according to its website. It has four locations open in California, two in Washington, two in Florida and one in Massachusetts, Texas and Puerto Rico. Sears does not have any stores within 100 miles of New York City — it closed its last store in the area in 2021 — or Chicago, once its home city.

Big-box retailers have struggled to hold onto physical presences over the last four years, after the pandemic led to an uptick in online shopping. About 15 percent of all retail sales in the second quarter were online, up from about 10 percent in 2019, according to a report from the US Census Bureau.

Last year, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. filed for bankruptcy, closing all of its stores and liquidating its assets in the process. It cited a continued decline in sales, with fourth quarter sales in 2022 dropping $1 billion from a year prior.

By Reshmi Basu

Learn more:

The Debrief | Can Department Stores Save Themselves?

BoF Senior Correspondent Sheena Butler-Young and Retail Editor Cathaleen Chen discuss the ongoing struggle of American department stores to remain relevant and what lessons they might learn from their European counterparts.

Gucci has promoted deputy chief executive Stefano Cantino to lead the Italian mega-label, succeeding interim CEO Jean-François Palus.

Cantino climbed the ranks at Prada over the course of two decades, working closely with executive chairman Patrizio Bertelli in various communications, merchandising and strategy roles through the company’s global expansion, public offering and lengthy turnaround. The Italian executive then decamped to Louis Vuitton, where he oversaw communication at the LVMH flagship.

Cantino succeeds Jean-François Palus, formerly the managing director of Gucci owner Kering. Palus joined the brand in 2023 following the departure of Marco Bizzarri and has worked to revamp internal processes and culture while onboarding a new designer, Sabato De Sarno, but has been seen to lack hands-on experience in running a large fashion brand at a time when Gucci’s fortunes are under severe pressure.

Gucci’s first-half revenue fell 20 percent as it struggles to transition its image during a sharp slowdown in demand for luxury goods. The brand phased out product and marketing from its previous creative era, led by star designer Alessandro Michele, clipping sales of maximalist couture and streetwear-inflected merch. A new strategy seeking to underscore Gucci’s heritage and better promote the brand’s core range of carry-over items has thus far been unable to fill the gap, in part hindered by a muted industry reception to De Sarno’s vision and slow delivery of his seasonal collections.

Stay tuned to BoF for updates on this developing story.