SKIN
How Can Early Clean Beauty Brands Make It Today?
Beauty industry prognosticators predict clean beauty will grow. For example, Research and Markets expects the worldwide clean beauty segment to accelerate at a compound annual growth rate of 12% from 2023 to 2028. That rate leads to clean beauty reaching $14.36 billion in sales by 2028, up from $7.22 billion in 2022. By
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Rachel Brown·June 25, 2023·2 min read
The 30-second read
Beauty industry prognosticators predict clean beauty will grow. For example, Research and Markets expects the worldwide clean beauty segment to accelerate at a compound annual growth rate of 12% from 2023 to 2028. That rate leads to clean beauty reaching $14.36 billion in sales by 2028, up from $7.22 billion in 2022. By contrast, McKinsey & Co. anticipates the global beauty industry as a whole will register between 7% and 8% sales increases annually between 2022 and 2026.
It’s not going to be smooth sailing, however, for brands early to the clean beauty scene to benefit from clean beauty’s growth. They’re encountering increased competition from the likes of Haus Labs by Lady Gaga and Humanrace by Pharrell that label themselves clean beauty brands, but are far cries from the small, passionate founder-led brands that characterized the beginning of clean beauty.
Fierce competition, capital constraints, heightened digital customer acquisition costs, legal battles and the expenses of playing at retail have been factors in beauty brand closures, including clean beauty brand closures. Forward-thinking clean beauty brands such as Vapour, Bite Beauty and Athr Beauty have shuttered. Meanwhile, clean beauty principles are being challenged as scientists and cosmetic chemists decry retailers’ and brands’ clean beauty ingredient restrictions that have caused the avoidance of parabens and other ingredients they deem to be safe.
Against the backdrop of the changing business dynamics of clean beauty, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions pertinent to indie beauty, we asked 25 clean beauty brand founders the following questions: How can a brand early to the clean beauty segment compete in today’s beauty industry? What are you doing to make sure your brand remains relevant?
The players
3 mentionedBrand
Bite Beauty
Founded2011
HQToronto, Ontario, Canada
Revenue Range$20M–$40M
Brand
AS Beauty
Founded2019
HQNew York, New York, United States
Revenue Range$150M+
Brand
Haus Labs
