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Glossier to pause sub-brand Play

Photo credit: Glossier Play
Photo credit: Glossier Play

From Harper's BAZAAR

This time last year, anticipation of Glossier Play was peaking. Glossier – a brand known for its 'no make-up' make-up essentials – had revealed a sub-range of statement colour cosmetics enabling experimentation. Yet somehow, the reveal didn't live up to the hype.

Sustainability concerns were raised over the elaborate packaging, featuring functionless foil wrappers inside the cardboard boxed Colorslide eyeliners, and the inclusion of non-biodegradable glitter in the Glitter Gelées. Fans also questioned the messaging of the new make-up; was this for the Glossier customer, or someone else? If the former, then why did it need to stand alone?

The brand's founder, Emily Weiss admitted to Business of Fashion that launching a sub-brand was, in hindsight, unnecessary: “the realisation we had was, ‘Huh, we could have just launched more make-up products’.”

Now, Weiss has revealed Glossier is to pause Play, by absorbing it into the main brand, with no new additions planned. The separate Instagram account has become private, and the Glitter Gelée will be discontinued next month (following the phase-out of the foil wrappers last summer).

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Line-up 👌

A post shared by Glossier (@glossier) on Jan 12, 2020 at 11:41am PST

“Even companies that have built brands sometimes underestimate the effort involved… they can’t just pump out another brand,” Weiss Kirsten Green, founding partner at Forerunner Ventures – an investor in Glossier, told BoF. “It was a really constructive learning process for us. Do we wish we could learn things cheaper? Yes.”

Still, Glossier's commitment to fulfilling customer feedback – from the curation of products to the suspension of them – is key to their success. And with reported sale increases of 60 per cent in 2019, to over $160 million, they're clearly still doing a lot right.

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