SuperOrdinary Launches Lula, First Incubated Brand
Beauty distributor SuperOrdinary is launching its first brand.
The company, which specializes in distribution in China as well as on Amazon, is beefing up the brand side of its business with its first incubated brand. Called Lula, the brand was founded by makeup artist Sarah Uslan.
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It is launching with three introductory products, including a serum, a universal balm and hand and body lotion. Prices range from $55 to $125. Industry sources predict the brand will reach $6 million in sales for its first year on the market.
Lula, named for Uslan’s daughter, is free from sulfates, parabens, formaldehyde, BHA and BHT, coal-tar dyes and synthetic fragrances, among other ingredients. The brand is also Leaping Bunny certified and uses recyclable materials in addition to FSC certified paper. It will also allow consumers to use TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box platform for packaging components.
Despite her expertise in makeup, Uslan said skin care made the most sense as an entry point for her brand, given her broader philosophy on beauty.
“It wasn’t this conscientious decision to create a brand that is going to be skin or be in color, but it was actually a really natural inclination to get into skin care because of who I am as a makeup artist,” she said. “My roots in makeup have to do with clean and beautiful skin, and that’s my aesthetic approach.”
It was Uslan’s less-is-more ethos that attracted the eyes of SuperOrdinary.
“I know that makeup artists understand skin and what’s needed to look right,” said Maureen Case, industry veteran, global brand president and chief branding officer of SuperOrdinary, who helmed Bobbi Brown’s eponymous makeup line for 15 years. “We have a great path to creation of products. We’re going to have products that are unique to us and that you can’t live without.”
Lula’s assortment is meant to be flexible enough for consumers to use in myriad ways. The brand’s hero product, its Beyond Balm, can be pressed over makeup to soften coverage, smeared on lips as a lip balm or applied as a cuticle treatment.
“I don’t have time to do 12 different steps and be told exactly how to do my skin care routine, so this multipurpose, multifunctionality, no-rules approach is a way that we always plan on viewing Lula and the way we’ll approach product development,” Uslan said.
Case’s plan for the brand is to launch it d-to-c, then move into brick-and-mortar retail and, eventually, SuperOrdinary’s “flywheel of distribution.”
“We’re putting all our efforts into our digital strategy, and we expect to get a retail partner to help us in the brick-and-mortar distribution. Even though d-to-c is so relevant to this brand, it’s about building awareness via wherever we decide to take it,” Case continued. “We do have to build demand before we put them on platforms.”
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