Glossier To Pause Sister Brand Glossier Play
The Emily Weiss-helmed brand is reevaluating its makeup strategy.
Glossier‘s sub-brand, Glossier Play, was launched in March 2019 with a collection of “dialed-up beauty extras.” While there was much anticipation around the announcement of the brand last spring, Business of Fashion reports that the Emily Weiss-helmed company has decided to press pause on the color cosmetics line.
Weiss told BoF that starting a whole new brand was unnecessary:
“[We thought] why don’t we create a different brand…so that it’ll differentiate more intense makeup product from less intense makeup product… the realization we had was, ‘Huh, we could have just launched more makeup products.’”
Over the past year, sustainability concerns were raised by Glossier customers over the brand’s packaging, as the Play products came in foil wrappers on top of boxes. The foil packaging was phased out last June.
While no new products will be released and the Glitter Gelée — a product that faced backlash due to its use of non-biodegradable glitter — will be discontinued come March, other existing Glossier Play products will remain available. In particular, new shades of the Colorslide eyeliner and Vinylic Lip lacquer will be unveiled in the future.
Weiss’ main takeaway from the experience is that Glossier on its own is well-established and doesn’t need new brands to grow. BoF has stated that the company raised $100 million USD in a March 2019 funding round led by Sequoia Capital, which valued Glossier at $1.2 billion USD. Moving forward, the company plans to release new products for the rest of the year at a steady pace.
In related news, don’t forget to check out the brand’s Atlanta pop-up at Ponce City Market.
