BW Confidential - Issue #8 - October/December 2011 - (Page 84)

Radar Up & coming brands Pioneer beauty A showcase of six beauty brands with a unique twist Keiko Mecheri Headquarters: California, US Launch date: 2001 Price: $80-$115 Keiko Mecheri founded her eponymous brand with her husband after several years of creating private-label beauty products for retailers including Japanese department store Takashimaya. The duo began by offering scented candles and room sprays, but soon turned to fragrance. “Our goal was to create unusual, yet wearable fragrances,” Mecheri explains. Her first scents, Loukoum and Hanae, have since become the brand’s classics. Why it’s interesting: The brand offers a wide array of fragrances—41 scents divided into eight collections (Loukoum, Les Orientales, Rares Epices, Cuir, Les Soliflores, Les Eaux Tendres, Les Eaux Fraiches, Vintage). Many of the fragrances come in dark glass bottles with a geometrical design. A ninth collection, Les Hesperides, is meant to “revisit the eau de cologne,” says the company. This collection launched in 2010 with two scents—Camelia and Paradise Lost. Strategy & upcoming plans: Keiko Mecheri is distributed mainly through independent perfumery retailers. The brand was previously sold in a major department-store chain in the US, but this was not a good fit. “The department-store retail model was too big for us, and we didn’t have the funds to compete with the big brands. Smaller boutiques are a better match for our brand,” she notes. The brand is now sold in around 75 stores in the US and at department-store retailer Isetan in Japan. It is soon to launch in France. Later this year the company is to launch a new line of oriental fragrances, which will have a higher price point. Oskia Headquarters: London, UK Launch date: 2009 Price: £29 ($48)-£74 ($121) Husband and wife team Georgie Cleeve and George Gordon created skincare brand Oskia with the idea of providing “nutritional skincare” through a combination of ingestible supplements and topical products. The key ingredient is MSM (Methyl Sulphonyl Methane), which is a natural form of organic sulfonyl sulphur and is believed to have anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. Cleeve suffered from knee problems and eczema when she was a child and says that these ailments were successfully treated with MSM, which piqued her interest in the ingredient as a skincare component. Why it’s interesting: Oskia’s product line is comprised of eight items—seven topical skincare skus and one nutritional supplement—making the range easy to navigate for consumers. Among the latest launches are the Renaissance Mask containing MSM, passionfruit AHAs, papaya enzymes and Swiss garden cress. Massage Oil, another new item, comes in candle form, whose wax becomes an oil when melted. The oil can then be poured onto the body for massage and moisturizing. Strategy & upcoming plans: Oskia is looking to build the supplement side of the business. Later this year the company will launch four products, including topicals and supplements. In terms of distribution, Oskia has fewer than 20 points-of-sale and is present in department stores including Liberty in London, La Rinascente (Milan) and Le Bon Marché (Paris). “We are looking to build our presence in very highend retail in Europe before expanding to North America and Asia,” says co-founder George Gordon. 84 October-December 2011 - N°8 - BW Confidential

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BW Confidential - Issue #8 - October/December 2011

Cover
Comment
Contents
Update
- Brand & retail news recap
- Companies on the move
Take note
- Market facts, figures & trends
Best of BW
- Highlights from our e-publication
Launches
- The latest in fragrance, skincare & make-up
Interview
- Estée Lauder Companies group president international Cédric Prouvé
Insight: Fragrance
- Category overview
- Retailer roundtable
- Retailing strategies
- Rare fragrance brands
- Launch roundup
Wellness
- Spa chains
- Spa case studies
Retail
- E-commerce
- Store concepts
Travel retail
- Sector analysis
- Hainan & China Duty Free Group
- Retail concepts
- Passenger habits
Digital
- Industry experts on harnassing the power of social networks
Radar
- Six up-and-coming beauty brands
Market watch: Russia
- Country overview
- Prestige retailing
- Industry viewpoint
Packaging
- Market outlook
- Sustainabilty
- Trends
Last word
- Buyology Inc president & co-founder Donna Sturgess

BW Confidential - Issue #8 - October/December 2011