Launched: 2021
Founder: Kathryn Winokur
Key Executives:
2024 Full Year Expected Revenue Range: $10 to $20 million
Offline points of distribution globally projected for 2024:100,000
Primary Category: Haircare
Other Categories: Haircare
Key Markets: United States
Retail Partnerships:
Primary Distribution Channel: Mass
Other Distribution Channels:
Funding Rounds: Venture Capital
Notable Advisors / Board Members:
When I was seven months pregnant with my firstborn, I had a summer intern who had a terrible at-home hair dye experience with a drugstore box dye. As someone who had a bad run-in with Sun-In in middle school, I couldn’t believe this was still happening 20 years later. While on maternity leave, I began researching the category, and it became clear that there were no good options for the average 20-year-old who wants to experiment with their hair. Hally was born to create totally clean and easy-to-use at-home products that let you play with color in a fun, low-commitment way.
Insight shared by Kathryn Winokur, Founder and CEO
What are your key business initiatives for 2024?
We have our sights on growing the category and doing so beyond just color. The team is laser-focused on bringing new customers into the Hally brand and into the category at large by offering new, easy-to-use ways for them to experiment with their hair the same way they do with makeup and other beauty products.
What are you most proud of having accomplished?
Working our way up to leading the trend hair aisle at Ulta Beauty in all doors nationwide. We started with a 100-store test in 2022, then graduated to one product line going full chain in 2023, and now in 2024, we have our full assortment and a dedicated Hally shelf in all stores nationwide. It’s a testament to our team’s perseverance, patience, and ability to build a compelling product assortment.
What has been the biggest surprise?
The power of community. In an age where beauty is dominated by celebrity-founded and backed-brands, it is especially difficult for emerging brands to break through. Hally’s focus on community and building a robust Insider program composed of passionate customers (and not just social media influencers) has been an enormous asset for the company and a powerful echo chamber to build a ground swell for the brand.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
At Hally we are focused on building a new type of hair color company, one that is centered around what we like to call “beauty color.” We’ve created a unique brand proposition and a differentiated product assortment that allows customers to express themselves with their hair in a low-commitment, playful way just like they might color cosmetics.
Please share your insight on the future of the beauty industry.
I think the “rediscovery” of brands is going to become a bigger theme, especially through platforms like TikTok, as there has been a superfluous amount of “new” brands that have entered the beauty industry over the last few years, and the current market dynamics will undoubtedly curb that going forward.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
To nurture your relationships. Of course, networking is and will always be really important, but I'm a big believer in building relationships. Hally’s network is actually full of colleagues I've worked with in different capacities over the span of my 12-year career before becoming an entrepreneur. For me, there's been tremendous value and efficiency that has been born out of the trust and autonomy that known entities can have.
What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?
Early on, when Hally was just entering retail, I single-handedly mixed up the UPC numbers on several of our SKUs—it was a mindless accident but nevertheless a nightmare! In the span of four days, and with multiple frantic phone calls, it all got sorted and the crisis was averted. What was particularly insightful about my mistake was how fast so many people came to help me—our printer, manufacturer, warehouse, broker, and even the retailer’s inventory analyst all dropped everything to quickly find a solution. It was very telling to me the power of genuinely taking accountability and asking for help.
Paying it forward, what advice would you give someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
To get off your computer and spend lots of time in stores, especially in the aisles where you think your future product might be sold. Watch how people browse, what they pick up (and what they put back), and speak to the store associates—they have a lot of knowledge about how guests learn of brands and what purchases are more premediated vs. impulse.
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
I would make “clean beauty" the standard. If we have this list of ingredients that we know can be potentially harmful, and we also know we have the ability to formulate without them, why should there be anything else?
