Mass market haircare is a growing category but also comes with its challenges. Mass market sales grew by 3% versus 7% for prestige in 2024, Circana’s research shows. In the haircare category, nearly 70% of consumers say price is important, but only 16% say they buy mass brands, a Circana Omnibus survey shows.
Mass retailers excluding drugstores saw a 10.3% increase in beauty dollar volume according to NielsenIQ, a decrease of 1.5%. The reason for this is not only a reduction in foot traffic given less time spent at pharmacies, but also closing of underperforming doors at retailers like CVS, while Rite Aid filed a Chapter 11 last year. With many products being sold behind lock and key due to theft, it also has turned many shoppers to the convenience of online shopping or specialty stores.
The blurring lines between retail channels and pricing categories has spiked a renewed interest in masstige—products promising prestige-level results at a lower price point delivered in premium-feeling packaging. It is in this masstige segment that FUTURE50 2025 recipient Eva NYC is shining and showing a 73% growth rate in 2024. Upon initial launch, it garnered 36 million+ impressions and 626,000 engagements online.
Aside from its own website, the brand is stocked at Ulta Beauty, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and Sally Beauty. Under new CEO Annie Kolemainen’s guidance, the brand has increased its retail presence by 383%, with over 19,500 doors in total. For 2025, the brand will be tripling its Target doors, where it is a top 10 growth haircare brand in total sales and has the highest selling hair mask—its Therapy Session Deep Conditioning Hair Mask with vitamin B5 and jojoba oil has resulted in $6 million in sales in 2024.
“Target has a wide audience in their stores and was one of the first to expand into the hair space to include texture and clean sets. Eva NYC launched at Target in a small 200-door test in 2019 with six SKUs. Over time, we steadily increased distribution and SKU count, resulting in a 66% compound annual growth rate; we proved our performance to warrant more space,” she adds.
When asked about the catalyst for this boom in business amid a more challenging retail backdrop, Kolemainen states, “Slow and steady distribution growth was key; we focused on building and winning on core products. We were discerning, with slow expansion in the right distribution partners, which allowed us to establish credibility and equity at an accessible price point. Then, when we saw retailers come around to masstige as a category, we took a lead in the mass market. Establishing ourselves in new locations was key.”
While it is not a digitally native brand, amplifying online sales through partners while driving loyalty and brand education through its own DTC channels has built the brand’s omnichannel strategy. A larger portion of its online sales are e-commerce-generated rather than DTC.
Founded in 2012, Eva NYC aims to bring high-quality, affordably priced, clean formulations to the consumer all under a sustainably minded product helm. All products are priced at $13.99 to $17.99 and have not been increased, despite the price of personal care products rising between 6% to18% since January 2020. The company also carries B Corp, Leaping Bunny, climate neutral, and vegan certifications. In May 2022, Bansk Group acquired a majority the company and its sister brand amika for an undisclosed amount.
In December 2024, the brand rebranded itself with new packaging and messaging. “The research before the renovation was extensive,” Kolemainen notes, citing two years of qualitative and quantitative research with Mintel encompassing a full focus group to understand feedback on previous packaging, which kickstarted their renovations. “It reaffirmed our sense that we needed to create something new that accurately represented the standout aspects of the brand. We received incredible insights into our demographic; we have an amazing, young, diverse consumer who is highly satisfied with Eva NYC formulas. This furthered our confidence that we had all the attributes we needed to renovate,” she adds.
A quantitative packaging shelf study with Matrix lab, including a three-sell test followed. “We looked at products on the shelf and learned what our discoverability was like, as well as if our speed to shelf improved with enhanced packaging. We received strong scores, indicating that consumers were willing to spend more on our products. This validated our new premium look and feel, without us making any changes to pricing,” Kolemainen says.
Its packaging went from shiny tie-dye finishes to more matte and bold colorways to convey a more premium experience. Each collection is color coded, inspired by a hero ingredient in the formula: fuschia for repair, cornflower blue for hydration, purple for anti-frizz, peach for volume, indigo for color toning, pistachio for oil control, pastel yellow for its dry shampoos, and pink for its styling products. Its packaging was also transitioned to 25% recycled aluminum and a minimum of 50% PCR plastic, with 10% more product inside. It became the first hair brand to implement a styling tool recycling program with TerraCycle.
The brand doubled down on its sustainability aims and put the results of its product studies (internal and mass testing (50+ individuals), consumer perception studies, and clinical trials) plus clean-focused formulations front and center to accentuate its focus on effective formulas free of controversial ingredients. All products are formulated to meet EU regulations. “Standing at the intersection of proven results, uncompromisingly clean ingredients, and a deep commitment to sustainability, all at an accessible price point, Eva NYC proves that masstige doesn’t mean compromise,” Kolemainen proclaims. “The rebrand has been overwhelmingly positive; there was so much excitement from our community who know we always bring them along the journey. Within the first month of launch, we garnered three times the follower growth that we did throughout 2024. The premium aspect of our products, the quality of our formulas, all underpinned by our sustainability mission, is reflected in the positive consumer feedback.”
Looking to the years ahead, the brand is focused on achieving net zero status by 2035 through an increased commitment to regenerative agriculture, partnering with sustainability-focused organizations like Pact, Green City Force, and 4Ocean (a supply chain defined by lower emission shipments and renewable energy), plus PCR plastic and curbside recyclable packaging.
Keeping inline with the pace of consumer demands, such as scalp care, which is growing at twice the rate of the overall hair category, as Circana reports, the brand introduced its H2-Whoa! Hydrating 3-in-1 Scalp Serum in April 2024. It rebranded and reformulated the product as the Balance It All Hydrating Scalp Serum in December 2024.
On social media, the brand boasts a 3x higher engagement rate, underpinned by a customer base rating a 94% user satisfaction score, resulting in 65,000 5-star reviews today. It is a top 30 haircare brand on TikTok, where it gained 120,000 followers in 2024. Kolemainen tells BeautyMatter that 57% of the brand’s customer base is under 30, with 55% BIPOC, a “sustainability-minded and creative Gen-Z consumer.” “Our target demographic falls into two clearly defined segments: those that desire simplicity, premium yet accessible products, and enjoy health and wellness. And those that desire authenticity, are value-oriented, and socially and environmentally driven,” she says. She cites the brand’s authenticity and authority building through viral products like the Kweeen Glitter Spray as part of this success. The brand increased its creative size by 18% in 2024, and partnered with 1,600+ creators in 2024, delivering 105 million+ impressions and 12 million engagements largely through organic UGC. Eva NYC was the first masstige haircare brand to initiate a college campus program and is expanding its college program from 65 ambassadors in 2025 to 750 in 2025, +1,053% year over year.
For the future, the brand is continuing to double down on its testing. “It’s an investment we proudly make to guarantee the best performance. For new launches, and when required based on the technology innovation in the product, we will add additional testing methods,” Kolemainen adds. For the brand’s 2025 Repair Ritual Strength launch, it utilized the FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Technique) to determine and detect changes in the internal structure of hair, to put the collection’s bonding technology to the test. Eight new SKUs will be launched this coming year across shampoo, conditioner, treatment, and styling categories in all Target doors, while its points of distribution have increased +79% in 2025, moving from 18,558 to 33,208 points of distribution compared to the previous year.
“We have seen tremendous growth year over year—36x that of the mass haircare category growth. We anticipate to increase the momentum in 2025; you can expect high double-digit growth from us—in both brand revenue and retail sales,” Kolemainen concludes.
