After five years, clean makeup brand Athr Beauty announced it has decided to shut down operations, succumbing to the pressures of being self-funded.
WHO: Athr Beauty was founded in 2018 by Tiila Abbitt, a former Senior Director of Product Development at Sephora, based on a commitment to environmental sustainability and socially responsible practices. The brand looked to fill a gap for clean color formulations that delivered the performance of conventional makeup brands with a range of 20 products priced from $20 to $58. Athr Beauty claims it saved 650,000 packaging components from landfills.
WHY: Athr Beauty grappled with the pressure of multiple lawsuits and, as a self-funded business, didn't have sufficient resources to support retail partners and compete with venture-backed indie competitors.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Abbitt took to the brand's Instagram account to share the news, "It is with great sadness that I am announcing we are closing Athr Beauty. It has been an incredibly difficult decision but it is the right one for our company. I am so incredibly grateful for the love and support you have shown us over these past 5 years—it has never gone unnoticed."
"A lot of the brands that succeed have investors that have the money to propel them by supporting a large retailer and a large marketing budget. There's a huge gap between smaller brands and a brand that has received a large amount of investor funding, I'm talking about $1 million or more," Abbitt told Beauty Independent.
She continued, "I self-funded the brand by taking out a second loan on my house for $100,000, and I did a million out of the gate. Unfortunately, the headwinds kept coming so we weren't able to regain traction. Before, people said it takes $1 million to launch a beauty brand. Now, people are saying it takes $5 million. When you are seeing how much it costs to get your name out there, it's a huge loss because a smaller player like myself can't really play anymore."
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