Clean Skin Club, a brand centered on single-use viscose fiber face towel alternatives, has raised $32 million in funding from Astō Consumer Partners and Amberstone as it speeds toward a projected $107 million in sales this year.
The funding will support Clean Skin Club’s distribution diversification, advertising initiatives and product expansion. Started in direct-to-consumer distribution in 2019, DTC accounts for 17% of the brand’s sales today, while retail accounts for 3% and Amazon accounts for 80%, according to CEO and co-founder Ben-David Imberman, who forecasts retail could account for as much as 20% of sales next year. Last year, he says Clean Skin Club generated $47 million in sales and realized a “small profit.”
In September, the brand shipped 32,000 units to Target, its major retail partner in the United States, and those units quickly sold out. In October, its products arrived in the mini product displays at the chain, and Imberman says they’re being snapped up at a rate of 30% to 40% above average. Clean Skin Club will be exclusively at retail in Target domestically until 2026. Abroad, it’s carried by drugstore retailer Super-Pharm in Israel and in conversations to enter stores in the United Kingdom. International sales constitute 4% of the business. Clean Skin Club is based in Weston, Fla., and has about 25 people on staff.
Imberman says, “Once we’re going to start to get into more retailers and focus more on international, we’re going to build a billion-dollar-plus brand.”
Prior to Clean Skin Club, Imberman and Mor Shnaider, his co-founder at the brand, sold devices to spas and opened their own, where an aesthetician was ordering cases of cotton balls because she noticed standard face towels were irritating her clients’ skin. The issue spurred them to develop Clean Skin Club’s hero product, Clean Towels XL, which is priced at $18 for a box of 50 and responsible for 85% of the brand’s sales. Clean Skin Club has received certifications on the towels for their biodegradability and compostability.
Imberman and Shnaider poured $600,000 into getting Clean Skin Club off the ground, and Imberman laments that it “went down the drain” in the brand’s initial six months as it turned to agencies to handle marketing and spent on ads that weren’t as productive as it hoped. In 2022, he recounts the brand hit its stride by unlocking customers on Amazon. Now, it advertises on Amazon and Meta and has dedicated little to influencer marketing. At the end of this month, it’s premiering television advertising in streaming outlets before heading to linear television in January. Podcast, newspaper and radio ads are possibilities, too.
Since its launch, Imberman estimates Clean Skin Club has secured roughly $10 million in debt financing from sources like Shopify Capital and Uncapped. However, it never previously raised institutional capital. Clean Skin Club is Astō’s debut investment. Clayton Christopher, founder of former CEO of Sweet Leaf Tea, co-founded the firm that an SEC filing shows has plans to raise $425 million and raised nearly $178 million of it so far. The publication Business of Fashion first identified the filing. Amberstone’s portfolio spanning beauty, wellness, food and beverage includes the brands Crown Affair, Bloom, Mush, Javy, Honey Mama’s, Partake Brewing and JuneShine.
“We’re going to build a billion-dollar-plus brand.”
Imberman and Shnaider were drawn to the personable connection they established with Amberstone and Astō. “They really believed in us, and we saw it from the valuation that they gave us. We saw it from the conversations, we saw it from the way they talked about the journey of the company,” says Imberman. He and Shnaider maintain a majority stake in Clean Skin Club.
In a statement, Clayton says, “Clean Skin Club is ushering in a new era of skincare through reimagining the category and delivering straightforward, science-backed solutions that truly work. The disruptive brand has amassed a cult following, ranking as a bestseller on Amazon and breaking through the large, high growth skincare market. We are inspired by the team’s vision for skincare hygiene and are honored to partner with them in this next stage of growth.”
Clean Skin Club commissioned Princeton Consumer Research last year to conduct a six-week clinical study of its towels with 33 subjects that showed 100% saw an improvement in their skin barrier, 93% saw a decrease in skin oiliness and 83% saw a reduction in skin redness. Driven by the results, Imberman shares 40% to 50% of Clean Skin Club’s online customers repurchase the brand’s towels within a few months.
As it looks to add products, he says Clean Skin Club is figuring “out the way the barrier functions and how we can address it in a better way.” He elaborates, “We’re the Clean Skin Club. We should focus on cleaning skin. So, if we do launch topicals, it will be cleansers and makeup removers. You’re probably not going to see us coming out with serums or moisturizers because there’s so many out there, they don’t need us. We want to help people have those products be more effective.”
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