Supernal is the latest beauty business to announce it’s closing. Carried at Credo, the 5-year-old cult-favorite small-batch botanical skincare brand is known for its stunningly simple packaging and face oil.
By way of an explanation, a social media post last week signed by founder Melissa Medvedich read, “Like many small businesses, we have faced challenges, both typical and unpredictable, post 2000. There have also been many changes since launching—the biggest (and best) change has been welcoming our beautiful baby girl into the world. That said, after long and careful consideration, we have made the bittersweet decision to close our beloved family studio for the foreseeable future. It is time to focus on the most important role of my life—nurturing and raising our daughter.”
Brand closures such as Supernal’s are much more common than beauty industry media coverage would lead people to believe. There’s a reason consumers aren’t generally using beauty products conceived in the 1800s, and that’s because the beauty brands from back then are largely extinct. If coverage reflected the reality, practically every day would bring news of shutterings.
As it is, most closed brands go silently into the night, making it seem like a founder moving on from a brand is atypical or, even worse, shameful. The mental health and economic damage from holding on to a struggling brand for too long can be profound and is likely exacerbated by the relative silence surrounding the power of moving on.
To show that closures are typical and nothing to be ashamed of, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked six entrepreneurs who shuttered their brands the following: How did you know it was time to close? Why did you make that decision? Reflecting on it, is there anything you would’ve done differently? What business learnings from your brand continue to guide you?
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LaKeisha Entsuah Founder, Elements of Aliel and Legacy Consulting Co. Recognizing the need to close my brand was a gradual process born from the overwhelming feelings of burnout and the realization that my business model was unsustainable.
Trying to manage every aspect of the business while also caring for my young children at home during the COVID pandemic took a heavy toll on my physical, mental and emotional well-being. The tipping point came when I found myself utterly exhausted and unable to keep up with the growing demand. Despite my best efforts, the lack of resources and the pressure of being the sole driving force behind the brand made it clear that it was time to close this chapter.
Looking back, I've identified key areas where I could have made different choices. Firstly, I would have prioritized building a sustainable business model that didn't solely rely on my direct involvement. Incorporating strategies for delegation and collaboration would have relieved some pressure and allowed for the possibility of the business running without me.
Additionally, I would have focused more on fostering a sense of community among fellow entrepreneurs and creating a support network to navigate the challenges of building a brand while maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
Today, the lessons I've learned from my past experience are crucial in shaping my new business. I now emphasize the importance of community for those I work with, actively seeking out like-minded entrepreneurs who understand their challenges and can offer advice, empathy and support. Moreover, sustainability has become a core value in my approach to business and one I teach my clients.
- Heather Hamilton Founder, Zoe Organics
This was one of the hardest decisions of my life because closing my brand wasn’t something I had planned on or even wanted to do. I made the decision to protect my health.
After 12 years of pushing so hard, I had severe burnout that landed me in the hospital in 2022. Since then, I have been on a healing journey, and although I wasn’t able to take the business as far as I had hoped, I do feel very proud of the impact Zoe Organics made. We accomplished what we set out to do, which was to provide the cleanest, safest options for moms and babies and now I’m making space for new possibilities.
There are many factors that have influenced my decision to close. It takes a tremendous amount of capital to operate and grow a brand and we have bootstrapped most of it and taken some small investments from friends. But, post-pandemic, we lost so many wholesale accounts due to closures or bankruptcy which had a significant impact on our bottom line.
The industry has changed so much in the 14 years since we started. When we began, we were disruptors in a space that desperately needed more options. Now, the space is so crowded and unfortunately the perfect storm surrounding the pandemic means we lack the capital and human resources to compete.
Honestly, when I announced we were closing, I had no idea the outpouring of kind responses we would receive from customers who were devastated that they would no longer have access to our products.
Entrepreneurship can be so lonely, and I honestly didn’t know if we were making a difference anymore. That is a really hard place to be in when you built a mission driven brand on so much love and passion. Customer feedback and before-and-after images have been some of my very favorite parts of this business and something I will carry with me forever.
I’m not sure there is anything I have learned that won’t impact me going forward. Entrepreneurship is the most challenging, transformational experience I could have had. I have an MBA, and it pales in comparison to the hands-on experience that being fully “in it” for 14 years has taught me.
I still have so much passion for this space and wisdom from my wins and mistakes. I am excited to now focus on consulting with other CPG brands in product and business development.
- Therese Clark Founder, Lady Suite and I Am Not Creative
We knew it was time when we just couldn’t secure the funding we knew we needed to get to that next level of growth. There were promises of investors writing checks, but around November 2023, the investors we had verbal yeses from all decided to hold off. That was a critical moment for us because the growth plans we had were based on that funding.
We couldn’t keep up with inventory demands let alone launch new SKUs. There were also production problems we’d never experienced prior to 2023 across almost all of our suppliers that we inevitably had to pay for. As far as the organization, we were just too lean and couldn’t hire additional help.
While we were proud of our traction and close to profitability, we simply weren’t scaling fast enough, especially compared to our competition who had funding and were capturing market share faster.
We had a loyal customer base, which kept the business going, but were limited in top-of-funnel marketing efforts focused on acquiring new customers. It just became way too stressful, and I didn’t want it to get to a point where we couldn’t pay our suppliers and staff.
Knowing what I know now about the capital requirements, difficulties of this “taboo” category, the changes and rising costs of digital and influencer marketing, navigating the pandemic and its impact on the supply chain, etc., I don’t know that I would have done it, especially without (the right) outside capital.
I would have taken a page from tech founders and would have spent much more time understanding if the problem(s) the brand was solving were big enough. I would have launched a different assortment with more than one SKU at the onset. We were somewhere in between skincare, feminine hygiene and sexual wellness, and that created confusion internally.
I would also have put more time into understanding digital marketing as that would have impacted the launch offering and go-to market strategy. Since the market was so niche, especially when we launched, I would have secured capital to capture market share more quickly.
Being a consultant for other brands since shutting down Lady Suite, including brands similar to Lady Suite, the learnings that guide me are:
- Have a solid go-to market strategy.
- Differentiation is so important. I see so much “me too,” and it’s hard to tell which product is from which brand these days. They look alike, sound alike, use the same influencers. How is your brand going to be different now, in five years?
- Learn how to raise capital because, at some point, you’ll likely need to, depending on your vision.
- Spend a lot of time talking to your customers and not just in a focus group scenario.
- Your product is queen, so make sure you’re developing quality products that (a lot of) people actually want.
- Follow the money and focus on that instead of too many efforts or distribution channels.
- Good marketing and sales are essential (duh, I know.) Don’t get stuck on the technical stuff. Promote the sh*t out of your product(s). As a founder, you should be selling all the time.
- Know the numbers (a lot of creative founders don’t like looking at this side of the biz).
- Fail faster. It’s OK to pivot.
- Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed: good friends, mentors, investors. Befriend a couple of other empathetic founders and champion each other through the highs and lows. Share information and get honest feedback.
- Lacramioara Schulte auf’m Erley Co-Founder and Founder, Made-up Gossip and Zuky
The decision to close the brand was primarily driven by mounting financial challenges and co-founder-related issues. Initially, we faced significant debt due to rising overseas shipping costs. Despite our efforts, sales did not meet expectations and failed to grow as anticipated.
These financial strains were exacerbated by serious issues with my co-founder, making the continuation of the business unsustainable. After careful consideration, I concluded that closing the business was the best course of action to prevent further financial loss and personal stress.
In retrospect, there are several actions I would have taken differently.First, I would have avoided accumulating large inventories without ensuring a steady demand. This approach would have alleviated financial strain and allowed for greater flexibility.
Second, I would have been more cautious about expanding into new product lines prematurely. Finally, addressing issues with my co-founder earlier would have prevented many operational and strategic conflicts that hindered the business's progress.
One of the key lessons I’ve learned is the importance of promptly addressing partnership issues as they can significantly impact both the business and personal well-being.
Maintaining a focused product line and resisting the temptation to diversify too quickly is also crucial. Balancing ambition with practical execution is essential. Sometimes it’s necessary to scale back to maintain quality and control.
Lastly, when funds are tight, focusing on improving existing products rather than attempting to revolutionize the market is more effective. As a trained scientist at the forefront of innovation, I was always driven to create something entirely new.
However, I have learned that, particularly with limited resources, it is more effective to focus on making existing products better for customers. Simplicity is key to ensuring that people quickly understand and appreciate the improvements.
- Elisha Reverby Founder, Elique Organics
I knew it was time to close my brand because, luckily, I had 17 years behind me and was able to gauge my feelings and success around it over the years. I had wanted to retire the brand in the past, but found those feelings were short-lived. Despite my desire to focus more on education and content creation, for a long time, I believed I could do both and committed to that.
However, the needle wasn’t moving in any direction, and when my desire to develop my writing and grow my coaching business grew while my desire to grow a skincare brand was nonexistent, I knew it was time. After COVID, so much changed, too. I put everything into Elique and went into an enormous amount of debt forcing something that I was no longer happy doing.
I decided to close my brand for several reasons. Firstly, despite my love for my products and the loyalty of my clients, I was accruing substantial business debt, especially after opening a flagship store in 2021.
Losing the space to make my products and having no help meant I had to return to making products at home, which was not ideal. Working with high-quality ingredients that carry emotional energies made it unfair to continue being around them amidst growing negativity and frustration.
Also, I had achieved the most important goals I had for my products: creating a 100% natural, self-preserving product line. We passed preservative challenge testing with skin-friendly antioxidants and our superior ingredients. In 1991, I set out to create a brand that restored and maintained a healthy skin barrier and a softness and suppleness not found with any other product.
Also, I wanted to create a cream that was superior to La Mer, my benchmark in 1991, and with many clients that used La Mer affirming that my products were superior, and my products being known for restoring the barrier and creating ageless, soft skin, there was nothing left to achieve on that front.
Additionally, and what pushed me to cement my decision further, was the beauty industry had become oversaturated, with intense superficial competition from celebrity brands and an overwhelming number of unnecessary products with the same messaging. This affirmed my lack of desire to play the game. The industry's demands for constant growth, scaling, selling and relaunching new products felt monotonous and, more important to me, environmentally costly.
The production of raw materials and a packaged product, no matter how clean and pure, is a burden on the planet that, especially now, she does not need. There are plenty of beautiful products to choose from as opposed to when I first started and there were none.
This is what prompted me to create my lie. It was unnecessary to take from her, and I want to give back. I want to prioritize my happiness and true calling, and as an educator and writer at heart, I have chosen to move on and focus on helping people by sharing my passion for skin nutrition and Ayurveda through education and life coaching.
There were definitely some big mistakes I made, but I am an entrepreneur and big mistakes come with the territory. Risk comes with the territory. I’ve never played it safe and am unafraid to chart my own path and go all in and, yes, that is usually more costly than it has to be.
The debt is not fun, but like hair that grows back when you cut it, the money will flow in, especially now that I am focusing on what I love and what, for many years, I have wanted but was afraid to do. And the debt too came from my creative choices so why change anything. Every bit was necessary to get to this place now.
Trust Yourself First: Own your decisions, even if they are costly or mentally taxing. And, while others on your team may have relevant thoughts or opinions, ultimately the decision is yours so make it and don’t look back.
Release Fear: For a long time, I was afraid to bring people in and grow the brand because I was creating a skincare brand that was so different. I did not believe in launching new products because I had my essentials that worked. I chose to sell direct to consumers, not wholesale to other retailers, and my ingredients and their ability to preserve my products was something I always knew would be true, even before I passed preservative challenge testing. My vision was not aligned with how you “do beauty,” but I had to stay true to it, no matter how costly and isolating those decisions would be.
For too long, I was also afraid to jump off that hamster wheel. I limited myself, believing that Elique was all I had, my sole source of income and who I am. All of these beliefs were untrue. Where I am fearless in creating what I want for others, my fear always seems to be in creating what I want for myself and prioritizing myself above all else.
Keep Toxic People Away: For too long, I allowed a toxic business partner to limit me and had people around me who were takers. They were there because I allowed it and lacked the confidence to release them sooner rather than later.
Stay True To Your Vision: This has always been my guiding principle, and it can be costly in a variety of ways, but it’s a muscle you have to exercise to build confidence. Instead of viewing it as a negative cost, the outcome is always positive. It’s all about perspective.
Love Marketing: Embrace marketing as an essential and enjoyable part of your business. Marketing isn't just about selling products, it's about sharing your passion, telling your story and connecting with your audience on a deeper level. When you genuinely love what you do and believe in your products, marketing becomes a natural extension of that passion. It’s an opportunity to educate, inspire and build lasting relationships with your clients.
You're Not Quitting, You're Transitioning: This is a biggie I want all entrepreneurs to know! Much entrepreneurial advice emphasizes not quitting and not giving up, which can prevent people from moving forward. It's important to recognize that you're not quitting, you're evolving, growing and transitioning.
Entrepreneurs need to amend their "don't quit" advice to include the understanding that sometimes moving on is part of the journey. Transitioning is about embracing change and finding new opportunities that align with your growth and values.
- Farah Turner Founder, Aurora Beauty and Awakening Essence
After nine years in the retail sector with Aurora Beauty, I realized my approach had shifted. I felt I was providing superficial support rather than meaningful connections.
It became clear that my purpose had evolved. I wanted to engage more deeply with individuals and address the root causes of their challenges, not just the symptoms. This realization prompted me to close the brand and pursue a more fulfilling path.
I believe every experience was essential to my growth. Each step in the process has brought me to where I am today, and I value the lessons learned along the way.
The most important lesson I’ve learned is to trust my inner voice. Listening to my intuition has become a guiding principle in all my future endeavors.
If you have a question you’d like Beauty Independent to ask beauty and wellness brand founders, please send it to editor@beautyindependent.com.
