Heritage J-Beauty brand Albion is setting up shop on one of Los Angeles’s trendiest stretches.
This summer, the botanical-powered luxury skincare player will open its first flagship in the United States on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in the Venice neighborhood, home to stores from an array of today’s buzziest brands such as Away, Allbirds, Vuori, The Great, ThirdLove, Everlane and Scotch & Soda. Albion’s arrival on the storied retail street comes as its Tokyo-based parent company, Kosé Corp., amplifies its global push.
Albion’s impending nearly 1,130-square-foot store is designed to have a laidback California beach house-meets-floral garden aesthetic that Kazuko Tatsumoto, deputy GM at Albion, describes as “effortlessly beautiful.” She says the space will pair the brand’s skincare offerings with wellness products and Japanese cultural items, and feature a cafe serving up healthy snacks and drinks. The idea is to create a lifestyle destination.
Founded by Kosé in 1956, Albion started selling products in the U.S. in 2020 via direct-to-consumer distribution. This year, Tatsumoto says it’s poised to double its U.S. sales. Although she declines to specify its exact sales in the U.S., Tatsumoto divulges Albion’s goal is to build a multimillion-dollar business stateside.
In Japan, department stores are at the heart of Albion’s distribution, and it has 57 beauty counters at them in the country. Excia Embeage and Infinesse are two important product collections for the brand. Excia Embeage is centered on ingredients sourced from Madagascar in luxury products priced from $190 to $630. Infinesse is comparatively affordable with anti-aging products priced from $45 to $120. On its website, Albion spotlights moisturizer Balancing Milk, lotion Skin Conditioner and face powder Elégance La Poudre as its iconic products.
Albion’s ingredient sourcing—the brand has its own pesticide-free farm in Japan where it cultivates skincare ingredients—along with its extensive research and development capabilities are essential to its product differentiation. It operates four labs in Japan at Higashinihonbashi, Okinawa, Shirakami-Sanchi and inside an Albion philosophy store in Yokahama, and it has a lab in Sri Lanka.
Tatsumoto highlights that Albion’s R&D produced the ingredient OSK9 or acetyl pentapeptide-55 amide, which she says “has a structure consisting of five amino acids, including histidine, arginine, leucine and lysine.” She elaborates, “It was developed through our joint scientific research with esteemed professor [Ryuichi] Morishita of Osaka University focusing on specific skin concerns for women over 30.”
Kosé placed 20th on the WWD Beauty Inc.’s list of top 100 beauty companies for 2022. The publication estimates the company’s 2022 calendar-year sales at $2.21 billion, up 7.5% from the prior year. In an advertisement in WWD in tandem with the list, Kosé CEO and president Kazutoshi Kobayashi, whose grandfather started the company in 1946, says, “Kosé will continue to achieve growth in such a way as to expand our presence in the global market.”
“Nobody knows about us yet.”
Kosé has outlined ambitious financial plans for what it hopes to achieve by 2026. Those plans include boosting its global presence by 50%, reaching 500 billion yen in net sales and hitting an operating profit ratio of at least 16%. According to the company’s financial disclosures, Kosé generated nearly 290 billion yen or $2.15 billion at the current exchange rate for its fiscal year 2022 and an operating profit to net sales ratio of 7.7%.
In addition to China, the U.S. is a leading foreign market for Kosé. Overseas sales constituted 43.6% of total 2022 fiscal year sales. In 2014, Kosé acquired Tarte Cosmetics, a brand that’s given it a stronger foothold in the U.S. Some other brands in its portfolio are Decorté, Sekkisei, Jill Stuart, Addiction, Clear Turn, Paul Stuart, Awake, Imprea, Phil Naturnt, Formule, Maihada, Stephen Knoll New York, Cell Radiance, Spawake and Carté HD.
Recognized for sophistication and technological prowess, J-Beauty has been a staple in the U.S., with Shiseido its anchor. However, in recent years, K-Beauty has been driving beauty chatter. Because of its ascendence, referring to Albion, Tatsumoto says, “Nobody knows about us yet.” The brand’s forthcoming store is a key part of its strategy to increase awareness.
Tatsumoto points out the steepest challenge for Albion is to break through the noise in the massive U.S. beauty industry to draw customers. In advance of its Venice store opening, she says that the brand will be partnering with influencers to craft “demonstrative content” depicting the benefits of its products.
Tatsumoto explains, “We want to try to emulate the success of our Asian market here in the United States, and to do so we want to have more opportunities for people to try our products and spread the reviews.”
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