Why Uplink Expo Exhibitors Are Hopeful About The State Of Independent Beauty

Last week, brand founders, suppliers and retail buyers gathered for Uplink Expo 2024, the trade show produced by Beauty Independent parent company Indie Beauty Media Group at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. The venue was buzzing with over 60 emerging brands and 20-plus suppliers on display from around the globe—there were companies from 10 countries—and the nation presenting their perfumes, body oils, lotions, lubes and much more.

In the midst of the bustle, Beauty Independent talked to entrepreneurs and executives about what makes their business tick today. For the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we focus on the following question we asked them: What do you think about the current state of indie beauty?

Rachel Clinesmith Founder, Phoenix Rising Cosmetics

I definitely think it's oversaturated, but only on the private-label side. I feel like there's a lot of room for innovation, and because indie brands can pivot very quickly, they can change positioning. They can come out with new products much faster.

Through the big companies, we're seeing a lot more interest from large companies' intellectual property to work with us, from the major retailers even, because we are able to move so much faster and we can adapt to what consumers want very quickly. Companies including Sony and Disney have signed deals with us.

Cheryl Sloan Brand manager, Überlube

What's great about indie beauty is that we're seeing different ingredients from different parts of the world, and we're seeing a lot of women actually starting new businesses. So, I think it's going well. It's going to continue to grow. I think there's a place for it. I don't think beauty ends. I also think that different brands speak to different people in different stages of life.

Aine Kennedy Founder and CEO, The Smooth Company

This is the best possible time to launch an indie brand, thanks to TikTok. A few years ago, it was much harder to grow on Instagram. With TikTok, you don't know who's For You page your brand is going to land on.

For us, it's completely transformed the brand. We have customers in 54 countries around the world, all thanks to TikTok. We put a lot of time into our videos to educate our customers on our product and to also entertain our customers. Off the back of that, we’ve also got sales all around the world. Had we launched a few years ago, it would've been much harder for us to grow.

For indie beauty right now, it's been better than ever, and I think the support from other indie beauty brands has been incredible. We only launched two years ago, so I've nothing to compare it to in the past, but I think we've been really lucky so far.

Valerie Obaze Founder, R&R Skincare

The state of indie beauty right now is very good because people are looking for something a bit more special, a bit more unique than what they're used to. I think it's the time to discover new brands and also authentic brands with an authentic story.

People are really interested in where the products are coming from, so now's a good time for beauty, and I just hope that the opportunities are there to get our stories out further.

Jamie Dredge Managing Director, Opty.NC

I think it's amazing how many smaller independent brands have emerged in the past few years. It's a lot easier, I think, to start small and focus on building incredible products and community. It can be challenging to gain visibility with so many brands out there, but I appreciate seeing the innovation that stems from that challenge and seeing more women led and minority led brands gaining traction - something I think we should all support.

Stephanie Scott-Bradshaw Founder, First and Last PR

Indie beauty is growing more than ever, but the brands need help. Funding is getting more limited, and brands really need to be focused on their why and what makes them different and also focus on partners that can help to serve them the best to maximize on their limited budgets.

There's a lot of opportunity for indie brands, and founders should keep coming up with great ideas. They should keep plugging away at it, but think about how they're spending and look for PR agencies that can support their dreams so that they can actually have their brand grow. It's not enough to have the dream, you’ve got to be able to make it work at the same time.

Sekai Muscutt Founder, Keeper Beauty

Coming to things like [Uplink Expo] actually makes me feel hopeful because, as an indie founder, I feel very isolated from the big market, so seeing how many of us are out here does make me feel good. There are so many of us that are doing amazing things.

Marilou Hamer Co-Founder, Rosy & Earnest

I think the market right now for indie brands is challenging, but I think when you have a unique value proposition and a good product, it's possible to make good strides in the market.

Amitay Eshel Co-founder, Young Goose

The first thing I think about the indie beauty markets is that brands should think of themselves not as unicorns. Don’t try to be the next Drunk Elephant. Rather, they should think of themselves as cockroaches. Basically, we're surviving, right? You could be thriving, but the idea is to survive long enough that your story reaches enough people and finds its foundation. Find some kind of a niche that really accepts and hugs them and that's now your safe home and now you can grow and you can be brave. That's what happened to us with biohacking and that's what I would wish would happen to any brand. Number one, find your people, yes, but also then grow out of it.

What I like about the indie beauty markets is the lack of the McDonald's effect of big beauty. So the McDonald's effect and big beauty is this wash, rinse and repeat that happens with bigger brands that I can tell when money came into the picture because you're going to have one trademark, one ingredient that now is going to permeate into every language of the company, and that to me is boring. It is not exciting and it is also extremely limiting and dishonest as well because there there's no silver bullet, there's no one solution.

Ada Hsieh Founder, Fluency Beauty

It's a little bit difficult. I see all of these brands closing, so it's a little disheartening, but I'm just trying to stay focused on what I'm doing and go forward and see how far I can do it and ignore everybody else's journey. That's their story, this is mine, so I'm trying to do the main character energy. It's tough right now, but I'm going to stay strong.

Maree Glading Founder, Evre Selfcare

I think indie beauty is super exciting and that's where all the innovation is coming from. I think it's really, really important to have a key point of difference and you really need to stand out. And I think that, even though we're indie and we're independent, you have to think big. Even if you don't execute big to start off with, you need to be thinking, what is this going to be like when I'm big? Can my margins commercially work? Is my market big enough to be a sustainable business?

Ana Gonzalez Herrera Founder, Hormone University

I've witnessed the closing of brands, and it really breaks my heart. In the investor world, there is more and more focus on brands that already have a certain revenue and less or less on really early stages. I think it's a real shame that the investment is going to more, let’s say, safe companies. It's really hard to create a brand from zero and stand out.

There’s power in partnerships. That doesn't cost any money, and it's about joining our audiences. We also launched masterclasses, which is an education hub and is something that you can offer as a value add to the consumer. So it might be if you're a beauty brand focusing on acne, you can bring someone or bring another brand on and do something jointly and educate about acne.

David Mathis Head of Operations, Justice Haircare

I think the haircare industry especially is saturated with large corporations. We are a family-owned business, and I think the general consensus is that people are quite excited to see something new and fresh coming into the market. If you are marketing right and you've got a good brand and a good marketing team, there's a lot of space to move.

If you have a question you’d like Beauty Independent to ask beauty entrepreneurs and executives, please send it to editor@beautyindependent.com.

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