On Track To Hit $1.5M In 2023 Sales, Vamigas Expands To Target And Whole Foods

Vamigas is ushering in its second year of business with Target and Whole Foods partnerships.

The new partnerships follow the participation of Ann Dunning and Christina Kelmon, co-founders of the Latina-owned clean beauty brand, in Target’s Takeoff accelerator and Whole Foods’ Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP), which launched last year with 10 brands. Prior to Target and Whole Foods, Vamigas entered Thrive Market, HSN, Anthropologie, Thirteen Lune, J.C. Penney and Ipsy.

“Whole Foods is where our green beauty Latin America botanical fans are,” says Dunning, adding of Target that it’s “a Latina’s favorite retailer, so we thought it was a no-brainer because that’s where our customers are.” Kelmon chimes in, “It also aligns with the fact that we are a high-quality, affordable brand, and we match on price point as well.”

Vamigas is rolling out to 600 Target doors. The retailer is stocking five of the brand’s products priced from $18 to $25: Rosa Face Mist, Pampas Face Mist, Olinda Cleansing Oil, Luz De Sur Face Oil and Rosa Mosqueta, the face oil bestseller. The products incorporate botanicals from Latin America such as rose hip oil produced in small batches in Chile. Vamigas will arrive at Whole Foods in May. The brand is swapping out white minimalist secondary packaging in favor of brightly colored boxes to stand out on shelves.

Dunning says, “I’m from Chile and Christina’s third-generation Mexican American, so we really wanted to create a cohesive sense of Latin America and also keep in mind that Chile’s very different than Mexico, which is very different than other Latin American countries. We wanted to show that complexity, too, and that came out in the gorgeous bright colors and in the Otomi designs.” Otomi designs have whimsical natural motifs and are used in embroidery made by the Otomi, Indigenous people from central Mexico.

The brand generated $500,000 in revenues for its first year of business and is projected to reach $1.5 million in sales this year. It recently won a $20,000 grant for small businesses powered by the tequila brand Don Julio. Angel investors, Dunning and Kelmon are among a growing number of beauty entrepreneurs funding their fellow beauty entrepreneurs. They co-founded BLXVC, a backer of Black, Latinx and Indigenous entrepreneurs with Young King Hair Care, Sienna Naturals and Mented in its portfolio. At Vamigas, they’re holding off on fundraising for now.

“So many times companies are expected to achieve hyper growth at the expense of profitability, but we take a really slow approach where profitability of the company is never compromised,” says Dunning. “It’s easy to buy ads and overspend, but we just don’t do that.”

“Our intent is really to build much more than a skincare company, we’re truly a wellness brand in everything that we do.”

To date, Vamigas hasn’t spent on advertising. Dunning, who has a background in public relations and marketing, handles the brand’s social media. TikTok has proven to be a big driver for it, particularly in the past couple of months as she and Kelmon, both moms of toddlers, have captured their daily activities like gardening, parenting and drinking tea that they call part of their “señora era.”

In August, Vamigas posted a 10-second video on TikTok showing Dunning walking outside in her garden. The text reads, “If you’re Latina who wants to leave behind hustle culture, grow a veggie garden and live the señora life, be our amiga.” The video racked up over 220,000 views. Vamigas’s TikTok account has amassed a total of 1 million views and almost 34,000 followers.

Over 90% of Vamigas’s followers are Latina, and Kelmon relays the brand often receives comments on its videos to the tune of, “I’ve finally found my community.” She says, “We do speak to an audience that hasn’t been spoken to that way before, and we are very proud of this.”

Dunning elaborates, “We as Latinas and as women of color in general aren’t seen by marketing teams or big brands as complex or three-dimensional…I think TikTok has given this huge group a chance to be seen in a multilayered way. There’s more to us than just stereotypes, we’re not a monolith.”

Dunning and Kelmon have several projects up their sleeves at Vamigas, including merchandise category expansion and a wellness book geared toward Latinas. Kelmon says, “Our intent is really to build much more than a skincare company, we’re truly a wellness brand in everything that we do.”