This is an episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the beauty and wellness industries. More from the series →
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On this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Pop editor Sara Spruch-Feiner is joined by Catherine D’Aragon, CEO of First Aid Beauty, to discuss the brand’s recent rebrand — its first in its near-20-year lifespan — and its decision to partner with Team USA ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The conversation comes at a time when beauty brands are increasingly showing up at the Olympics — from athlete partnerships and product seeding (First Aid gifted all Team USA members) to behind-the-scenes content and performance-focused skin care. Brands including Fenty Beauty, L’Oréal Paris and Glossier have previously activated around the Olympics, as has First Aid Beauty’s parent company, Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble also owns Gillette Venus, which is sponsoring U.S. Figure Skating athletes Alysa Liu, Isabeau Levito, and Starr Andrews.
The discussion also explores why beauty brands are increasingly turning to athletes, how First Aid Beauty is positioning itself around simplicity and skin “support” in a crowded skin-care market, and how the brand plans to translate a global sporting moment into long-term relevance.
Highlights from the episode, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.
Relaunching the brand, timed to the Olympics
“The packaging of the brand had not been touched since the brand was born in 2008, so it was time to give it a little update. But it takes time. And so when we were thinking about the rebrand, [we were] told the timing could be at the beginning of 2026, so January or February. So we thought, ‘That’s really great timing with the Olympics.’ P&G has a strong partnership with the Olympics, so we leveraged it to become the official skin-care brand of Team USA. [We have come a long way], from being a small brand in Boston to having this partnership that gives us this kind of global exposure. It’s allowing us to reach such a wide breadth of audiences and serve our dedicated community on a large scale.”
The Olympics as a moment of community
“Yes — working with athletes has been trending, but we wanted to do something a little different … with Olympians and Paralympians, or people that are constantly pushing their bodies to the limit. They deal with high stress levels and harsh conditions, … and at the same time, they are really active and healthy and ambitious — all values [we] really uphold at First Aid Beauty. I really wanted to partner with people who authentically embody us, and not just stick a face or name on a product because it’s trending. For many people, the Olympics is this moment of joy, and [it brings a] sense of community, you sit in your living room with your family and your friends to support your athletes and your nation, and it becomes this moment, regardless of politics and age and ethnicity, where you rally around your favorite athletes and nation. For me, this element of support [tied everything together]. At First Aid Beauty, we always say we’re the skin’s support system. So this moment of support and supporting your athlete made sense, and that was a common thread between the Olympics and First Aid Beauty.”
Returning to simplicity
“2026 is the new 2016, when there was more simplicity and less noise around skin care. … And that’s exactly what First Aid is about — the good basics your skin needs, without all the noise. It’s a good moment for First Aid to be more vocal and have a big moment because people need that simplicity, and they need problem-solution-[focused products]. It’s a really good moment to be relaunching the brand.”
