This week, I checked in on Urban Outfitters’ growing beauty assortment and Coty’s decision to send Gucci Beauty back to Kering. Additionally, Bobbi Brown’s son steps down as CEO of Jones Road, and Sol de Janeiro targets the male fragrance market.
Urban Outfitters welcomes tween beauty brand Yes Day
In September, 13-year-old Coco Granderson launched the skin-care brand Yes Day, joining a line of beauty brands taking explicit aim at the growing Gen Z and Gen Alpha markets. Now, the DTC brand makes its brick-and-mortar debut with a rollout to Urban Outfitters.
On Tuesday, Yes Day launched at 60 Urban Outfitters stores across the U.S. and online. The line’s mix of affordable skin-care products like moisturizers and cleansers aimed at younger consumers made it attractive to the youth-oriented retailer, which is expanding its beauty assortment.
“We’re really focused on youth culture. We are trying to really tailor everything we do toward young people shopping, discovering, engaging. I think beauty is such a big part of that,” said Karen Booker, head of merchandising, non-apparel, at Urban Outfitters.
According to Urban Outfitters, its UO Insiders members use on average 28 beauty products each week. The retailer is aiming to diversify its beauty assortment to better serve that audience, with recent additions to the mix including the launch of Sol de Janeiro body mists in April.
Beauty is still just one piece of the Urban Outfitters offering, however, which also includes apparel and home decor. But the retailer is hoping that its more curated approach to beauty can help it appeal as a retail partner to brands that may get lost in the mix at a larger beauty carrier like Sephora or Ulta.
“We know that we’re not necessarily a key destination for beauty, but we can be a good convenience for our consumer as they’re shopping apparel or other items. [We want] to be that real place where they can find and discover new things that perhaps are more difficult to discover in some of the other more specialist retailers, like a Sephora or Ulta, which tend to be quite crowded,” said Booker. “We’re trying to lean into more of a curated point of view.”
Urban Outfitters is far from the only retailer growing its beauty offering. In January, Target announced the addition of 3,000 beauty products across 60 brands for the spring season. Walmart, meanwhile, has added roughly 60 beauty and grooming brands since September 2025, and Amazon has expanded its dedicated beauty sale period in an effort to court beauty consumers.
Beauty specialists like Sephora and Ulta have helped consumers get to know their ample offerings with events and founder appearances. Booker said Urban Outfitters has contemplated having Yes Day founder Coco Granderson make in-store appearances to promote the launch, but has no definitive plans for eventing just yet. Granderson worked on the line in collaboration with BeautyStat founder and Rhode formulator Ron Robinson.
But beyond Yes Day’s launch, she promises there is more to come in UO’s beauty aisle.
“Skin care is definitely one of our key pillars. We’ve listened to our consumer. It’s very important to them. So, for sure, there’s more to come in that remit. Fragrance is also very wanted, particularly body mists for our consumer,” she said. “We want the experience to be fun and positive, and just an enjoyable experience when shopping beauty, because it can be overwhelming.”
Why Coty is selling Gucci Beauty to Kering and L’Oréal ahead of schedule
When Kering announced its intention to sell its beauty portfolio to L’Oréal in October, one piece of the Kering brand assortment was still missing: Gucci, whose beauty license belonged to rival conglomerate Coty until 2028.
In July, however, Coty announced it would end its Gucci license a year ahead of schedule, in exchange for $400 million. Under the new terms, Coty will operate Gucci Beauty until June 30, 2027.
On the one hand, the deal speeds up the inevitable loss to Coty’s brand assortment, but it also provides a cash injection to the struggling conglomerate.
In September, Coty shared plans to sell off some of its drugstore cosmetics brands like CoverGirl and Rimmel. But getting a cash injection for ending its Gucci license ahead of schedule may give Coty a cushion while it attempts to right the ship amid declining sales. And Coty now has other designer beauty brands to worry about: In May, it relaunched the Marc Jacobs beauty line, which was previously under the ownership of LVMH’s Kendo brands.
“For Coty, after the Kering Beauty-L’Oréal deal, it was only a matter of time before they would lose the Gucci license. By agreeing to accelerate the handoff, they are deleveraging their balance sheet, which had more than $3.5 billion in net debt,” said Ariel Ohana, managing partner of investment bank Ohana & Co. “It won’t be enough to solve their issues, but considering the other assets haven’t found a buyer yet, it will buy them some time.”
For L’Oréal, speeding up its acquisition of Gucci may mean making a quicker and safer return on its investment.
“This is a logical move for L’Oréal, who will fund the majority of the early termination fee: Their 4 billion euro acquisition of Kering Beauté was largely driven by their interest in the licensed fashion brands of Kering, first of which is Gucci,” added Ohana. “By paying Coty, L’Oréal is accelerating the transition, which reduces risk on multiple levels. The handoff of a fragrance license from one licensee to another can sometimes be tricky, [but] L’Oréal (and Kering) just ensured it won’t be.”
Executive moves:
- Cody Plofker steps down as CEO of Jones Road Beauty. Plofker, son of Jones Road and Bobbi Brown founder Bobbi Brown, has served as CEO of the makeup brand since 2024, following roles as chief marketing officer and director of ecommerce.
- Marc Sachs joins Mecca as head of hair, body and wellness. Sachs joins the Australian beauty retail giant from Amazon, where he previously oversaw the growth of premium beauty.
News to know:
- Sol de Janeiro launches male-targeted fragrances. The Brazilian-inspired body-care brand known for its scented lotions and body mists launched the Cheiroso Cologne Mists on Tuesday with a beach soccer-themed campaign to promote the scent duo.
- French niche perfume brand Essential Parfums receives backing from Milan-based private equity firm Style Capital. Founders Géraldine and Stanislas Archambault will retain a majority stake in the brand, with the new investment fueling international expansion. Style Capital’s portfolio includes brands such as Golden Goose and MSGM.
- Belle Brands acquired mass beauty brand Versed. Belle Brands, part of private equity firm Windsong Global, also owns beauty brands JVN and Pipette. Versed was launched as a clean skin-care brand in 2019 by Katherine Power before expanding to makeup in 2025.
Stat of the week:
Makeup was the fastest-growing beauty category during Amazon’s Prime Day sales, according to data from Front Row. Makeup sales were up 12% during the sale period, beating out skin-care sales, which grew 4%.
In the headlines:
In a protein-maxxing era, men want tight suits. Everything’s bananas. Marketing winners and losers of the week: Erling Haaland and Bath & Body Works.
Need a Glossy recap?
Milani CEO Mary van Praag unpacks the strategies behind 19 quarters of growth, trends she’s betting on for 2H. Stripes Beauty expands to 448 Ulta stores as menopause care moves into the mainstream. Exclusive: Hung Vanngo Beauty is rethinking shade-matching with first foundation launch. Physicians Formula returns to “2016 makeup” with a Jaclyn Hill and Manny MUA partnership.
