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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With the fragrance industry expected to generate $59.9 billion in 2024, both new and heritage brands are strategizing to differentiate in the growing market. For some, the result is offering niche scents, and for others, it’s leveraging communities. For 8-year-old DedCool, a genderless, planet-first and functional approach is what sets it apart, said founder Carina Chaz.
Since launching DedCool in 2016 with a self-investment of $10,000, Chaz has made her brand one to watch. In August 2022, Dedcool expanded to Sephora stores and its e-commerce channels and introduced three new product categories, including air fresheners, candles and laundry detergent. The latter, Chaz told Glossy, now drives 30% of the business.
“The fragrance category has expanded so much, and DedCool was never meant to be a true fragrance brand. We want to speak to fragrance in ways that our competitors axren’t speaking to fragrance,” Chaz said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.
Also on the podcast, Chaz shares how she grew DedCool in its early stages and how she has created a brand that appeals to people in different life stages. Below are highlights from the episode, which have been lightly edited for clarity.
Getting off the ground as a self-funded brand
“[That $10,000 I gave myself] was for inventory. The brand started Taunt, our first fragrance, and then fragrance No. 2. The concept to reinvest and make money and find some momentum [stemmed from] being on consignment at all these fun mom-and-pop shops. I would go in and give a presentation of my brand and display it. People were intrigued, and some people were like, ‘That’s interesting, but I don’t know what to quite do with it. We can put it on the shelf, and if it sells, it’ll work.’ Ultimately, it was selling, and it was working. … Everything changed in 2020 — it took four years to build momentum and build a very small brand halo and e-mail list. I would go to trade shows, and there’s this thing called unique market where I would display my products and try and get the DedCool scent on anyone who would smell it. It was a community-led thing, and our laundry detergent launched in 2020. … We didn’t have the marketing dollars to speak about what we were doing in a way that could touch a larger consumer group, but we had enough visibility, and we grew organically. I hired my CFO in 2021, and from there, we hired our first group of DedCool employees and team members. It was a very slow start, but I’m very thankful for those years because they taught me a lot. I know every single piece of the business.”
Setting a price point for products
“There’s still definitely a large commercial business with true luxury fragrance and skin care and makeup, and you see it across so many different categories. But the concept of DedCool was to reshape the way fragrance is defined and experienced. I wanted to create more of an accessible price point that wouldn’t feel so precious. Someone’s fragrance should be a part of their everyday life. It should be a part of how they have a fragrance wardrobe or how they want to express themselves. … When your distant aunt gets you a beautiful, fine fragrance for the holidays and it’s $300, you want to spray it only on special occasions — but that eliminates the fun of fragrance. We always say that we’re functional, and we put the emphasis on fun. We want people to utilize these products and use them as a vehicle to feel good and to smell good, not to have it be this precious thing that you only wear on special occasions. Not only that, but we seek to inspire individuality, and we want people to play with their scents, layer them, and create what feels good for a consumer and or for a community.”
The importance of strategic partnerships
“Obviously, we are a fragrance brand, but we want to speak to fragrance in ways that our competitors aren’t speaking to fragrance. … So the concept of laundry detergent being more of an outlandish category expansion — and, ultimately, a huge part of our business — has allowed us to tell the story we want to. And that’s what we want: We want people to experience fragrance in different ways and in different mediums, throughout their daily touch points. We want there to be more scented experiences. When Sephora gave us the opportunity, obviously we took it — to launch their first laundry detergent. And we do have an Allure Beauty Award on our laundry detergent, which I believe is also a first and also kind of a funny thing. For so long, fragrance has been such a luxury item. And then, to infuse that scent into laundry, which is more of this utilitary, everyday need for your home, seems odd. But at the end of the day, it makes so much sense.”
