This week, I checked in with top beauty and wellness industry recruiters to gauge the current hiring climate, which executives tell Glossy is topping their list of obstacles to brand growth. Additionally, a look at the omnichannel beauty brands closing their doors, the earnings call driving industry chatter, and a new funding announcement from the executive behind Merit and Versed.  Industry insiders express hiring frustration as U.S. job openings slide to three-year low  This is a member-exclusive article from Glossy. and subscribe to continue reading content like this ..read more

Under Armour’s latest product innovation, Neolast, was seven years in the making. In 2017, the company’s innovation team started developing a material they hoped would be an improvement on spandex, with similar or greater stretch and strength but without spandex’s main flaw: its moisture retention. Kyle Blakely, Under Armour’s svp and head of innovation, said the company sourced the central polymer material from chemical company DuPont, which also invented spandex. That material was then iterated by Under Armour’s innovation team over the last five years until it became Neolast. Under Armour’s ..read more

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Monday’s Met Gala theme, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” in November. The theme refers to fashion that now lies dormant, including the fragile pieces being preserved by the Costume Institute. The galleries of the corresponding exhibit take visitors through rooms organized by themes of nature that feature poppies, roses, beetles and butterflies. The dress code for the Gala is “The Garden of Time.” Designer Prabal Gurung dressed eight women for the Gala. For the look worn by tennis star Maria Sharapova, he took a playful approach to the “sleep ..read more

Historically, the Met Gala — annually hosted on the first Monday of May — hasn’t been a big event for creators. That is, unless you’re talking about the online conversation. High Fashion Twitter, an unofficial community of devoted fashion aficionados who discuss fashion on the X platform, has been talking about the Met Gala on the account @HFMetGala since 2019. The community of 40,000 counts commentators including Hanan Besovic of @ideservecouture (11,200 followers on X) and Odunayo Ojo of @fashionroadman (6,800 followers on X).  As the Met Gala has grown to be a fashion commentator ..read more

Last week, Puig’s IPO led to fairly flat trading, but that was better than many other publicly traded brands in the fashion and beauty industry. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast for interviews with fashion industry leaders and Week in Review episodes, and the Glossy Beauty Podcast for interviews from the beauty industry. –Danny Parisi, sr. fashion reporter The IPO market is still flat The first few days of trading after fashion and beauty giant Puig went public on Thursday were muted. After some analysts expected a blockbuster IPO, share prices were mostly flat through the first ..read more

On Friday morning, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley posted a note to her Instagram elucidating the future of Rose Inc., the beauty brand she launched in 2021. Rose Inc. was built in conjunction with the one-time incubator Amyris, which declared bankruptcy in August 2023. Prior to becoming a beauty line spanning makeup, skin care and body care, the first iteration of Rose Inc., launched in 2018, was Huntington-Whiteley’s editorial venture. When Glossy reported on the brand’s venture into products in 2021, the site employed 30 people. At the time, Huntington-Whiteley said of the crowded celebrity beaut ..read more

This story was originally featured in Glossy’s Luxury Briefing. For last week’s Beauty Leaders Dinner held in Los Angeles, Glossy and Listrak gathered top executives from some of beauty’s most influential brands for an evening of discussion around current opportunities and challenges in the industry. At one point, all talk turned to fundraising — specifically, whether or not brands should go there if they don’t have to. Edited highlights from the conversation are below.  This is a member-exclusive article from Glossy. and subscribe to continue reading content like this ..read more

Outdoor retailer REI is betting big on running. After pulling back on its own branded footwear, which the retailer will no longer make, REI is now expanding its footwear offerings with new partnerships with brands like On Running. Fan Zhou, gm of footwear and running at REI, said the move reflects the growth of the running apparel market and is a natural evolution of REI’s product lineup. “Millions of our customers are runners, and they run a lot,” Zhou said. “About half the people who come to us for hiking or biking supplies are also runners. And we estimate we were only serving about 50% of ..read more

Black-owned luxury and “clean” skin-care brand Novara launched at Nordstrom on Wednesday, intentionally timed to the start of Mental Health Awareness Month. Founded and self-funded by Reshona Jessamy, Noavara entered the market in September 2023 with an e-commerce site and a focus on bridging the gap between beauty and mental health. Its inaugural collection, the Waterfall line, targets hydration and every product label includes positive affirmations and encouragements for consumers to create affirmations of their own. The products retail for $48-$110, with the full set of five products sellin ..read more

On the Glossy Week in Review podcast, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and editor-in-chief Jill Manoff break down some of the biggest fashion news of the week. This week, we talk about the perils of unregulated AI, the rumors of LVMH offloading Marc Jacobs and the immense growth (and pitfalls) of TikTok Shop. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts • Stitcher • Google Play • Spotify Continue reading this article on glossy.co. Sign up for Glossy newsletters to get the latest on the business of beauty, fashion and pop culture ..read more