We are thrilled to announce that Landing International has been named in Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022 in the beauty category for our work in using technology to help brands launch and scale at retail and our commitment to change.
“In 2022, the world’s idea of beauty is—wonderfully and refreshingly—more all-encompassing than ever before. And the beauty industry, comprising makeup, perfumes, skincare, and haircare, has been inspired to take note. Innovative companies new and established are celebrating all colors, genders, shapes, and styles, and demolishing outdated norms and boundaries in the process. Boy Smells is a gender-blending company that refutes the binary of male and female in every aspect of its branding, pairing its “boyish” name with signature pink packaging and refusing to classify products with any allusions to men or women. Atticus, a skincare company, caters to the oft-neglected market of men who want to pamper their skin and chase that dewy glow. And Eadem created a dark-spot serum specifically formulated for women of color, who often struggle to find products designed for the unique concerns of melanin-rich skin.
The industry also made strides this year in its ongoing mission to become greener, more ethical, and more sustainable. Beauty giant L’Oréal unveiled a new hair-wash system for salons that could save up to a billion gallons of water per year. Hourglass Cosmetics, meanwhile, engineered the first-ever vegan, cruelty-free replacement for carmine—a ubiquitous ingredient that gives makeup a brilliant, rich red hue—which was historically made by killing and crushing thousands of female insects. Companies are even exploring beauty in the digital realm. Legacy company Dior helped lead the charge, becoming the first to partner with metaverse platform Zepeto to release a line of all-virtual makeup looks for avatars.”
Landing International – For leveraging the power of tech to boost minority-owned businesses
“Landing International, a platform that connects emerging beauty brands with retailers (and allowing them to avoid trade shows), has been working since its 2016 launch to even the playing field for minority-owned businesses. It offers tech services that can help otherwise under-resourced businesses break into retail and scale, including a flagship digital marketplace that connects growing Black-, Asian-, and woman-owned brands with buyers from major and midsize retailers, including Ulta, Urban Outfitters, and Anthropologie. The platform costs $2,000 per year to join, with zero commission taken or hidden fees.
In September 2021, Landing International leveraged its marketplace to secure retail placement for 17 minority-owned indie beauty brands as part of the new JCPenney Beauty experience, set to roll out across all 600 JCPenney locations by 2023. Landing International also created two new products in 2021: a web-based training tool that lets brands engage with and educate retail associates in a matter of minutes instead of weeks, and an ingredient checker that lets brands know which clean beauty standards they qualify for, a process that can be confusing and opaque for small companies. Both of these tools are included in Landing International’s yearly subscription, which also offers brands unlimited product visibility on the platform. Over the course of the year, it experienced a 350% increase in new brand sign-ups—its client base is 70% minority-founded overall—and more than doubled its revenue from the previous year to nearly $10 million.”
Read the full article here.