Kristen Noel Crawley would like to reintroduce herself.

Crawley, formerly a model for clothing retailer American Apparel and a jewellery designer, was one of the first beauty influencers to expand into product with the launch of her brand KNC Beauty in 2016. It was a boom time for direct-to-consumer beauty labels. She plugged the brand on Instagram, at the nucleus of the digital beauty conversation, and a platform where she already had hundreds of thousands of followers. Beginning with a single product, a lip mask coated in an “all natural” moisturising serum, she was able to capitalise on the mid-2010s popularity for sheet masks and obsession with super-plump lips.

But while it started with a bang, KNC Beauty has remained small and independent, with only a handful of launches and limited wholesale distribution. Crawley said that personal matters — a new baby, a cross-country move — claimed some of her focus. Annual sales, which hit around $1 million by 2020, have more or less stayed there since.

Recently, Crawley has decided to turn the page. She plans to double her current product offering — with a reusable eye mask and serum duo, a set of cryotherapy sticks (tools that harness cold temperatures to soothe the skin) and a foray into lip glosses — and usher the brand into a new stage of growth. Her goals include securing cash investment, amplifying her brand’s visibility, and landing a blue-chip wholesale partner like Target or Ulta Beauty.

“I’m back to business now,” she said. “The golden age of Instagram beauty, that 2015 to 2020 era, I’d love to get my brand back in that position.”

But that golden age is over, and Crawley will have to reckon with a completely different landscape for selling beauty products online — one that she admittedly isn’t as well-versed in. “I’m still trying to figure out TikTok,” she said.

Added competition from A-list celebrities and makeup artists and a dizzyingly rapid beauty trend cycle represent hurdles. But Crawley believes KNC can overcome the odds, in part by returning to the brand’s best asset: Herself.

Street Smart

It’s common enough today for celebrities, influencers, and beauty editors to start minting cosmetics indiscriminately, but in 2016, Crawley was a triple threat.

Born and raised in Chicago, Crawley found an entry into the world of celebrity after she and her husband, the designer Don Crawley, opened RSVP Gallery with Off-White founder Virgil Abloh in the city’s West Loop. The connection to Abloh and later, Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West placed Crawley in the Kardashian orbit, which helped raise her own profile at a time when Instagram was taking off. She gained industry recognition, too: In 2015, she was tapped by Julie Schott, the co-founder of acne sticker brand Starface who was then a beauty editor at Elle, to write a column called “KNC Beauty Crush.”

Crawley discovered the concept of the lip sheet mask while on a press trip in Tokyo; KNC Beauty was the byproduct of her attempt to reverse-engineer the mask with “all natural” ingredients. The launch timing was serendipitous: At the time, lips crowded the beauty conversation, thanks in large part to Kylie Jenner’s viral “lip kits” and speculation over her use of filler. In 2016, the category grew over 13 percent, according to a survey conducted by cosmetics conglomerate L’Oréal.

Its cartoonish appearance was made for Instagram. The product was a quick hit, earning KNC Beauty an early supporter in Cassandra Grey, whose influential beauty retailer Violet Grey has stocked KNC Beauty since launch. Grey included KNC’s lip mask in a mailer she sent out to artists during award show season, which is how it wound up on Emma Stone’s face — and her makeup artist’s Instagram — shortly before she won the Golden Globe for “La La Land”.

Cute and quirky product design became the brand’s signature. In 2018, KNC debuted its Star eye masks made with a retinol alternative. While under-eye masks were starting to trend, the shooting star shape of KNC’s version was optimised for selfie photography.

“I knew I couldn’t pay people to post,” Crawley said. “So I thought about, besides formulation, efficacy, what can I do to make my product stand out?” To date, the Star eye masks are the brand’s highest-selling SKU.

Crawley’s point of view has been at the centre of the brand, part of the reasons why she’s kept her product assortment small and stuck with niche collaborative partners, like streetwear event ComplexCon, where she launched her “Self-Care” reusable eye masks, and smaller-footprint retailers like Cos Bar and Violet Grey. She refers to her customer as “the girl who wears Jordans with Chanel.”

KNC Beauty has what Cassandra Grey considered “legacy brand material.” “Kristen is just born-this-way cool,” the Violet Grey founder wrote.

But KNC is only one of a few legacy brands Crawley promotes on her Instagram, where she also partners with companies like Revlon and Dior. Crawley has a higher rate of engagement compared to those with similarly sized followings, according to an analysis from the influencer marketing firm Billion Dollar Boy. “Her sponsored posts perform well, sometimes better than her personal content — which is a great sign for brands wanting to collaborate,” said Andrea Ahern, senior vice president and head of accounts at Billion Dollar Boy.

A Star Is Born

Since KNC Beauty’s 2016 launch, other the success of influencer-led brands has been a mixed bag. Influencer Susan Yara’s skincare brand Naturium, born out of an accelerator, was acquired by E.l.f. Beauty for $355 in 2023. Meanwhile, TikTok-turned-pop star Addison Rae’s ill-timed makeup line Item Beauty went on an indefinite pause two years after its debut.

And while Crawley’s business was well suited to the Instagram age, which operated at the speed of a leisurely scroll, the brand has struggled to keep pace with the churn of TikTok, where virality can blow through an unsuspecting brand’s inventory in moments. When KNC’s monstera leaf-shaped eye masks went viral earlier this year, it took nearly eight months to get them back in stock.

This was a new problem for KNC Beauty, even if it was also kind of a champagne one. “You make all these sales from going viral,” Crawley said, “And then you wait months and months to restock your best-selling products.”

Maintaining steady distribution and a tight product assortment has helped keep KNC’s brand identity intact, but it’s also strapped its growth, Crawley acknowledged. Today, the brand is stocked in over 150 stores across North America, including a number of boutiques, but Crawley expressed her desire to ink a bigger box wholesale partner in 2025.

The brand may also benefit from getting in front of consumers who weren’t around on Instagram in the 2010s. A platform like TikTok Shop could help KNC “access to that Gen-Z audience that she hasn’t tapped into yet, because she’s targeting me, who shops at Net-a-Porter,” Ahern said.

KNC is also expanding its product lineup to meet current trends. The lip market continues to bloom, with growth rates reported between 7 and 12 percent thanks to product extensions. Crawley wants to keep the brand’s focus tight, and will be continuing to focus on eye and lips. More eye masks, a lip scrub, and a lip gloss are forthcoming.

Crawley also wants to grow her team — and is hoping to take on investment to do so. Still, she intends to remain fully in the drivers’ seat.

“There’ve been a lot of people that have come in and tried to tell me what to do, and I feel like because I know myself, my brand, and that I have the best intuition,” she said. “But I’m always open to ideas.”

Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.

As luxury executives eye India’s high growth potential, Christian Dior Couture has added Hindi film star Sonam Kapoor to its roster of ambassadors for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s womenswear.

Kapoor is Bollywood royalty: the daughter of Anil Kapoor, one of the industry’s biggest stars. She rose to prominence in a mix of critically-acclaimed films and Bollywood blockbusters throughout the 2010s, culminating in 2016′s “Neerja,” one of India’s top-grossing pictures featuring a female protagonist.

Kapoor has previously worked as a brand ambassador for L’Oréal and watch brand IWC Schaffhausen as well as appearing in a commercial for Pepsi. She is also a champion of contemporary art, and recently joined the Tate Modern’s South Asia acquisitions committee.

After taking two years off to have a child, Kapoor recently confirmed plans to return to acting with a “big project” set to start filming in early 2025, the details of which remain under wraps.

“A multi-talented personality, the actress, producer and fashion icon henceforth embodies the audacity, grace and elegance of Dior style, a femininity constantly reinvented,” Dior said in a statement. “More than ever, this unique alliance celebrates the powerful cultural ties that have united Dior and India since the very beginning of the house.

Dior has sought to underscore its links with India in recent years: the country is a nexus of craftsmanship where many of the brand’s suppliers for embroidery and embellishment are based, as well as a burgeoning market for luxury brands: luxury goods spending by Indian consumers is expected to roughly triple by 2030, reaching €25 to €30 billion per year, according to Bain & Company. Last March, Dior presented its pre-fall 2023 collection with a multi-day celebration in Mumbai.

The French couture giant’s Kapoor deal follows several tie-ups between luxury brands and Indian actresses as executives target not only India-based customers but the South Asian diaspora, among them Ananya Panday for Jimmy Choo, Alia Bhatt for Gucci, Deepika Padukone for Louis Vuitton and Cartier, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas for Bulgari.

Learn more:

Can Global Brands See Beyond Bollywood in India?

Casting actors as ambassadors is an effective way of reaching Indian consumers, but fashion brands should consider widening the net to include other famous faces like local musicians and athletes, marketing experts say.

In the next two weeks, brands have two inescapable forces to compete with for eyeballs online.

In the lead up to election day on Nov. 5, presidential nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are expected to flood social media and Google with campaign ads in last ditch efforts to reach undecided voters, particularly chronically online Millennials and Gen-Zers — the very cohort that digital brands count on for sales.

At the same time, the end of October is already an expensive period for brands to advertise online, with more labels ramping up their digital ad spend to prepare for Black Friday. Already this month, the cost per click for a Google ad is up as much as 12 percent year over year, while the cost per thousand impressions on Facebook and Instagram is up as much as 8 percent, according to marketing agency Belardi Wong. Some industry experts expect an even steeper price surge in the coming weeks as supercharged politicians fight for eyeballs in a tight election race. Ad tracking firm AdImpact estimates that political media spend this election cycle will reach around $10 billion, up 13 percent from 2020.

“If I could spend [millions] on my brand in the next three weeks, the [political] campaigns are gonna spend four times that much,” said Greg Portell, senior partner at global consulting firm Kearney.

While presidential elections typically raise advertising prices across media, this one can be particularly consequential for brands. It’s the first election since Apple’s sweeping privacy changes in 2021, which drove up the cost of digital ads and curbed access to data that helps brands find their target audiences. There’s also increased competition for consumer attention — not just from fellow digitally-native brands, but also ultra-fast-fashion giants like Shein and Temu. While retail sales remain better than expected, it’s anticipated that consumers will be more cautious in the weeks leading up to and after the election. To top it all off, there’s fewer days between Black Friday and Christmas this year, prompting brands to start putting out holiday ads earlier than usual, bumping directly into the election cycle.

“The first week of October, the earliest brands start putting their gift guides for the holiday season, which is not where we were five years ago,” said Ariel Stoddard, chief revenue officer at intimates brand MeUndies.

This period is crucial for brands looking to meet sales targets before the year is over. But even with the tidal wave of political ads, there are still ways for brands to stand out. To break through the cluttered advertising landscape, companies are leaning into channels outside of Meta and Google, such as text message marketing and shopping newsletters.

“There’s no reason for a brand advertiser to get caught in the melee of the political cycle,” Portell added.

When Diversification Pays Off

Brands are diverting advertising dollars to channels where they can speak directly to their customers, such as email and text messages.

In choosing where to spend, brands should look to the alternative channels that have already proven to be effective in reaching their target audience — not use the busiest time of the year to test out something new.

“With the costs going up, there doesn’t need to be a work around; you know that this is an effective channel for you,” said Calla Murphy, senior vice president of digital strategy and integrated marketing at Belardi Wong.

It helps that given the declining effectiveness of social media ads, most brands have already been figuring out what those channels are. For example, private equity and brand management firm Bedrock, which owns watch brand Shinola and the western wear label Filson, has been building both brands’ text message subscriber list for a year to curb its reliance on paid social media ads. In early October, Filson sent texts giving select customers early access to a sale on a few of its bestselling items, including its $1,000 utility Packer jacket, generating its highest sales day from a text message campaign in the company’s history, said Kevin Wertz, Bedrock’s chief marketing officer. Shinola will also use texting in the coming month to promote add-on services like same-day delivery and gift wrapping.

“Our subscriber list for email and SMS for both brands is going to be a major driver of revenue for us this holiday season,” Wertz said.

Marissa Lepor, director at investment bank The Sage Group, also encourages brands to try to get more out of their existing channels. If a brand has a mobile app, for instance, it can use push notifications to distribute holiday advertising content and directly reach customers when competition is so high in traditional marketing channels, she said.

“There’s a significant amount of sales that can just be generated through the app and typically those are also their most engaged customers,” Lepor said.

Brands should also consider the advertising opportunities that are nearly guaranteed to be free of politics, even if they reach fewer people. In May, bootmaker Tecovas began targeting shopping newsletters — a channel that has gained popularity in recent years, with a typically smaller but highly engaged and trusting audience looking to make the right purchases. In August, sales for Tecovas’ $295 zip-up men’s boot, The Dean, rose 45 percent year over year after it was featured in menswear newsletter Cool Material. The brand expects its inclusion in holiday-themed newsletters to increase traffic on its site in the coming months, said Krista Dalton, Tecovas’ chief marketing officer and senior vice president of digital and e-commerce.

The instability of this period underscores how important it is for brands to develop a marketing strategy that works year-round, and prevents them from being so reliant on one particular period in time. For the brands that do feel a squeeze over the next few weeks, there’s good news: After the election, consumers will likely welcome a distraction from politics — and ads about handbags and shoes could fill that void.

“Either way the election goes, some people may be very pleased and some people may be very disappointed,” said Murphy. “There’s an escapism with online shopping and retail therapy that is very real.”

Shifts in both customer shopping behaviours and regulatory requirements from governmental bodies are moving digital product passport (DPP) technology from the edges of brand consideration towards a central strategic focus.

A digital record that accompanies a product throughout its entire lifecycle, DPPs record key information relating to the provenance of materials, manufacturing and supply chain information, the item’s environmental impact, and repair, recycling and circularity services to consider at end-of-use. Information is accessed on smartphones by scanning digital markers, such as an NFC tag or QR code. Since 2006, Certilogo, a company specialising in connected products and digital authentication, has implemented engaging digital experiences and DPPs within the fashion and luxury industries. Today, more than 540 million items from its brand partners have a complementing digital asset.

The technology is increasingly timely as, last year, new EU regulations were announced that will require fashion and other consumer goods to be fitted with unique DPPs as early as 2026. Meanwhile, as luxury and fashion goods become increasingly commoditised, authentic brand identity is increasingly key. Indeed, ‘dupe’ culture is training Gen-Z and Gen Alpha to seek out comparable goods for the champion products they aspire to — a sentiment which extends into counterfeit goods. A June survey conducted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, showed more than 50 percent of consumers between the ages of 15 and 24 said they had purchased at least one counterfeit product online in the last 12 months.

Indeed, the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods will hit $3 trillion this year, triple the amount in 2013, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sophisticated authentication measures are a critical component for many consumers to embrace the secondary market and place trust in peer-to-peer transactions.

To learn more about how applications of DPPs can unlock growth, engage new generations of consumers and solve brand pain points, BoF and Certilogo hosted a roundtable discussion at Maxim’s in Paris, gathering marketing leaders from across the French fashion and luxury sectors.

Conducted under the Chatham House Rule, executives from Balenciaga, Jacquemus, Veja, Kering, Patou, Courréges, Balmain, among others, were in attendance. Below, BoF shares condensed and anonymised insights from the discussion.

Turn compliance into a growth opportunity

“Right now, the urgency is compliance. It’s the biggest business headache and problem to solve, and it’s the main driver for brands to get digital product passports on their products,” said one guest. “However, while they make sense from a compliance perspective, we need to think strategically about the evolving use-cases and opportunities. We want to make decisions that make this implementation future-proof.”

“From a compliance piece, there is a real anxiety around the data,” agreed another guest. “But ensuring that you comply needs to be part of a bigger incentive. Before you have a clear vision on your supply chain, you need to marry the compliance factor, the risks, the opportunities. That’s when we’ll start to see a real roadmap of the downstream opportunity.”

“Transformational governance is the elephant in the room, but we need to envision the opportunities and hygiene factors that should be baked into this technology,” said another attendee.

Authentication remains a primary consumer use-case

“We’re seeing a lot of small pilots that are looking upstream at the traceability and authenticity side – that level of comprehensive services which is all about supporting the client, is key,” said one guest. “That service that allows remote authentication remains the most relevant use-case for shoppers.”

“At this current stage, DPPs are all about serving a purpose — something that is meaningful to consumers. Of course, it makes sense to start thinking today about those future use-cases, but brands should be scaling the applications that offer the most value and help to build the customers’ connection to the product,” agreed another guest. “Authentication is a big problem-solve.”

Consider how DPPs could build customer lifetime value

“In terms of functionality, DPPs, in theory, enable brands to draw some powerful insights,” added one guest. “Yes, they’ll be able to get greater insights into the lifecycle and use of products but, in theory, send a signal to customers that it’s time to repair an item or that there’s a resale opportunity to sell your product back to the brand. This unlocks new revenue, but critically helps to build customer lifetime value.”

“DPPs could help improve the customer experience all with the goal of increasing the lifetime value of the customers,” agreed an attendee. “As soon as you have NFC built into a bag or shoes, then you have a communication tool in that bag or in those shoes. Of course, GDPR is an important consideration, but if you can send signals about circular services, that’s a really powerful second touch with the customer.”

Explore entertainment strategies as a future DPP use-case

“DPPs could unlock the possibility for the consumer to experience the physical product in multiple dimensions — playing into ideas of education and even entertainment,” said an attendee. “There are some neat capabilities such as sharing music, games or creative content from your brand [universe]. DPPs could be another, more personal route to be building and sharing these sorts of things with customers.”

It’s interesting to think about something fun at the end of that connection that’s opened up by DPP technology, said another guest. “Yes, that could be access to discounts or circular methods, but it could also be a scan to gifts, new products, digital assets that can be shared on social media. It feels like a whole new frontier of customer engagement, although we must ask if customers are ready for this kind of use.”

Acknowledge the need to evolve plastic components of DPPs to align with sustainability goals

“One obstacle we face in implementing this technology is ensuring that any hardware attached to DPPs work with our sustainability objectives. For instance, ensuring their use doesn’t impact the recyclability of products,” added one guest. “We have the resources to innovate this if we collaborate across the industry.”

“Chip makers are aware this needs to be addressed, but there is a bigger issue playing out across many sectors,” countered another guest. “We have global anonymous supply chains with middlemen, agents and unreliable data — we have a responsibility to go back and fix all these bad practises downstream — and that’s a much bigger conversation.”

Break down team silos for implementation and scale

“We need to see two levels of collaboration in order to agree on and develop the business models that DPPs could bring. The first one is cross-functional and must be led by a brand’s executives. We must ask, which functions are critical to get the necessary compliance and opportunity in the room?” said one guest, in an opening comment. “And then, the other collaboration component is really on the industry level. We are in the early stages of conversations, but deeper collaboration will be needed for us to go beyond the pilot stage.”

“The brands who are winning in this space are getting out of their silos and building cross-functional cases for implementation. You need sustainability teams, operations, IT experts all collaborating together — even the e-commerce and marketing teams,” added one guest. “If it’s isolated to just one function within the business, brands will miss out on connecting all the important key metrics.”

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Certilogo as part of a BoF partnership.