Happy Wednesday! We try to be equal opportunists when it comes to consumer brand news, but a tip of the hat to the beauty category because it always seems to find some way to make ripples, if not waves.
While CPG brands seem to be busy just trying to get into Target like everyone else (foreshadowing for today’s news below), beauty brands are dueling, dropping 5 identical products in 5 days, accusing each other of copycatting and forcing each other to rename their products. Whew! Never a dull day! But more on that below…
Inside the 10 month development timeline that got Nori from prototype to a Target shelf!
Speaking of luxury fabric care in Target— The Laundress, now Unilever-owned, is making its first foray into Target stores.
Charlotte Palermino, founder of Dieux, published some interesting thoughts on what appears to be a sudden surge in launches of an identical eye patch product in beauty, from brands like Fenty, Huda Beauty, Glow Recipe and more— only to do some digging and learn that it is actually really a push from a packaging supplier… More from Kirbie Johnson on the same phenomenon and what happens when 5 big Sephora brands all drop the same thing at once.
Allison McNamara writes about what it was like to sponsor a NYFW show as a bootstrapped beauty founder, a cool look behind the scenes for anyone who has ever wondered about how it works.
People buy based on who they want to be, and not who they are now. So what happens when a brand confuses its muse with its target audience?
Muna Momah on why oral care is the next burgeoning category in CPG… adding a yet-to-be-launched addition to this lineup with Jess Eggert’s brand Orist, coming in 2027!
Founder Substack newsletters are here to stay, says the mounting evidence… but how much is too much sharing? And when is it better to build in public vs. craft aspirational content? More from Radhika Malhan.
Heartening news for consumer founders looking to fundraise— this VC wants you to know that consumer investing is back and here to stay.
Klaviyo’s first global brand campaign stars D’Arcy Carden as a ridiculously devoted work bff… what do you think?
Meet Commerce is Chaos’s new podcast producer, Clare Slaughter! Clare has produced podcasts about everything from comedy to Great White Sharks… So she’s seen it all!
Got guest ideas or requests? Drop them in the comments! Now for a little lightning round with Clare...
Favorite podcast: Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud.
The brand I always re-order from: The RealReal. I’m not much of a shopper outside of fancy grocery stores or vintage these days, though I'm newly obsessed with Farm to the People…
Dream guest for Sam to interview: Emma Grede. Co-founder of SKIMS, Good American and a bunch of others, and a fellow multi-hyphenate founder and funder for Samantha Rose to geek out with.
You can catch Commerce is Chaos, out weekly, on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts! We’ll be back with Season 3 after a short break, but in the mean time, don’t forget to drop us any feedback or guest requests in the comments.
This is a really great roundup! Thanks for including me