Glossier

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Glossier Products

Glossier, Inc. was founded in 2014 by a beauty blogger, Emily Weiss, on the belief that beauty isn’t built in a boardroom—it happens when you’re a part of the process. She starts with Into The Gloss, a beauty website devoted to people sharing the products they love, and her source for inspiration and information.[1]

With a narrow product range of about 40 SKUs primarily focused on skincare, with color cosmetics and fragrance rounding out the line, Glossier celebrates its customers’ natural beauty, not the artificial, painted-on kind. Its tagline is, “Beauty products inspired by real life.” The Glossier beauty company grew out of its millennial founder Emily Weiss’s beauty blog called “Into the Gloss.” Starting her career at Teen Vogue, then moving around other slots at Condé Nast, Weiss left in 2010 to launch her blog to share beauty tips and tricks with her online friends.

With some 1.5 million Instagram followers, Glossier has been named as a top beauty brand by Allure, Teen Vogue, Glamour, Nylon, Women’s Wear Daily and Cosmopolitan. It also won WWD Beauty Inc. 2015 Digital Innovator of the Year award, was named to LinkedIn Top Startups of 2018 list, recognized by Fast Company as one of its Most Innovative Companies of 2017 and called out as one of Inc.’s Company of the Year 2017. Glossier’s president and CFO, Henry Davis, describing Glossier as a “people-powered beauty ecosystem,” Davis identified five keys to the company’s success, which are these 5Cs: Consumers, Content, Conversations, Co-Creation, Community.[2]

Support to Black Lives Matter Movement

Glossier is pledging to support Black-owned beauty brands, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, going forward. They made the announcement during protests went on nationwide, seeking justice for the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black American lives lost over the years at the hands of police officials. In a message shared to the brand's official Instagram account, as well as to that of the brand's founder and CEO, Emily Weiss, Glossier declared that it will "stand in solidarity with the fight against systematic racism, white supremacy, and the historic oppression of the Black community."

They are donating $500K across organizations focused on combating racial injustice: Black Lives Matter, The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Equal Justice Initiative, The Marsha P. Johnson Institute and We The Protesters. They also commit an additional $500,000 in the form of grants to Black-owned beauty brands.[3]

Outta The Gloss

Criticism

Glossier has been accused from a collective of former retail employees that describe an “insidious” culture within the brand’s stores of “anti-Blackness, transphobia, ableism, and retaliation.”

In an open letter on August 13, the anonymous collective named Outta The Gloss outlined the poor treatment experienced by retail employees, also known as ‘offline editors’, specifically those who are Black and brown. The letter criticises Glossier for its “optics-based” values of diversity and inclusivity which they claim don’t extend to the staff selling the products. “If this democratisation is only achieved by perniciously silencing Black and Brown editors and without treating marginalised staff equitably – have they democratised beauty at all, or is it more of the same?” the letter asks of Glossier’s community. The letter goes on to describes how managers and HR failed to support staff who experienced racist incidents from customers and fellow staff members and how the approach of prizing customer satisfaction so completely at the expense of employee's well being was “submissive and deeply humiliating, particularly for those of us who are BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color).”

Other concerns include an “unjustifiable” gap in wages among people in the same positions, no opportunities for growth into corporate roles for longtime retail staff, and negative consequences for employees who voiced concerns. When Glossier expanded the range of its complexion products from five shades to 12, for example, many editors were worried about the new options. “Several editors who voiced concerns about the unflattering undertones for darker colors “earned” negative reviews that referenced those critiques specifically, and low raises if they received one,” the letter says.[4]

Glossier's Response

In response to the letter, founder and CEO Emily Weiss published a blog post on August 14, 2020 in which she says many of the experiences shared in the letter echo conversations the brand had in June after several members of the retail team emailed her with their concerns. Weiss says the concerns were quickly investigated and a plan to build a better work environment was put in place based on feedback and recommendations offered through the investigation. Weiss then shared the plan which included redesigning retail management structure and requiring all managers participate in equity training; dedicated HR staff onsite; clear paths for career advancement; and quarterly Town Halls with Glossier leadership to ensure better communication.

However, the Outta The Gloss collective found the response inadequate saying they were “frankly insulted by it.” In a statement they wrote that Weiss’s post and the company’s plan were performative, empty, and insufficient, and noted that while the Black grant initiative was shared across social channels, this response and news of retail layoffs were confined to the company blog.

On August 17 2020, Glossier shared a public statement on its Instagram account addressing the June investigation and the new allegations from Outta The Gloss. “This post, to start, is an apology and a public acknowledgement of the pain and discomfort these former colleagues experienced,” the statement writes, acknowledging the brand failed to create an inclusive and safe environment for retail employees. The statement goes on to describe Glossier’s blueprint for its plan of action ranging from open dialogue to company-wide anti-racism training, more robust hiring processes for managers and onsite human resources. “To @outtathegloss and all our former colleagues who've shared their stories: thank you for holding us accountable,” the caption reads. Shortly following Glossier’s statement, Outta The Gloss posted their own response thanking the company for its apology and acknowledgement.[4]

While many former employees no longer wish to be rehired by Glossier in the future or continue working in the beauty space, largely due to previous experience with the company, members of Outta The Gloss see this as a moment to discuss the bigger issues facing retail workers.[5]

References

  1. What is Glossier. Glossier. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  2. Danziger, Pamela, N (2018). 5 Reasons That Glossier Is So Successful. Forbes. Retrieved on January 17, 2021.
  3. Betancourt, Bianca (2020). Glossier Is Donating $1 Million to Black Lives Matter and Black-Owned Beauty Brands. Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Peters, Alex (2020). Former Glossier Staff Criticise 'Anti-Blackness & Transphobia' Within Brand. Dazed. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  5. Liu, Jennifer (2020). Glossier and the rise of workers using social media to hold employers accountable. CNBC. Retrieved January 17, 2021.