News of Pattern Beauty has been making headlines across consumer media platforms this week. And it’s clearly a much-anticipated brand: with Nerisha Penrose, assistant editor at Elle.com, advising readers to “Clear Out Your Vanity” and Jihan Forbes, digital hair editor at Allure, not only writing about the new product line but also testing it out along with 3 other beauty writers, all of whom shared their experiences with site readers.
Publicizing the launch of Pattern Beauty
Tracee Ellis Ross, actor, director, and television show-host, announced the brand’s impending launch on her Instagram page Tuesday, writing that “@patternbeauty is the result of 20 years of dreaming, 10 years in the making (I wrote my first brand pitch in 2008, right when girlfriends finished) and 2 years of working with chemists.”
And Ross posted a 3-minute video previewing and promoting the brand on what will soon be the Pattern Beauty ecommerce site, patternbeauty.com. In the video she talks about the market need for affordable textured hair care, about formulation and product testing, and how she moved the Patten concept (slowly) from idea to launch.
The video intro to Pattern Beauty showcases Ross’ personality and her passion; and it illustrates how she’s helping bring the lived experience of women with textured hair to the table. In the video Ross also touches on ways that the Pattern Beauty business takes contemporary concerns about sustainability and brand ethics into consideration.
Rethinking the science of hair care
“All of us should have access and be able to afford great hair products that work for our hair,” says Ross in her video intro the Pattern Beauty brand. Nonetheless, “the paradigm of how hair products are tested for their effectiveness is based on white, straight hair. So, there is no litmus test to create a relationship to even discover new things.”
“In working with chemists,” explains Ross, “it’s an absolute blind spot in terms of how to test if something is working or not.” Her solution was to create entirely new products: “Pattern,” she says, “is here to empower and nourish curly, coily, and tightly textured hair—3B to 4C—this is just for us. The formulas are unique; and they’re packed with luscious and safe ingredients.”
Realizing the needs of beauty consumers
Meeting consumer needs and expectations goes beyond effective product formulations. It takes use case and lifestyle as well as visual styling and cultural sensibilities into account.
Here, Pattern Beauty offers “large conditioner sizes…[because] who uses a dime-size? not me!” says Ross in the online video preview of the brand. “We have travel sizes that are refillable. Pricing that is accessible….[And,] packaging that conjures the legacy that we come from and that makes us feel like the royalty we are,” she says, adding that the sale of Pattern Beauty products will help support “organizations and programs that empower people of color and women.”
Readying for the future of hair care and beauty
The future of hair care is texture, as Cosmetics Design recently discussed with Romina Brown, president of the category growth management firm Strategic Solutions International. And Pattern Beauty is a brand poised to win—even before it has launched—in the new hair care market.
‘Pattern Beauty’ is a name that leaves the brand open to expansion into any number of other product categories and certainly into additional lines of hair care. And in her online video, Ross hints at a bigger portfolio—future phases—for Pattern Beauty, saying, “I tried 74 samples along with my panel, 74 samples that led to 7 products for phase one.”
Pattern Beauty goes on sale online this coming Monday, September 9, and will be available in 12,000 Ulta Beauty doors on September 22. #rockyourpattern
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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.
