The popularity of and consumer demand for gender-neutral skin care products are on the rise in the US, particularly among Gen Z consumers. This coincides with a recent PEW Research study that determined more than one in four Americans personally knew someone who used the gender-neutral pronoun “they” instead of “she/her” or “he/him.” The same study also concluded that over four in ten Americans personally know a transgender person, which rose to roughly half of participants surveyed under 30.
In addition to being more accepting of fluid gender identities, Gen Z is also an age demographic of consumers most likely to develop acne. Currently, the Gen Z age range sits between 11 and 26, and according to UC Davis Health dermatologists, “an estimated 85% of teens get acne, usually starting at age 11 for girls and a couple of years later for boys, [and] acne can last through the teen years and into the early 20s.”
Skin care brand Geologie has, therefore, launched a product collection into Target that is likely to be embraced by Gen Z consumers. The brand’s Clear System is a collection of acne-fighting products designed to meet the needs of any consumer, regardless of gender identity.
To learn more about the brand’s recent collection launch into the major retailer, we spoke to Dave Skaff, Co-Founder of Geologie, for his insights into the R&D behind the Clear System formulations, the factors that influenced the product collection’s development, and how the Target launch fits into the brand’s growth and expansion strategies for 2024.
Brand background and Clear System R&D
Geologie’s roots lay with the brand’s Founder, Nick Allen, who “worked primarily in rideshare startups before Geologie and was inspired to start Geologie after a trip to South Korea in 2016,” shared Skaff. Co-founder Skaff’s experience was more focused on e-commerce, as he “had previously owned and operated an e-commerce agency and had done a wide variety of work for beauty brands like Clinique and Kiehl's,” he said.
As a result of this experience, they were “familiar with starting and running businesses as entrepreneurs and had quite a bit of experience with e-commerce and direct-to-consumer business models” when they started Geologie, he explained.
The brand was built “primarily on the strength of our personalized skincare regimens,” Skaff continued, and “over the years we've seen that over 70% of incoming customers cite acne as a primary concern, so we had years of developing acne-specific personalized routines to draw on.” Using these insights, “we were able to use all of this combined data - and our many conversations with customers - to distill and develop Clear System into a really powerful and unique acne care solution,” he shared.
When Geologie’s R&D team approached the formulation and development process for the Clear System products, which consist of a Clarifying Gel Cleanser, Repairing Night Cream, and Brightening Day Cream, they drew upon their “product philosophy, [which] has always viewed benzoyl peroxide as old school and problematic in many ways,” said Skaff. “We were already successfully developing personalized and effective skincare routines for our customers with acne without it,” he added, “so we knew there was a better way.”
Therefore, the Geologie team, which includes “a great lead dermatologist and great cosmetic chemists…put everything we learned into a new and unique solution,” Skaff explained, and the result was the Clear System.
Becoming a gender-neutral brand
The brand did not start as a gender-neutral skin care company but followed a natural evolution to the Geologie of today. “In 2019 we began as a brand for men,” Skaff shared, “but we eventually acquired so many women as customers that it no longer made sense.”
Over the years since the brand launched, “we've discovered that there are many men and women who want really effective skincare, at reasonable prices, in easy-to-use routines made for them,” he explained, which means producing “products that are made to work together create better [and] more effective routines” to address specific skin concerns.
“Not everyone wants to comb Reddit every day for the next best thing,” he added, as “many people just want great skin care that works and that they can trust,” regardless of gender identity.
Target launch and beyond
Regarding Clear System’s launch into Target retailers, Skaff shared that “our Clear System line was something we always dreamed of launching at Target specifically,” because “it's a match on so many levels,” and “we're really excited to build that relationship and get Clear System into more hands” including those of Gen Z consumers.
Following the launch, the brand plans to continue to “take a very data-driven and community-driven approach to new products,” as “we like to see what the data says and then compare that to what our community is telling us and develop new products to meet their needs,” he said.
The brand plans to build on its expansion efforts from the previous year, when “we nearly doubled our SKU count when we expanded our skincare offerings and launched body and hair care for the first time,” he explained.
As a result of those efforts, “we've already won several awards in those new categories and have begun to develop some very loyal followings with all of our new products, so right now, we're in learning and listening mode,” he concluded.
