Hailey Bieber’s skin care brand plans international expansion

Dive Brief:

Launched nine months ago by model and media personality Hailey Bieber, Rhode, a curated line of skin care essentials, announced it will expand to the Canadian market beginning on Tuesday.
The DTC beauty brand is also planning to launch in the United Kingdom market later this year, according to details sent to Retail Dive.
The brand said it chose Canada and the U.K. to expand into after hearing from many of its followers in those regions who wanted to purchase Rhode products.

Dive Insight:

Bieber’s Rhode beauty brand experienced rapid growth upon launching, with its direct-to-consumer business crossing the eight-figure revenue mark in November 2022 after six months in operation, according to a company representative. The company also claims it has accumulated over 1 million waitlist signups across all products since its launch on June 15. Current Rhode products include: The Peptide Lip Treatment, Peptide Glazing Fluid and the Barrier Restore Cream.

Extending distribution channels outside the U.S. has become a trend among DTC brands lately.

Just last week, online pet retailer Chewy announced plans to expand internationally and beauty brand Winky Lux entered the Canadian market. In the broader retail industry, beauty brand Sephora earlier this year announced that it was crossing the pond and re-entering the U.K. market after exiting the region in 2005.

As Rhode expands its international base of consumers, the brand said it will continue to support its Rhode Futures Foundation in these regions by committing a minimum of 1% of sales to the organization. The nonprofit foundation partners with three organizations that provide all women – including nonbinary, trans, noncisgender and all women-identifying people – with the resources needed to protect their own futures. Those organizations include the Accion Opportunity Fund, Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the LIFT Family Goal Fund.

While Rhode has seen growth over the past nine months, it did get off to a shaky start. Just days after launching last June the company was sued in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for trademark infringement by Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers, founders of fashion brand Rhode.

However, in July a judge denied a preliminary injunction motion by the founders of clothing brand Rhode, allowing the skin care line to continue promoting its collection for now. The clothing brand owners stated their intention to continue the lawsuit as it gathered more evidence for a potential trial.