Dive Brief:
- DTC beauty brand Glossier laid off more than 80 employees on Wednesday, the company confirmed to Retail Dive. That amounts to a third of the brand’s workforce.
- In an email obtained by Retail Dive, CEO Emily Weiss apologized to team members impacted by the layoffs and said the brand had “made some mistakes” on its path to scale. Those mistakes led to the current reorganization of the company.
- “Over the past two years, we prioritized certain strategic projects that distracted us from the laser-focus we needed to have on our core business: scaling our beauty brand,” Weiss wrote. “We also got ahead of ourselves on hiring. These missteps are on me.”
Dive Insight:
Glossier has had a difficult couple of years as the pandemic rattled the industry and disrupted the makeup category. In August 2020, the beauty brand laid off all of its retail employees and shuttered its stores, getting back into physical retail a year later. Now, the company is laying off a third of its workforce, mostly on its tech team, as it looks toward more sustainable growth.
“We’re making these changes to effectively execute what we are uniquely suited to do at Glossier: cultivate a brand that inspires our community, deliver magical and unique experiences, and create essential beauty products that our customers can use for a lifetime,” Weiss said in the email.
Weiss noted that technology is still “extraordinarily important” to the customer experience, but the brand will be shifting its tech strategy to replace some of its internal teams with external partners instead. Weiss also acknowledged that the layoffs were “in the midst of a global pandemic” and said Glossier would work to support the impacted employees. Glossier didn’t immediately respond to Retail Dive’s request for comment around what that support will look like.
“The Glossier brand — like our people — remains strong, resilient and resonant, and we look forward to continuing to bring our products and experiences to millions of consumers around the world, today and into the future,” Weiss said. “While I am optimistic about our future, today is an incredibly difficult day. I am deeply grateful for the hard work and contributions of all of our Glossier team members.”
Even as the company laid off employees, Weiss reiterated Glossier’s long-term plans, including expanding its retail footprint past the three stores it opened last year. Glossier in July last year raised $80 million in funding to fuel an international expansion and fund “dozens of new stores.” Over the past year, the brand has also been working to fill out its leadership ranks, including naming a vice president of brand, a new CFO and its first chief commercial officer.
