The Estée Lauder Companies Inc is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of prestige skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products, based in Midtown, Manhattan, New York City.
The company owns a number of brands distributed through both digital commerce and retail channels.
History
The company began in 1946 when Estée Lauder and her husband Joseph Lauder began producing cosmetics in New York.
Initially they had four products that they carried which were Cleansing Oil, Skin Lotion, Super Rich All-Purpose Crème and Crème Pack. In 1948 they established their first department store account with Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Over the following fifteen years they expanded the range and continued to sell their products in the United States.
In 1960 the company established its first international account in the London department store Harrods and the following year they opened an office in Hong Kong.
In 1964 they introduced Aramis which was a line of fragrance and grooming products for men and was named after an exotic Turkish root used as an aphrodisiac.
In 1967 Estée Lauder was
In 1968 she received a Spirit Achievement Award from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. In the same year the company expanded again, opening Clinique, a dermatologist guided, allergy tested fragrance-free cosmetic brand.
In 1976 Estée Lauder’s Clinique brand became the first women’s cosmetic company to introduce a second line for men.
They introduced this new product as “Skin Supplies for Men” which continues to be sold at Clinique counters worldwide. In 1981 the company’s products became available in the Soviet Union.
In the 1990’s brand acquisitions and licensing agreements contributed to the explosive growth of the company transforming it from a family-owned business to a publicly traded, family-controlled business.
The beginning of the 1990’s saw the creation of the first wellness brand in United States department stores named Origins.
In 1993 the first licensing agreement for fragrances was established with fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, followed by Kiton, an Italian fashion house in 1995 and with American fashion designer Donna Karan in 1997.
Brand acquisitions began in 1994 with an investment in the Toronto-based M.A.C. Cosmetics which the company then acquired in 1998.
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics was acquired in 1995 as was La Mer together with the original recipe for its supreme luxury product, Crème de la Mer containing the nutrient-rich ‘Miracle Broth’. In the same year Estée Lauder went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
The acquisitions and licensing continued in the 2000’s as the Estée Lauder Companies bought a majority interest in Bumble & Bumble, the trendy hair care salon and completed its acquisition in 2006.
In 2003 an exclusive global licensing agreement was signed with fashion designer Michael Kors and in 2005 designer Tom Ford began a project with the company to develop and distribute fragrances and cosmetics under the Tom Ford Beauty brand.
On 1st July 2010 the company acquired Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics Inc, a brand created in Smashbox Studios in California by brothers Dean and Davis Factor (as in Max).
On 28th October 2011 Aramis and Designer Fragrances, a division of the Estée Lauder Companies Inc, and Tory Burch LLC announced the signing of a multiyear agreement for the exclusive worldwide licence of the Tory Burch fragrance business.
In 2012 the company launched AERIN Beauty, a luxury lifestyle beauty and fragrance brand inspired by the signature style of its founder Aerin Lauder.
In 2014 the company acquired two insider beauty brands, RODIN olio lusso which is a skin care brand renowned for its “Luxury Face Oil” and Le Labo, a fragrance and sensory lifestyle brand.
In the same year the company made its first investment in India buying a small stake in Forest Essentials, a luxury cosmetics company and in 2015 the company acquired Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, a fragrance brand and GLAMGLOW a Hollywood skin care brand.
In 2016 the company acquired Becca Cosmetics which was their first colour cosmetic group acquisition since Smashbox in 2010.
In November of the same year the company made its largest acquisition to date by acquiring California-based cosmetics company Too Faced for 1.45 billion dollars.
In 2019 the company acquired Dr. Jart+. Founded in Korea in 2004 Dr. Jart+ pioneered the invention of the BB cream, setting the standard for multifunctional beauty.
On 20th August 2020, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Estée Lauder Companies announced a reduction in their workforce personnel worldwide equating to approximately three percent of total employees.
The company also announced they would be closing approximately ten to fifteen percent of their stores and focus more on digital operations.
Marketing.
The Estée Lauder company has many brands with Estée Lauder being one of those brands. It has had high profile spokesmodels, some of which include Elizabeth Hurley and Gwyneth Paltrow to promote the brands globally.
They are known as ‘faces’ and include Liya Kebede who is a supermodel and was the first African American ‘face’ of Estée Lauder. In 2008 the main spokesmodel for Estée Lauder was super model Hilary Rhoda and in 2010 the company added three more faces, Chinese model Liu Wen, Puerto Rican model Joan Smalls and French model Constance Jablonski.
Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.
In October 1992 the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign was launched by Evelyn Lauder who is Estée Lauder’s daughter in law.
She co-created the “Pink Ribbon” with SELF magazine as a symbol of breast health.
Since then, millions of people globally have heard the message about the importance of breast health and that early detection can save lives.
The Estée Lauder Companies’ annual Breast Cancer Awareness campaign involves all of the 19 brands that make up Estée Lauder Companies. They collectively represent The Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s first and largest corporate supporter.
Since 1992 The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign has raised more than eighty-nine million dollars globally for lifesaving research, education and medical services.
