Quietly, firmly, specific — as always. Aesop had none of its own stores when he became CEO, wholesaling instead to department stores, independent retailers and the like.
Today, its own stores account for 65 per cent of sales, with sales through its website representing 6 per cent. Department stores, of which there are 84 carrying Aesop, account for a further 25 per cent, with the 4 per cent balance made up of wholesale buyers such as restaurants and cafes.
Before we knew it we were on the transition from wholesaler to retailer. Aesop spends handsomely on its own stores, using of-the-moment designers and architects to give each one an individual look and feel. That specificity extends to the restaurants and cafes to which it sells wholesale. It was impossible to quantify, but easy to see for those with an eye for such things. Aesop was wholesaling into the US, Britain, Japan, Malaysia, France and Hong Kong within its first decade of operation, looking outward relatively early in its evolution.
Today some of its most senior executives are located offshore: its chief human resources officer is based in London, many of its top creatives are in New York. The Aesop store in Kyoto, Japan. The brand was wholesaling into Japan within its first decade of operation. Takumi Ota. Retaining its distinct voice is something of an obsession at Aesop, and for good reason.
If that goes, so will its positioning in the market, its appeal to early adopters. Nike has reinvented itself in that regard.
And Vans. Look at the problems a brand like Billabong had when they lost that early adopter customer. That it has its own stores in only 20 countries shows the potential upside in further geographical expansion.
In , Dennis Paphitis, an Australian hairdresser of Greek-Cypriot descent, found that by keeping his Melbourne salon "visually ordered and contained" he was better able to deal with the high expectations of his more demanding clients. He wanted to create a refuge, somewhere calm and reassuring. Paphitis began experimenting with products he was using too, adding sage, rosemary and other natural oils to hair dye to alleviate the overbearing smell of ammonia found in commercial offerings.
The positive customer response encouraged Paphitis to begin working with a chemist on a broader selection of hair products, which led to a range of skincare and, eventually, to Paphitis stepping away from the salon in and focusing his energies entirely on his burgeoning cosmetics brand. Cracking Brazil, apparently, has been a "challenge. Its first London space, in Mayfair now closed was overseen by British designer Ilse Crawford and featured original parquet floors, antique furniture and restored fireplaces.
In Le Marais, polished steel dishes hold products inside a white concrete, light-filled room that opens out onto a courtyard filled with greenery. Their mood board featured religious motifs, the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini and a video clip of Greek-American soprano Maria Callas storming out of a performance in Rome that Paphitis was particularly taken by. Staff are forbidden from talking about the weather "Customers do not benefit from benign and obvious commentary," Paphitis once told The Sydney Morning Herald.
There is approved toilet paper in every bathroom and the finance department has specific colours allowed for its graphs. Only black ballpoint pens are used in its offices. Oh, there are products on there too, lined up in neat amber formation on pleasing ecru backgrounds.
Ingredients are written in English and in French, using Helvetica and Optima fonts. We share our meals together, we share a life together". This is a coarse, dry powder consisting of walnut shell, tea tree leaf, and aloe vera leaf powder.
There are two types of exfoliation: physical and chemical. This formula would be considered physical exfoliation because the crushed walnut shells and botanical powders are abrasive substances that help to scrub away dead skin cells through motion. One problem with physical exfoliants is that they can be too abrasive and may cause microtears and irritation. Bottom Line: A coarse, dry powder that can be mixed with a gel- or cream-based facial cleanser to exfoliate skin up to twice weekly.
This cream-based cleansing paste is enhanced with fine quartz and lactic acid to slough away dead skin cells and soften the skin. The fine quartz in this paste physically exfoliates skin while lactic acid functions as a chemical exfoliant.
Of note, this paste includes fragrant essential oils, which have the potential to cause skin sensitivity reactions. Bottom Line: Aesop Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste combines fine quartz with lactic acid to exfoliate skin, promoting a smoother, brighter complexion. We love a good face oil.
While the formula contains a few nourishing oils — like macadamia, sweet almond, and camellia oil — the formula also contains fragrance ingredients, such as linalool, d-Limonene, farnesol, geraniol, eugenol, and more. Bottom Line: Aesop Fabulous Face Oil includes many fragrance ingredients, which could lead to skin sensitivity.
Rather, the brand uses a variety of botanical extracts combined with safe synthetic ingredients to formulate their skin care products. We noticed that Aesop is one of those brands that aims to create an aromatic experience with their skincare products.
We definitely understand that aromatherapy can help ease stress and promote relaxation, among a host of other benefits.
Research has shown that essential oils can cause contact allergies, skin irritation, and even skin damage. For example, a publication in the scholarly journal Dermatitis , nearly 80 essential oils have caused contact allergy. This is because all fragrance ingredients whether natural or synthetic impart scent through a volatile reaction, and this natural reaction almost always causes a sensitizing reaction on skin.
Ultimately, this can cause mild problems for your skin in the short term and worse problems in the long term. Most of the other ingredients used in Aesop skincare products are beneficial, such as hydrating ingredients like aloe vera and panthenol, as well as skin-softening emollients like shea butter and camellia oil.
Aesop also has brick-and-mortar stores around the world. If you would like to return an item purchased online, please contact us. Regrettably we are unable to accept online returns for products purchased in an Aesop signature store, department store or elsewhere. Yes, Aesop is cruelty free and the products are officially Leaping Bunny Certified.
Leaping Bunny Certification means Aesop products are free of animal testing at every stage of product development. Unfortunately, the brand does not display Aesop reviews on their website. Thus, we had to turn to Nordstrom. Of course there must be a solid and serious product offer to have legitimacy, but these peripheral factors actually compliment the product line up.
It was liberating and we were able to express ourselves as who we are. It felt like the appropriate area to begin in. They gave us this space to work with and we redirected the car park users to enter an exit from around the corner.
So that was the bones of our first store. Dennis Paphitis: At this moment I think we have 61 stores and there are nine stores in progress; four of those are in the US, which is a huge step for us in that part of the world.
Dennis Paphitis: After St Kilda we opened a second store in the central part of Melbourne and opened our first store in Taipei within a few months of both. So through necessity we began to work with different architects, because of the overlapping timing. For example we needed to work with a local Taiwanese architect on the first store there. And that just got me thinking about the kind of assault on the streetscape that retailers inflict through the ordinary course of mindless business, the idea that one size would so often be forced to fit all.
I was horrified at the thought of Aesop evolving into a soulless chain. I felt and still do that it should be possible to grow in a lateral way without prostituting the essence of what the company is about, to have the confidence to evolve yet the retain the core of what distinguishes us.
We aspire toward a certain quality, discretion and restraint in our work. These are qualities that are almost counter intuitive in a retail market desperate to cater to short attention spans and infinite choice. Architecturally our criteria is always to try and work with what is already there and to weave ourselves into the core and fabric of the street, rather than to impose what we were doing. There remains a core palette of ideas that we work with: we know that every store has to have sufficient display space, by product category.
We need a counter for transactions to occur, we need water, we need back-of-house storage, some space to sit and contemplate and think about the day. Dennis Paphitis: Five or six years ago we looked at where we would open the first offshore company-controlled store, because Taiwan was an arrangement with an external party there. We opted to set up the first stall in Paris, which was really quite absurd because none of us at that time spoke French and we were aware of the commercial bureaucracy and so forth that one deals with in France.
But actually it was quite a straightforward and invigorating process once we found a store that appealed to us in the sixth. We looked at some spaces and found a bookstore that we liked and tracked down the architect. He spoke little English but there was an immediate human connection between all of us.
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