Welcome to the Scoop: a weekly email series in which I quiz fashion insiders on the stories of the week. This will be a way for the Vogue Business community to synthesize and reflect on the latest headlines and get a little inside scoop every Friday.
This week’s guest is Emma Lewisham. Emma founded her namesake brand in 2019, with a vision to create really good skincare products that come in circular packaging. Refills are somewhat of a cliché now, but when I was introduced to the brand in 2023, I thought the Supernatural Blemish Face Serum’s cocktail dispenser was mind-bogglingly innovative.
Emma started the brand in New Zealand, where she is from. But since launching in the UK three years ago, it’s really become a favorite of London’s fashion scene. Which may have something to do with this week’s scoop.
Hi Emma, what’s the scoop?
We have two retail launches next week. We are expanding further into the US with our launch in Bluemercury on Tuesday, which is exciting and sort of deepening our presence in the region. But we are also deepening our presence in the UK by launching in Cult Beauty.
We very much see the brand being around in 100 years time, so we want to be very deliberate when it comes to our expansion. It takes a lot of investment to do well in the US, and it’s a more fragmented market. We are very drawn to Bluemercury because they are focused on the luxury end, especially when it comes to their in-store service and staffing model.
Our maturation in the UK and Europe is further ahead, so launching in Cult Beauty is more about reach. I am also going to be moving to London later this year, to support the UK, the US and European markets.
We’ve got two scoops then! You are expanding your retail network and moving both your family and your company headquarters to the UK. How long has this been in the works?
The UK market isn’t one that you succeed in overnight. They want to see if you stand by what you’ve said, which takes blood, sweat and tears, and showing up and being prepared to roll up your sleeves. I’ve traveled to the UK at least two to three times a year since we launched to keep a consistent presence, and we’ve had a UK team since day one. We’ve also hired a head of retail for both the UK and Europe — she used to work at Sunday Riley, and she’s brilliant.
I also feel a kindred spirit with London and the UK. I love the network of people that I’ve built around me there and the brand and our team, and I really love the culture and our customers. So as much as we’re moving for business reasons, there’s definitely an appeal from a personal and family point of view. It’s just such a wonderful, inspiring place.
Since we are on the topic of expansion, Rhode just launched in Australia. Drawing on some lessons you’ve learned in your journey, how do you build a truly global beauty brand?
I think it sounds deceptively simple, but fundamentally, you have to have a product that is genuinely exceptional and your brand needs to have a real point of view. It’s such a competitive industry, and there has to be such depth to your offer to cut through. And a throughline would be to offer genuine problem-solving.
The other thing I’d say is you need to be really clear on what your vision is and work toward that. I talk to so many brand founders, and you’d be surprised by how many don’t know where they want to be in two years time, let alone in five, 10, 100 years. So again, deceptively simple, but be really clear on what you’re trying to achieve.
Do you use Reddit?
We do look at it — for themes and trends, not just in our own products but also in the industry, and to find out what people are looking for. It’s a fascinating space. It’s very unfiltered, which is so rare to find these days and that can be very interesting. But it can also be terrifying, because no one holds back and there’s real scrutiny when it comes to formulations and brands.
With the advent of AI, I think Reddit is one of the very few places left where you will find genuine conversations, and I think that’s a signal consumers want substance over storytelling.
So many sustainability regulations came in all at once, and brands and suppliers say they are drowning in it. Are you experiencing the bottleneck, too?
Our experience has been different because we’ve built the brand with sustainability woven into its DNA. We’ve set up systems and structures that include circular packaging refills, carbon reporting, and supply chain transparency. We’ve sold over 200,000 refills.
Now that regulations are catching up, we’re already there. We’re not having to retrospectively build it into the business, which I can understand would be a bottleneck if you have to rebuild your entire structure. Really, the lesson, especially for new brands, is that if sustainability is the foundation, it can be a strength rather than a burden.
Real fur was massive on the New York catwalks, but it’s been making a comeback for a few seasons now. Not so long ago, it was a big faux pas. How do you explain the shift?
I think the reason real fur is back on the runway is because the alternative also has problems. A lot of the faux fur that’s coming out right now is made with acrylic and polyester, which derive from petroleum. It’s non-biodegradable and it sheds microplastics every time it’s washed. So that old binary thinking of ‘real fur is bad, faux fur is good’ has started to break down and the conversation has matured.
There seems to, however, be a general consensus that the future must look different from the past. That’s where innovation lies. I believe other faux alternatives are being researched at the moment, and I think over the next five years we’ll start to see solutions in the fur space. I don’t think we are going back. I just don’t think we’ve found the answer yet.
It’s incredible how much more cultural buzz Chinese New Year has gained in the West. As a brand founded in New Zealand, how have you guys been engaging with it?
New Zealand and Australia have such a significant Chinese community. It’s such a massive part of the cultural fabric, especially in Auckland, where I live. We celebrate it in schools and it’s just widely acknowledged.
Rather than launching a public campaign or a product that comes with gold or horse emblems, what we do as a brand is engage directly with our customers. We have a genuine relationship with our communities, so we reach out and acknowledge that moment in a more personal way. It’s not a moment to celebrate the brand, but the community.
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