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Introduction to Thirteen Lune

IADS interviewed one of the co-founders of Thirteen Lune, Nyakio Grieco, to understand more about the inclusive e-commerce beauty marketplace. Grieco created her first beauty brand 20 years ago to celebrate the sophistication of Africa in premium beauty, inspired by the teachings of her Kenyan grandparents who shared their beauty secrets with her. During the racial reckoning of 2020, she found herself and many other founders of color on various lists celebrating Black beauty founders.

This pushed her to start researching these brands and founders, which then led her to realize that many of these brands had very little distribution or representation in large retailers. This is what led her and her co-founder Patrick Herning (founder of plus-sized fashion brand 11 Honoré) to create Thirteen Lune to be the first of its kind truly inclusive retail beauty platform. The company has a 90/10 rule: 90% of all the brands carried are created by people of color around the globe who make products for people of all colors, and 10% of the brands are dedicated to fostering allyship. Thirteen Lune is deeply committed to building generational wealth in Black and Brown communities while helping to make the beauty industry more inclusive.

A catalyst for change

IADS: What has been the catalyst for change in the beauty industry that has led it to focus more on inclusion and diversity? How do you feel that brands and retailers are adapting their business to put inclusion at the core of their decision-making process as well as their investments?

*Nyakio Grieco:* The catalyst for change is making the industry more equitable. People of color spend billions of dollars within the industry and deserve more shelf space and products that better reflect their needs on shelves.

I can only speak on behalf of what we’re building at Thirteen Lune and at our Thirteen Lune store in stores at JC Penney. Our business is built on the mission of a more fair and equitable representation for all in beauty. That is at the core of what we do, we deliver beautiful, non-toxic beauty brands to all, especially a consumer who has been long underserved.

Private Labels

IADS: You launched a new private label collection in Q2 2022. Can you share more about this collection? What was the inspiration? Are you doing anything different or innovative with your private label offer?

NG: Creating Relevant: Your Skin Seen is a culmination of 20 years of experience as a beauty founder. I created this brand, not only to evoke joy at a time of much-needed healing but to better serve all with formulas that don’t leave anyone out. Through building Thirteen Lune I was able to identify white space in the market where we could better serve consumers in regard to science-led innovation married with plant-based clean ingredients that provide efficacious actives at safe levels for all skin.

Being a Black female founder, I’ve experienced many wins but also extremely soul-crushing challenges. Mostly due to lack of access to capital, support from partners, or at shelf including opportunities to distribute successfully in large retailers. Relevant: Your Skin Seen is a testament to the fact that when you give a Black female entrepreneur the autonomy, support and runway to create - she is able to create the brand of her dreams dedicated to serving all!

Relevant is giving me the opportunity to truly build a globally conscious brand celebrating beauty rituals from around the world. I look forward to expanding our distribution globally to celebrate many cultures that have inspired the creation of these products. So many ingredients and beauty rituals come from the most marginalized parts of the globe. Relevant: Your Skin Seen is a manifestation of sharing and giving back to the communities that inspire this journey.

Empowering Allies

IADS: Thirteen Lune has created a place for brands to diversify their product offer to be more inclusive, labeling such players as Allies. How do these partnerships come to light? Are the brands typically approaching you first for guidance?

NG: We define an ally brand as a conscious beauty brand that was dedicated to empowering all long before 2020. They were considering everyone in their formulations, both in front of and behind the scenes, at the executive level in their companies, and in their campaigns modeled their commitment to moving the needle toward positive change in this industry. In the beginning, we invited ally brands to be a part of Thirteen Lune who displayed a non-performative commitment to change within their companies. Many of our early ally brands, Goop, Sara Happ, Olaplex, etc have been true allies to me personally in my 20-year journey. Now we get calls from major ally brands every day wanting to join our mission and it gives me enormous hope for our future as an industry. Thirteen Lune provides our Allies with an authentic space to reach a diverse consumer base to further their offerings to a range of eager customers who truly appreciate being seen and considered.

Thirteen Lune x JCPenney

IADS: Thirteen Lune has started to open physical retail locations in partnership with a US department store (JCPenney). How did you decide to start offering products in physical stores and how has this been working as a strategy for the company?

NG: From day one, my co-founder and I built Thirteen Lune to be a full omni-channel business. Even though we are a company that was born on Zoom while we were all in lockdown, we knew that physical retail would come back strong. Thirteen Lune is committed to meeting customers wherever they show up to have their beauty and wellness needs met.

We were connected to JCPenney only three months after the launch of thirteenlune.com. We were so thrilled to find that from day one we were completely aligned in our shared mission of hyper-inclusion and truly serving the consumer to feel seen, heard, considered, and valued.  It was love at first sight and it’s been amazing ever since. Partnering with JCPenney in their reimagined JCP Beauty space allowed us to bring brands to our Thirteen Lune stores within JCP to flourish and reach a wider audience.

IADS: What have you learned so far since partnering with JCPenney?

NG: I’ve learned that consumers want to experience discovery in their retail settings and that staff and consumers truly buy into people before they buy into products. Consumers are smart and want to spend their money for good. I believe the success we are experiencing is due in large part to the fact that the founders behind all of the incredibly efficacious and gorgeous products we offer at Thirteen Lune, are amazing authentic founders with rich stories to share and who deserve success.

IADS: Do you see physical store formats being a major part of the business growth going

forward?

NG: Yes, 1000%! Our plan is to have a global presence with many Thirteen Lune stores, coming soon! Any chance that we get to bring thirteenlune.com to life in a physical setting is a goal. The greater the presence we have globally, the more consumers we get to serve in a truly inclusive format.  As mentioned previously, we deliver on discovery and outside of our site which is truly a storytelling platform, we know that we have the opportunity to bring that experience to life in stores worldwide.

Thirteen Lune as an incubator

IADS: Thirteen Lune has now taken on a new role as becoming an incubator and accelerator for inclusive and diverse beauty brands. What does the process look like for these smaller brands once you onboard them?

NG: Incubating existing brands into Thirteen Lune and collaborating on new brands with diverse founders is on the horizon, and I can’t wait! We come from a place of support, mentorship and guidance through the retail process. It was so important to me to create the retailer I always wish I had with my first brand. Even when I got to shelf in some retailers, not having the capital support or mentorship needed to win at shelf truly held me and my brand back. I spent many sleepless nights wondering how I could afford to stay on shelf in those moments. I am very proud that we are committed to making sure every brand we onboard at Thirteen Lune, both smaller and bigger brands, has the support they need to focus on scaling their businesses and not being held back because of lack of said support.

IADS: Speaking of innovation, are there any exciting and upcoming trends that you have been noticing in the beauty and cosmetics space?

NG: Yes, the beauty of inclusion! If you are a large strategic or retailer and are not already working diligently to serve diverse founders and brands or aren’t truly looking at this mission as a necessary investment and proposition now, it might be too late. We all know how diverse this world will look like the majority in the not-too-distant future. If you as a corporation are not looking at the diversity of Gen Z and generations to come now, the future consumers who are already deeply committed to sustainability and diversity, you definitely should be!

What’s next for Thirteen Lune?

IADS: Thirteen Lune is starting to expand into new countries and regions. Can you share where the company is going and what opportunities you have found in these markets?

NG: While I can’t officially announce where we will be next, I am so thrilled about what’s to come this fall!

IADS: Are there any other target markets that are not on the roadmap that you would like to

reach? If so, what are the reasons you would like to enter these markets?

NG: Honestly, we’re exploring all major international markets. Personally, I see a huge opportunity for us in Europe, Southeast Asia, Dubai, Korea, and of course as a first generation American of Kenyan descent, would love to see a future presence in East Africa, South Africa and territories in North Africa./nbsp]

IADS: How will the company operate internationally? Will it be focused on e-commerce,

physical stores or take an omnichannel approach?

NG: In the same way we envisioned a full omnichannel approach here in the U.S., the same stands true for our international expansion. Whether it be through joint retail partnerships or stand-alone stores, we look forward to expanding our reach and mission globally.

IADS: Is there any other exciting news you would like to share about Thirteen Lune’s

projects and activities in the near future?

NG: I’m so excited to continue to release more Relevant: Your Skin Seen products across various categories, expanding our global distribution, and launching more portfolio brands under Thirteen Lune coming in 2023.

I’m also ecstatic about bringing these incredibly talented founders and brands we carry and are onboarding every Tuesday at Thirteen Lune on this global journey with us. This is what happens when you take your pain, and turn it into purpose ….. you get to build an amazing beauty business!

Credits: IADS (Mary Jane Shea)