After a tumultuous year for spa and salon businesses, facial fitness studio chain FaceGym is hoping to meet consumers at home.
The brand, which has garnered a robust celebrity following and locations spanning from London to Los Angeles, is introducing skin care to its offerings.
The product assortment is four stockkeeping units, which range in price from $38 to $120. The full line will be available at FaceGym’s website and in its various locations, and include its Electro-Lite Energizing + Brightening Gel Cleanser, Hydro-Bound Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid + Niacinamide Serum, Youth Reformer Firming Vitamin C + Nootropic Oil-in-Serum and the Firming EGF Collagen Boosting Cream.
Despite pandemic-sized challenges, Inge Theron, founder of FaceGym, came through almost nearly unscathed, maintaining much of the company’s workforce and only shuttering its second London location.
“COVID-19 was probably one of the most pivotal moments for our business,” Theron said. “Thankfully, we’d already been working on an at-home proposition. The business has grown phenomenally on digital, up by 423 percent, so we only have positive things to take from the experience.”
FaceGym’s direct classes on Instagram, within a few weeks of lockdown, saw thousands of attendees. It quickly began offering one-on-one consultations and a facial sculpting tool, similar to gua sha, that Theron likened to a Swiss Army knife.
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Another impetus for FaceGym’s topical offerings was Theron’s disappointment in the regimens of her clients. ‘We address concerns like personal trainers, so we know our clients and the products they’re using just weren’t delivering on the promises,” Theron said. “We decided to just create our own and keep them very simple, very true to the essence of the brand with our trademark sculpting techniques.”
Theron’s aim isn’t just to rethink products, but to revolutionize application. “People don’t know how to wash their faces. Every time you wash your face is an opportunity to take your face to the gym, to work on those forgotten 40 muscles to tighten your cheekbones, or lift your brow,” she said. “We believe results are 50 percent the goop, 50 percent application.”
Each product comes with a scannable QR code, which takes consumers to video tutorials of specific massages for each product.
Part of the brand’s expansion includes the hiring of a new chief executive officer. Simon Coble, who most recently served as the CEO of Uniqlo, joined as CEO this month. Coble is also bullish on skin care. “Last year, we were 50-50 between studios and digital [sales],” he said. “The launch of skin care not only gives us such a great opportunity to sell through digital studios, but to start to develop wholesale and third-party relationships for the future.”
Industry sources expect the business to hit $70 million by 2025, largely underpinned by skin care sales. As for future expansions, Theron said the brand’s opportunities were endless. “We see ourselves as a gym,” she said. “The brand has tentacles to approach your skin in a holistic, 360-degree way. It’s not just topical, you’ll see supplements coming out of FaceGym,” she said.
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