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There's a new book coming out on Glossier Five things learned from the book from thekit.ca What working at Glossier was likeIn th
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There's a new book coming out on Glossier Five things learned from the book from thekit.ca What working at Glossier was likeIn the vein of a Silicon Valley start-up, Weiss tried to create a work environment so enticing, employees would want to spend more time there. The bathrooms were fully stocked with Glossier products and Aesop Post-Poo Drops in each stall; departments had budgets for things like pasta dinners or tarot card readings. The company’s all-pink Soho office was stocked with fresh flowers and Byredo Burning Rose candles; fridges were filled with coconut water, yogurt and organic berries. “‘They were pretty and interesting but at the same time, it was like ‘why don’t you give me a raise?’” Meltzer quotes one employee as saying. Plus, staffers described a cliquishness that leaned more Conde Nast. ITG/Glossier staffers went on to big thingsHaving worked for Emily Weiss offered resume cachet. Quite a few ex-staffers went on to create their own successful beauty brands: Into The Gloss editorial director Nick Axelrod-Welk launched the genderless skin and body-care brand Nécessaire; VP of brand development Annie Kreighbaum (she created Boy Brow) and head of digital product Annie Zhou created the solutions-oriented body care brand Soft Services; and Diarrha N’Diaye, who worked in product development and innovation, came out with Ami Colé, a line of makeup designed for dark skin. The Top Shelf was even more influential than we knewThe ITG Top Shelf series, which featured cool women like Gucci Westman and Jenna Lyons and made heroes out of cult products like Biologique Recherche P50, Weleda Skin Food and Mason Pearson hairbrushes, hit because items like these signified what you wanted to say about yourself, said you were in the know. Beauty brands took notice too, and used it to do competitive research. “We’d go and research products that were mentioned and see if there was a way to commercialize it. No other place was opening the gates of what these people used,” said a veteran of a major beauty company. It also made brands hyper-aware of packaging; suddenly a moisturizer or hair oil had to look good on a shelf because we were now in the age of documenting and sharing our stash. The failure of the Play makeup lineGlossier Play, launched in March 2019, was the company’s attempt to conquer makeup. The line included lipsticks, gel liners and face glitter but according to a high-level creative employee, “it went sideways.” To meet the launch deadline, staff were staying late, lying on the floor and crying in front of their co-workers. And when it did come out, reaction was mixed. Not only was it not what the customers wanted but the foil packs and non-biodegradable glitter illustrated that the company did not prioritize sustainability. The backlash was swift, the line was discontinued within a year, and the unused packaging was worth $100,000. The inclusivity problemAccording to Meltzer’s interviews with former employees, the inclusivity Weiss was trying to create with the brand’s imagery was not being replicated internally. One time, Weiss was reportedly in a meeting with the tech team when she pointed out “we don’t have any people of colour in here.” When another staffer who was Asian corrected Weiss, “Emily was like ‘Really? You identify as a person of colour?’” In 2020, an Instagram account called @outtathegloss documented the grievances of queer and BIPOC employees working in the retail stores. Some said they were victimized by customers (for example, customers applied blackface with dark shades of concealer without any action taken by managers); others that their identities were being used to make the company seem progressive. Weiss took these allegations seriously and an action plan was put into place, but the brand’s social following started to decline and searches for the products to dwindle. The vibe shiftAs the perfectly executed flatlay on Instagram gave way to the chaos of Tik Tok, the aesthetic ITG and Glossier had popularized started to feel stale. Competitors like Kosas, Merit, Rare Beauty and Violette gained traction in the same beauty space. In 2022, Weiss, who had recently had her first child, handed the reins to Glossier’s chief commercial officer Kyle Leahy, a seasoned executive who had worked with blander brands like Cole Haan focusing on operations, and was a worker, not a show pony. So far, changes include the fact that Balm Dot Com is now vegan and the brand has finally entered Sephora. Whether it can keep growing without Weiss at the helm remains to be seen.