Smashbox Owners Talk About Esteacute;e Lauder Buy
Cosmetics success seems to run in the Factor family.
Dean and Davis Factor, the Los Angeles–based great-grandsons of famed Hollywood makeup pioneer Max Factor, have sold their 14-year-old cosmetics line, Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics Inc., to The Esteacute;e Lauder Companies Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
The purchase, which is expected to close July 1 and includes the Factors’ photo studio in Culver City, Calif., was announced May 17.
“The photo studio is a very integral part of the cosmetics company,” said Davis Factor, the company’s co-founder and chief creative officer. “That is where the cosmetics are created and tested and where the photography is coming out of. The company will remain in Los Angeles.”
The Factor brothers are well-known in the Los Angeles fashion community for their seven-year run of fashion runway shows at Smashbox Studios, a commercial photography studio that started as an independent endeavor during the semiannual fashion weeks in town. Later, Smashbox teamed up with IMG to organize Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, which lasted until 2008, when IMG pulled out.
Dean Factor, co-founder and chief executive officer of Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics, said he and his brother felt now was the right time to sell the company to a larger business venture that could help it grow. “Smashbox is basically at the right size to sell. We have grown to a point where a company like Esteacute;e Lauder will be able to maximize our opportunities,” he said. “They have great product development, internal distribution and a great back end.”
Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics, targeted at the 18- to 35-year-old consumer, is sold at outlets such as Sephora and Macy’s and on home-shopping network QVC, as well as online.
The Factors, who will remain with the company, would not reveal what Smashbox’s retail sales were for 2009, but published reports estimate the total to be around $140 million.
Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer of Esteacute;e Lauder, said the L.A. cosmetics company did well during the economic downturn. “That drew our interest,” Freda said.
He noted that Esteacute;e Lauder—a powerhouse cosmetics company whose other brands include Clinique, Origin, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, La Mer and MAC Cosmetics—wants to increase Smashbox’s distribution channels and expand globally. “We want to continue with Davis and Dean to grow this brand the best possible way,” Freda said.
However, there were no immediate plans to revive Smashbox’s runway shows during Los Angeles Fashion Week, Davis Factor said.—Deborah Belgum
