The beauty brand set up by Bono's wife Ali Hewson has been snapped up by a US giant
The couple are set to become investors in the buyer, Beautycounter.
NUDE, THE BEAUTY line set up by U2 singer Bono’s wife Ali Hewson, has been acquired by fast-growing US firm Beautycounter.
Counter Brands, Beautycounter’s parent company, acquired the worldwide assets of Nude Skincare and Nude Brands from LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate.
LVMH, which also owns a fashion line founded by Hewson, Edun, first picked up Nude in 2011.
Nude, which was founded in 2007, develops and distributes a variety of beauty products including treatment oils and serums, cleansers and toners. Financial details of the sale were not disclosed.
Ali Hewson and and Beatycounter founder Gregg Renfrew
High-profile investors
As part of the deal, Ali Hewson will join the board of Counter Brands and both she and Bono will become investors in the company.
Beautycounter, which was founded in 2013, is noted for pushing for greater transparency in beauty products and has published a ‘never list’ of 1,500 components that it pledges it will not include in its products.
The firm has grown rapidly since its foundation and is predicting sales to hit $225 million by 2017.
Irish entrepreneur Bryan Meehan, who created the Nude brand with Hewson, and Belfast-born property tycoon Paddy McKillen will also join Beautycounter as investors.
Meehan is the executive chairman of US-based coffee roaster Blue Bottle Coffee Company, which raised $70 million from investors last year, while McKillen has a range of property and business interests both in Ireland and abroad.
Hewson said that Nude was created “because we wanted to develop beauty products that are as safe and natural as they are effective”.
“In Beautycounter, we found our company’s soul mate. I couldn’t be more thrilled about (the) partnership with Beautycounter,” she said.
Hewson in 2011
Transparency
She said that the company’s commitment to transparency in ingredients is “second to none” and added that “consumers have a right to know what is in the products they put on their skin”.
“They shouldn’t be faced with a false choice between safety and effectiveness. Beautycounter is leading the movement for better beauty and I’m excited to be joining forces with them.”
Beautycounter chief executive and founder Gregg Renfrew said that the company’s mission is to is to “get safer, high-performing products into the hands of everyone” and added that the Nude acquisition advances that goal.
