A Melbourne couple have landed a Coles deal worth $5 million for their skincare brand – just a year after launching it – with the aim of donating all profits to support charities and to address issues such as mental health and homelessness.
Anthony McDonough and Chris Glebatsas previously found success with their men’s skincare brand Liquid Skincare (Lqd), which boomed internationally as they saw it stocked in international department stores like Bloomingdale’s and Harrods, before they sold it in 2018.
While they were deciding what their next move would be the pandemic hit and the couple saw the impact social isolation had on their 19-year-old daughter and her friends.
“We had an idea to develop a brand that everyone can buy and be accessible in terms of price point but also inclusive and we would donate money back to suicide prevention charities,” Mr McDonough told news.com.au.
As a result, their beauty brand Unlabelled was born with the name even inspired by their daughter – who said she wanted to be free to kiss a girl or boy or wear men’s clothes – and not attract any particular label.
They created a range of body washes, hand wash and body bars as part of Unlabelled made with essential oils sourced from Australia.
The bottles are created from recycled plastic and the pump is sourced from Melbourne as the couple didn’t want to ship anything in by “sea freight” but were determined to focus on local manufacturing and sustainability.
The duo had already landed a deal with Chemist Warehouse last year which saw their range stocked in over 150 stores around Australia.
“Because we had a background in luxury skincare – our old body wash retailed for $45 in the US – and I have a chemist background I did all the research on what ingredients should be in there and the philosophy is that we don’t put anything that isn’t good for you and your skin in there — so we leave out the nasties,” Mr McDonough said.
“We looked at what are the most expensive hand and body wash products in Australia like Aesop and Grown Alchemist and benchmarked that so we are as good, if not better.
“But what consumers are paying $45 for they get it for $15 with Unlabelled and that’s part of the inclusivity of the brand is making the products available to everyone … We believe in democratising luxury skincare and giving it to everyone.”
The 54-year-old claimed Unlabelled has the largest number of fragrances on the market with 10 different body washes and hand washes, meaning it can cater to everyone’s personal fragrance preference.
Some of the body washes include lavender patchouli and lemon myrtle; rose geranium tea tree and black pepper; and lime lemongrass and peppermint.
Mr McDonough said his personal favourite was the body wash with buddha wood, orange and sandalwood – which was also a bestseller through Chemist Warehouse – that gives a beautiful balance of the sweetness of orange combined with the “harshness” of sandalwood.
Meanwhile, Mr Glebatsas’ go to in the range was the body bar made with lemongrass, lemon myrtle and collagen, which was both exfoliating and moisturising, and was like a “diffuser for the bathroom” as the smell lingered, he said.
“Most environmentally conscious consumers are moving back to body bars as there is no wastage involved and we are not utilising too much water, there is no use of virgin plastic and the body soap packaging is made from cardboard offcuts from old wood mills, which is ground down and reformed into pulp, so there is that sustainability loop,” added Mr McDonough.
Coles will stock three Unlabelled handwashes and three bodywashes which will sell for $15 and there are two $7 body bar products set to hit 880 stores in Australia.
“By getting that national coverage from Coles we are likely to add $5 million to the revenue line. Their opening order was $500,000 to fill the shelves which is phenomenal,” he said.
“We looked at the sales data of big competitors that we are likely to take customers from and they have a couple of big brands in store that are doing $10 million in turnover.”
Unlabelled has been launched under an umbrella company called The Bimm Group where the couple have plans to unveil a number of other social enterprises.
The second will direct all its profits to LGBTQI+ causes in terms of health advocacy – a cause close to Mr Glebatas’ after he heart grew up in a conservative religious family and community in Melbourne.
After raising questions about his sexuality with his family at the age of 13, he was sent to a religious doctor who chose controversial conversion therapy techniques, resulting in him attempting to “pray the gay away”, which added to his confusion about his sexuality and feelings.
The third enterprise will give back to animal rescue charities and alongside the second concept, both already have the products developed, and the couple are looking to go to market to raise $10 million to bring them to life.
The fourth social enterprise will focus on housing affordability and will support those going through homelessness.
“Unlabelled was the test case and it went far better than expected as we reached our three year forecast in just 10 months,” Mr Glebatas added.
The group is on track by March this year to give its first donations to charity, roughly around $200,000, to Headspace, QLife, Kids Helpline and The Black Dog Institute, the men said, adding the money would only go up with the Coles deal.
Unlabelled is also set to launch into stores in Thailand, Hong Kong and Israel, while the couple are also in talks with a big pharmacy group in the UK and retailers in the US.
They are also exploring exclusively developing products for a big Australia charity to help with raising money and helping those in the space away from usual pursuits such as having to raffle a house off or relying on philanthropic investors all the time to fund good causes.