As an editor at Doré, a New York-based lifestyle publication, back in 2014, Neada Deters was used to testing beauty products on the regular. Every week, it felt like there was a new serum or moisturizer to try, an exciting proposition for a beauty lover.

But Deters also felt a pang of guilt as the wasteful packing materials—like plastic and bubble wrap—piled up.

She didn’t forget that feeling when she started her own beauty line, Lesse, in 2018: The organic skin care brand is focused on sustainable ingredients as well as packaging.

“We always use glass or aluminum—that’s always been our focus,” Deters told Retail Brew. “There’s a lot of information out there about the weight of products and what that really means, but when you really dive into the numbers of it, and the impact that it has, single-use plastic is far worse for the environment. Not only the way that it’s made, but how little it’s recycled.”

• Only ~9% of plastic tossed out in the US was recycled in 2018, per EPA estimates. Meanwhile, the agency found aluminum’s recycling rate to be nearly 35%.

Heavy metal: Aluminum was the material of choice for Uni, too, which this month debuted a range of body and hair care products. Its packaging is refillable and fully recyclable; its founder and CEO, Alexandra Keating, also told us that the products come with an aluminum dispenser that can be used for two years or longer.

After that? “You basically send it back, and we take it apart,” she explained. “The only alternative is to use surgical stainless steel…but it’s very expensive.”

In full force: “Fully recyclable, of course, is the grand prize,” said Jack Albanese, director of new business development at Lombardi Design and Manufacturing, which makes plastic-mold containers, compacts, and caps for beauty companies including Estée Lauder, Tom Ford, and DKNY.

• “We’re not there yet as an industry, and it’ll come at a cost. What choices can you use to make a package? And what tradeoffs are you willing to make?”

Click here to read more about how beauty brands are making packaging sustainable.—JS

The pandemic years kicked e-comm into high gear. According to eMarketer, global online sales will exceed $5 trillion for the first time this year, and make up over a fifth of overall retail spend.

This online shift has been a boon for startups like Fabric, a headless e-comm platform that helps companies—including McDonald’s, The Honest Company, and Chico’s—build websites and virtual storefronts. Today, the company announced its $140 million Series C, led by SoftBank, and a ~$1.5 billion valuation.

• Fabric has now raised close to $300 million in all, including $100 million just last summer.
• In 2021, it said revenue grew 4.5x YoY.

What now? Fabric plans to boost its product development—making moves in automation and AI—“while we continue to create technology that, unlike our competitors, bends to the needs of our customers, not the other way around,” CEO Faisal Masud said in a statement.

• The funding will also be used to fuel expansion into new regions.

It’s personal: Led by a slew of former Amazon execs, the company is trying to take on the likes of said retail giant—and Shopify. Masud helped create AmazonBasics, while CTO Umer Sadiq’s projects included Amazon Prime Now.

• Ryan Bartley, previously at Staples and eBay, co-founded Fabric in 2017.

“Retailers need to meet modern consumers wherever they are—whether online, offline, mobile, social, or any future entry point,” noted Robert Kaplan, investment director at SoftBank Investment Advisers, in the release. That includes B2B companies, which made up 30% of Fabric’s clientele as of last summer, per Bloomberg.—JG

With $7 million in new funding, De La Calle has a gut feeling that a Mexican probiotic beverage called tepache could be the next big thing.

• The brand, producing the fruity fermented drink typically sold by street vendors, announced today that it had scored Series A financing from PE firm KarpReilly.

Gut check: De La Calle, which debuted in January 2021, was founded by beverage entrepreneur Alex Matthews (co-founder of bev brands Vina and Juice Served Here) and Rafael Martin del Campo, who formerly did R&D for kombucha brand KeVita and is a third-generation tepache maker.

• Matthews told Retail Brew that the two worked to make the traditional beverage “resonate with young kids in America,” canning it with carbonation to give it a twist that still stayed true to its roots.
• The brand was also created as part of a joint venture with KarpReilly, one reason being to simplify the funding process, Matthews noted. (“Beverage is a thirsty business” when it comes to $$, he said.)

Probiotic predecessors like kombucha, which grew sales from $1 million in 2014 to $1.8 billion in 2019, per the trade group Kombucha Brewers International, have shown there’s potential to go from niche to national. That, plus a 2017 Bon Appetit video with ~5 million views, have helped pave the way for tepache, he said.

Drink to that: $5 million will support new flavors and distribution growth, Matthews said. Each region in Mexico makes tepache a bit differently; De La Calle hopes its four new varieties—like watermelon jalapeño and chamoy—will reflect that diversity.

• The brand is also adding five new Whole Foods regions to its 2,000-door retail footprint.

The other $2 million, per Matthews, is allocated for Coctales, a new RTD tepache cocktail line made with tequila and mezcal that’s coming this summer, noting there’s “a ton of blue sky ahead” for the growing RTD cocktail category. (Sales for the segment, as of October 2, were up 126% YoY, per NielsenIQ.)

But despite the new products, years in the bev industry have taught Matthews to focus on long-term success, not just initial retail placement. “Getting it on the shelf—that’s not the battle. The battle is keeping it on the shelf and making sure it’s moving.”—EC

No—your podcast doesn’t suck. You probably just don’t know all of the secrets to finding listeners.

This essential course—led by Morning Brew cofounder Alex Lieberman—is what you need to develop strategies for growing your influence across all social platforms. Learn to build an audience through creation, curation, and consistency.

Register today and join us in March.

Today’s top retail reads.

Save the date: The wedding industry is being stretched thin, from venue shortages to surging demand for wedding dresses. (The New York Times)

Decisions, decisions: After purchasing the vacant mall used in Netflix’s Stranger Things, a Georgia suburb is divided on how to use the space. (Forbes)

BYOJ: Why a new fashion label is betting on NFTs, crypto payments, and a build-your-own jacket. (WWD)

More with less: Do you want more DTC customers without increasing CPA? Learn how Bearaby used no-code machine-learning platform Black Crow AI to increase ROAS by 120%. Get the deets here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

The big number that you need to know.

This past Valentine’s Day you probably were not expecting, as Grandma may have 50 years ago, to get a fur coat with that Whitman’s Sampler, but it’s still surprising just how much the fur trade has been, well, pelted.

Not foxy: Due largely to effective anti-fur campaigns from groups like PETA, production from mink farming in the US has declined about 45% in the past 20 years, according to Insider. In 2020, production had an even steeper YoY drop of 49% (to 1.41 million pelts), according to the most recent data from the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, and Agricultural Statistics Board.

• Partly responsible for 2020’s decline: Covid outbreaks that led to mass culling (euthanizing) at some farms. (Yes, they can get Covid, and while extremely rare, they can transmit it to humans.)

Furgeddaboudit: Feeling the pressure from protestors and consumers, the most recent brands to throw in the towel stole are Canada Goose and Dolce & Gabbana, which both pledged to stop using fur this year.

Fake out: Faux fur, however, is not a panacea, since it’s often made from nylon and polyester, which contribute to the microplastics fouling the ocean. But Insider talked to two manufacturers who are developing alternatives, hoping to make faux fur out of materials like hemp, bamboo, and corn. In other words, faux faux fur.—AAN

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Walmart expands Talkshoplive partnership in its latest social-commerce effort
• How robots could lend short-staffed grocers a helping hand
• Inside By The Namesake’s pop-up strategy