The tiny, translucent disks are more and more adorning the faces of Gen Z and millennials when a pimple seems, and over 1 billion of the model’s signature hydrocolloid patches have offered up to now. Producer Hero Cosmetics additionally just lately netted a partnership with content material creator Alix Earle.
Founder and CEO Ju Rhyu informed Fortune she got here up with the concept for the model whereas residing as an expat in South Korea whereas working for Samsung in 2012. On the time, solely two forms of hydrocolloid patches existed in Okay-Magnificence: medical and cosmetic-oriented. The entrepreneur wished to bridge the hole and produce pimple patches to the U.S., seeing a possibility within the $3.9 billion Okay-Magnificence trade.
So in 2017, when she was 37 years outdated, Rhyu launched her model together with cofounders Dwight Lee and Andrew Lee, capitalizing on their company experience and a cool $50,000 the trio had pooled collectively.
After agreeing that Mighty Patch wanted to be money stream optimistic and worthwhile, the trio got down to discover a producer. Rhyu compiled a listing of potential enterprise companions, and informed the Feminine Startup Membership she discovered the businesses from the bins of zits patches at an area pharmacy.
Of the ten producers Rhyu contacted by way of chilly emails, solely two responded. She mentioned the ultimate match was “luck,” and Hero Cosmetics nonetheless works with it at the moment who. Rhyu says the producer makes “the best quality patch in Korea.”
The Massive Launch
Armed with a enterprise accomplice and a mission to disrupt the Band-Assist aisle, Hero earned its first 10,000-unit order.
In 2017, Hero started promoting the Mighty Patch, together with on e-commerce big Amazon. However the firm initially couldn’t get the product featured on Amazon Prime, which may improve orders by 25% as members get free transport and different perks.
A breakthrough got here after some trial and error.
“The pricing actually was kind of an accident, because we were selling on Amazon,” Rhyu mentioned. “There were already some players that were a lot cheaper at around $5. And actually wanted to place our products at $9.99. But the funny story is we couldn’t get Amazon Prime. And we were sort of playing around with different things to see how we can unlock Prime. And one of the ways was we increased our price [to] $12.99.”
Rhyu selected to stay with the newer price ticket after promoting out in simply 90 days. And in 2022, she shepherded a $630 million acquisition with Church & Dwight.
Breaking into the wonder trade
Pimple patches might have solely just lately develop into a magnificence staple for People, however they’ve existed in South Korea because the early 2010’s.
When Hero Cosmetics first entered the market within the U.S., Rhyu mentioned there have been just a few rivals on Amazon. Now, the wonder trade is flooded with all forms of pimple patches. Manufacturers like Starface have launched vibrant colours and cloud and star shapes to the wonder aisle, whereas Neutrogena and CosRX have created their very own translucent hydrocolloid disks.
However Rhyu says Hero’s determination to maintain patches discreet permits them to achieve a broader vary of consumers.
Rhyu additionally credit Hero’s success to their particular components, “When they use ours versus competition, I think they can tell the product difference.” She provides that Hero’s experience within the zits patch class created loads of belief and is a part of the rationale why they keep primary to today.
“We want to be very inclusive and accommodate everyone from the 14-year-old to people in their 50s,” she says, including that vibrant shapes and colours could also be enjoyable for youthful generations, “but it won’t work for everybody.”
Rhyu says her success isn’t decided by her firm’s income, however by altering the narrative round zits.
She credit social media as a key consider Hero Cosmetics’ reputation, emphasizing the virality of “the peel off” when content material creators take away their Mighty Patch and reveal the “gunk” beneath.
“That type of content goes viral a lot and that virality helps with education,” she says. “Social media, obviously, has been so crucial to the success of our business.”
She says she feels “proud” when prospects put on the product in public since Hero goals to make zits “more acceptable.”
“I love seeing people wear them to the office or just out and about,” she says. “What it means to me is we’ve done our job, that we’ve really sort of broken down the taboo aspect of acne and made it okay.”
