Sephora to double number of black owned beauty brands by end of 2021

The number of black owned beauty brands available at Sephora will have more than doubled by the end of 2021, compared to the same time last year, as the beauty powerhouse continues to improve diversity and tackle bias across its organisation.

The retailer, which last week confirmed its acquisition of online beauty retailer Feelunique, has revealed a number of key progress updates on its journey to improve diversity and inclusivity.

Since June 2020, Sephora has been working on a detailed action plan to tackle bias across all aspects of its business, including buying, marketing, merchandising, hiring, training, operations and in-store experiences.

This time last year Sephora carried eight Black-owned brands - by the end of 2021, it will have more than doubled its assortment, including achieving a 15% benchmark in prestige haircare.

As of now, Sephora's expanded offering includes brands such as adwoa beauty, BREAD BEAUTY SUPPLY, Briogeo, Danessa Myricks Beauty, FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna, FENTY SKIN, FORVR Mood, Grace Eleyae, KNC Beauty, LYS Beauty, PAT McGRATH LABS, ROSE Ingleton MD, Shani Darden Skin Care, Sunday II Sunday, Topicals and Qhemet Biologics.

Several new Black-owned brands including Fashion Fair and Hyper Skin will also launch this autumn.

Sephora has also doubled the number of Spanish-language YouTube videos produced each month to broaden inclusion for its Latinx clients and has launched new campaigns to celebrate holiday milestones for a much wider range of cultures, including Lunar New Year and Eid al-Fitr.

Sephora has also continued to diversify its influencer groups via the Sephora Squad with the largest group yet this year of 73 members.

This year, Sephora said that 79% of its members identified as people of colour, compared to 51% in 2020, while the number of BIPOC members has increased by 61% since its inception in 2019.

Within its workforce, Sephora has also developed a new hiring toolkit for recruiters and hiring managers to raise awareness of unconscious bias and recruit a more diverse pipeline of talent.