In food and beverages, products such as Clif Bar and Gatorade were built to meet the needs of athletes and became mainstream; so are Lululemon and Athleta. But with beauty, no one has ever approached the products in this way. This is the concept of a new brand called Forta, a game “for the active”.
Its co-founders are college friends Sarah Guller, a veteran investor with experience in firms including TCG — whose previous investments include Oura and Vuori — and Lexie Hull, Indiana Fever executive. Forta launched Tuesday with one product: the $25 Lock & Go Setting Spray.
The two have been working on the brand for more than two and a half years, noting that it took a long time to perfect the design and the fog machine. As an investor, Guller said, “I was seeing hundreds of products… [but] nothing was built around the ideas of durability and functionality,” he said, pointing to the brand’s high-performance product.
Hull said that, so far, he has been disappointed with the makeup’s ability to last in his games. I would prepare [with] a full face of makeup for the game, then warm up 30 minutes an hour before the game, and it would be already there, with a towel or a jersey. Or if there is a little left on my face, it [gets] in someone else’s jersey, which is even more embarrassing.”
To create something different, the brand used polymers designed to fight sweat, in particular, Guller said. “Most long-term products work well [being] waterproof or just for movement,” he added.
To promote the brand, Guller and Hull plan to rely on the network of Hull athletes. “We’re spreading the word about athletes wearing makeup, getting them to use it in their routines and writing it into their stories,” Hull said. In addition to offering gifts to “the entire WNBA,” the brand plans to offer gifts to gymnasts, soccer players and volleyball players, in part through a platform called Faves, which Hull likened to ShopMy for pro athletes.
Founders also create the first buzz on TikTok, especially with their profiles. Guller, who has just under 17,000 followers, teased the idea of the name in a post offering PR packages to commenters, which received nearly 11,000 responses. Hull, who has more than 261,000 followers, shared a similar post, noting that 100 people with the “best ideas” will be randomly selected to receive the first PR package.
Although athletes are key to the startup’s strategy, the co-founders stressed that they don’t want their brand to be just for athletes. “Ultimately it’s a very good market,” Guller said.
And while Forta is starting DTC, Guller and Hull hope to enter Sephora in the coming years. Hull plays for Unrivaled, which Sephora endorses, so she has already established valuable connections with the retailer. The two also applied for the retailer’s Accelerate program. “[We want to have] proof of concept and the ability to say that people like the brand [and] love the product,” said Guller.
“People are really excited about athlete-led products, which is obviously a new concept in the space — we’re going to be one of the first athletes-led brands,” Hull said.
Athletes have been pretty much all over the place for the past few years – though more on the corporate side than the corporate side. WNBA players, in particular, have appeared in campaigns for beauty brands including Glossier, Milani, Urban Decay, LYS, Mielle and CoverGirl, among others.
On the other hand, it all makes for a great time. “The passion for sports continues,” said Quynh Mai, founder of creative agency Qulture. “Well, having a good body is a luxury.” If you’re in good shape, if you’re doing Pilates, this is the luxury of this generation – it’s no longer a handbag. So, I think it’s the right time to think about style and how you look during your workout, because many things that are created are based on hitting the gym, you stay in the gym. [this makeup] it has a good relationship with the emerging trend – where luxury is a healthy lifestyle. ”
On the other hand, Mai said, it was never difficult to cut through the noise. He said: “Interacting with social media, and the media is very difficult for products. “Any brand that starts today has a strong battle when it comes to attention.” He noted that this product is a book because of Hull’s identity, but not original, and pointed out that even designers and celebrities with millions of followers can have difficulty maintaining power in the crowded beauty scene at the moment.
On Forta’s website, it previews “Product 2” and “Product 3.” When asked what’s next, Hull said, “We’re going to get into a lot of color makeup — eye stuff, lip stuff, face stuff. There’s a lot of products that are designed to be quiet, and we’re really excited to build a brand that can accommodate our busy lifestyles.”
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