Forte luxury cosmetics brand in growth push as sales soar 300%
COSMETICS entrepreneur Irene Forte might seek new investment to grow her business after a surge in demand.
Sales at Irene Forte Skincare have risen 300 per cent this year after a string of luxury department stores and websites snapped up the brand. Products, including the £88 Hibiscus Night Cream, are stocked in Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Le Bon Marche in Paris, as well as online at Net-a-Porter and Amazon’s Luxury Stores.
‘It depends how fast we want to push the pedals. If we want to double our sales next year, we’re totally fine. If we decide we want to grow by 400 per cent, we need to start thinking about [the possibility of raising new investment] in September. We are exploring both options at the moment,’ said Forte, daughter of hotels tycoon Sir Rocco.
She began supplying the face cream and skin serum products in her family’s hotels and spas. Now she has contracts with around 40 retailers, and says that physical shops are still important for highend cosmetics labels because shoppers prefer to try them in the shop. ‘For luxury brands, it’s hard to make the first purchase online if you haven’t smelt or tried the texture of a product on your skin,’ says Forte. The brand combines ingredients from the family’s organic farm at its Verdura Resort in Sicily with scientific research to show the efficacy of its products.
Sir Rocco is a vocal business advocate. Last week, he told the MoS that failure to slash corporation tax would have ‘clear and damaging implications for our economy’.