Obratori, L’Occitane’s startup studio, just acquired a minority stake – the amount of which is not disclosed – in Le Rouge Français.
By Luxus Plus
Launched in January 2019 by biotechnology engineer Elodie Carpentier and her husband Salem Ghezaili, also founder of the natural cosmetics brand Terre de Mars, Le Rouge Français is a brand of lipsticks based on plant pigments, certified organic and vegan, sold 35 euros each.
Today distributed through a dozen beauty concept stores, the brand will now be able to rely on financial, logistical and research and development support from Obratori, whose premises are located in Marseille, to accelerate its development. Launches are already planned for the first quarter of 2020 and throughout the year.
The brand also plans to have a presence in department stores in Paris sometime next year.
“Even if the meeting between Le Rouge Français and Obratori was fortuitous, there was immediately a real consistency of values and vision. This support will undoubtedly allow the French Red to go faster and further on its range deployment in France and abroad, while respecting the strong commitments of the brand in terms of naturalness and harmlessness of the formulas “Says Amaury Godron, CEO of Obratori.
Le Rouge Français, whose lipstick cases are made of a 100% recyclable composite, is also preparing to launch packaging in vegetable imitation leather. These were produced by the Gainerie 91 group, a specialist in luxury packaging for over 50 years.
For its part, Obratori, which supports start-ups operating in the fields of cosmetics and well-being but also in the digitalization of solutions for retail, already provides operational and financial support to young companies such as Les Petites Essentielles, a brand of online personalized prescription of essential oils made from an online questionnaire, or Calysens, a Marseille start-up with two licenses and scientific expertise in the fight against skin aging.
