S15 E03: Aerin Lauder, Founder and Creative Director of AERIN

[Music] You're listening to the luxury item, the podcast on the business of luxury and the people and companies that are shaping the future of the luxury industry. Here's your host, Scott Kerr. My guest on the luxury item is Aaron Lauder, founder and creative director of luxury lifestyle brand Aaron. Based on the premise that living beautifully should be effortless, the brand develops curated collections in the worlds of beauty, fashion accessories, and home decor. Aaron launched her namesake brand in 2012 after a 25-year stint working in various executive roles at Estee Lauder, the beauty empire founded by her trailblazing grandmother. Aaron said, "Beauty is my heritage, but home and accessories are my passion." There was an opportunity in the market for a lifestyle brand based on feminine, modern and effortless products with strong heritage. I decided to launch Aaron and make the whole concept of beauty part of the way we live today. Aaron has collaborated with various brands on collections that reflects her signature style, including William Sonoma, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teens, Mark Cross, Benison Fabrics and others. Earlier this year, Aaron released a book, Living with Flowers, which reflects her deep connections to flowers from her personal life at home to her brand. In addition to her work at Aaron, Lauder currently maintains her role as Estee Lauder's style and image director. She also serves as a member of the board of the Estee Lauder companies. In a short time, Aaron has emerged as a distinct voice in the world of beauty, fashion, and home decor. Welcome to the luxury item, Aaron. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me. You know, you've been in the beauty seeing your whole life. You worked for about 25 to 30 years for Estee Lauder companies, the beauty empire founded by your grandmother Estee Lauder, holding various executive roles before launching your own luxury lifestyle brand, Aaron in 2012. You had mentioned in interviews growing up watching your grandmother in action at the Estee Lauder beauty counters at department stores demonstrating products to customers. She was laser focused on making women's faces look made up and making them look beautiful. What kind of single-minded commitment to the actual product she created and building a customer base 24/7 and inspiration to you when you chose to strike out on your own? Well, she was this incredible role model mentor, grandmother, friend, and she used to always say it's her name on the bottle. It has to be the best to possibly be. And she always talked about the importance of quality and excellence. And that is something that I apply every day to my products as well. And it was such an honor to be included today because it is something that I am very passionate about. I mean, she taught me so much and everything that she created, you know, I think about it all the time. I mean, she was probably one of the most clever marketers around. You know, she created gift with purchase. I mean, her whole concept was that no matter who you are, you still love a gift. And, you know, even today when I was talking to our store, we were talking about putting samples, you know, fragrance samples into the bags. And it's something that I think about many, many of her business ideas and philosophies. And you know, it's interesting. Digital has become a crucial sales channel for beauty brands within online sales experiencing significant growth and projected to continue growing at a faster rate than traditional retail. Ecommerce counts for a substantial portion of estate, law, there's overall revenue and what drives the air in brand. Your grandmother passed away in 2004 before Ecommerce really became a thing and was really widely used. What do you think she would have felt about growing a beauty business by selling through a company's own website or a third party marketplace or other retailers websites? Well, SD was, you know, this wonderful quote telegraph telephone tell a woman. So she loved the power of communication. And I think she would be a complete Instagram junkie. She was a horrible sleeper. So she would have been up all night long on Instagram learning about products, personalities and much more. You know, I think she'd be very intrigued by it. You know, she was always talking about beauty and business in a new way and always talked about the importance of looking for business. She would say business doesn't just come to you. You sometimes have to really look for it and work hard for it. So I think she'd be, she would love the idea of a website. And you know, I think when you go on to sdlotter.com and you have the ability to shop all these different brands, I think she would be so intrigued by it because I think, you know, she really was very creative in the way she marketed products in the way she sold them. And I think e-commerce is very, very kind of obviously incredible way to communicate a brand and to sell products. So she would be a complete junkie. She would love it. And you spent a significant amount of time working at sdlotter gaining experience across departments and brands. When did you first discover that you had a distinct voice and identity that can be turned into a business opportunity? Where did you see a gap in the luxury lifestyle brand market? Well, you know, I worked in the company for about 25 years before I actually started my own brand and I held many different positions. You know, I worked in marketing the summer before I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. I was in marketing and prescriptives. Jane had us, was head of marketing at the time. And through my career at sdlotter, I was involved with marketing, product development, advertising and then in the end I became creative director of the sdlotter brand. And I think that it really taught me a lot about, you know, beauty and business and what really kind of intrigued me and kind of encouraged me to start my own brand was I was always doing interviews and people were always asking me, what are the items you can't live without? You've worked with the best makeup artists from around the world. Your grandmother was a beauty icon. What do the must have products? And I was constantly asked this question. So then I thought there was an opportunity to do this kind of capsule collection of beauty products and beauty accessories that I could not live without. And from there developed into a real beauty lifestyle brand. And what's interesting is when we talk about e-commerce and sales, our sales are very evenly split between beauty, fashion and home. So our customer is embracing this lifestyle concept. And, you know, from this idea that started in 2012 to what we've achieved today, I'm very, very proud. And it just shows you that there is this opportunity for this beauty lifestyle concept brand. And you began the company with a beauty line given your heritage and extensive background in the beauty industry. It was an obvious natural choice for you. You licensed the air and name to the Estee Loader Company to produce the cosmetics collection. You said your goal with beauty was to quote unquote create a line that was all about modern effortless beauty. At their core, lifestyle brands like yours are built on stories. These brands just don't sell things. You know, they sell an idea, a feeling, a sense of identity with your initial beauty offering. What was the meaningful story you wanted to tell that would connect with customers? Well, when I first launched the brand, I launched with five fragrances. And the concept really was a wardrobe of fragrance. I always refer back to Estee because she had so many incredible quotes and stories. And she used to say, you wouldn't wear the same dress to have dinner. And as you would to play tennis, why would you wear this, you know, why would you wear the same fragrance as the idea of like different personalities, different times of hair, different moods for fragrance. And I really felt that there was an opportunity for this idea of choice and discovery with fragrance. And then that evolved into this world of home and fashion. And so when I first launched with fragrance, it was a really a combination of floral, spicy, somewhere very light and citrusy. So it really was this wonderful range of fragrances allowing the customer to discover and dream a little. And you know, it's interesting is when we think today we have 24 fragrances and we're in about 800 doors of distribution. We have this wonderful, wonderful wardrobe of fragrances, which really allows women to discover and dream. So who was the customer you had in mind? I mean, who did you feel would connect with your brand the most? Well, you know, when I think about our customer, it's not necessarily a demographic or an age group. It's really kind of a state of mind. And you know, just last week we did a pop up in East Hampton and we had this adorable girl who must have been no older than her. And she was a big fan and she came every single day for samples and in the end I let her pick a fragrance. So she was, you know, she loved feminine. She loved storytelling. She loved what the brand represented. So we have, you know, customers aging from 10 to 95 and above. And it really is about someone who loves that idea of luxury, storytelling, feminine. There's always an element of surprise and delight in our brand, you know, whether it's in the experience at the store or when you actually purchase something, the beautiful print of tissue paper and the little while on cards is that element of surprise in the bag. So it really is for someone who really embraces beauty and femininity and a little bit of surprise and delight. And at the time you launched Aaron in the early 2010s, it was right in the thick of the first era of DTC startups with the likes of Warri Parker, Everlane Casper Glossier and others creating this playbook for how to launch a successful brand. Was that a business model that you adapted as well like selling high quality products exclusively through your own website, cutting out the middleman and leaning heavily into the brand story and customer experience? I mean, yes and no. I mean, you know, our website was very important to us. And in the beginning we didn't have so much product to sell. It was really friend to friend. You know, I did something called Tumblr and it was like a little bit of our product, but the rest were products that I love. So it really, you know, we did start with a website, but we also did wonderful partners, you know, Bergdorf's and Neemons were partners from us from the beginning. And I remember my fragrance is launched there and my home objects launched there as well. And so still to this day, they're a great partner for us. And I've really learned that from my family, you know, when SD first started, it's Axvita Avenue as one of the first stores to really take her products and still to this day, it's Axv is a very important retail partner for us. So I do feel that as a brand, we really depend on both channels, wholesale and retail, you know, equally as so. And it's very, very important for us to have many different ways of just distributing our products. It's interesting that many of these DTC brands were unprepared for how expensive would be to acquire new customers. How have you been able to navigate through those hurdles? It really is organically. I think even going to Nantucket yesterday, for the day, I did a book signing at a retail partner center point, which is a wonderful partner for us and meeting all new customers. It's really more the old-fashioned way of connecting with them and making them in trade-genents inspired by your brand and the products that you represent. I think that it's really hard. It's a lot of consumer to consumer. Also, really understanding, SDs to say, a woman knows what a woman wants and really listening to them. I love to read all my comments on Instagram when people say, bring back the shower gel or I wish this bag was in yellow. I think it's really, really important to listen to your customer because she is really who at the end of the day you want to make a coffee. Shortly after debuting the beauty line, you brought in the brand to encompass home decor and accessories and you said, "Beauty is in my heritage, but home and accessories are my true passion." How does beauty and home live together seamlessly and not forced in the Aaron brand? Well, beauty and home really actually live seamlessly together. I mean, as you said, beauty is very much my heritage. I mean, it is in my blood, fragrances in my blood, but I've always, always loved home. I thought that there was a real opportunity for a beauty lifestyle brand. There really wasn't anyone who was doing that. When you think about your vanity or your night table, it could be a fragrance, a candle, a beautiful vase. It's all these different elements that come together to create a lifestyle brand. When we launch a fragrance, we launch at very 360. For example, we just launched Tuberos Gardinia, which was a beautiful, beautiful fragrance this past spring. In conjunction, I had just come out with a book on flowers. Since the fragrance was very floral, we also then did beautiful vases. You go into the world of beauty, which is the fragrance, but then this concept of a Tuberos Gardinia fragrance is then translated into the world of home as well. Then even into fashion, we came out with a beautiful Raffia pouch with embroidered flowers on it. This idea of flowers becomes very 360 and not just for beauty. Every season when we launch a fragrance, which we do twice a year, we always then connect all the different categories together. It becomes really a true lifestyle concept. You took a digital first approach to launching your brand and waited only a year or so to open the first physical store in Southampton. At the time in 2013, many digitally native brands didn't open physical stores until years after they launched. Was it your intention to quickly expand from digital to physical? Yes, I still love a traditional way of shopping, like touching and feeling the product. It was interesting. Just last week, Netaporte did a shop in the Hamptons, an activation for a week, and they did phenomenally well because even though Netaporte is an amazing, amazing website, you still sometimes want to touch and feel the product. I think people really still enjoy a traditional way of shopping. For me, this little jewel box boutique that we opened in Southampton was a great way to showcase the brand. Also to bring in, I love one of the things I love most about my job is finding other brands to layer in with our products. Just this morning, I had a great phone call with a new fashion brand that I love, and it's perfect for fall. I think that was the magic of Southampton and all of our stores going forward. It's this wonderful balance between our products layered with wonderful finds from my travels and friends. After the Hamptons, you open retail stores in Palm Beach, Florida, Pacific Palisades in California, all filled with the selection of home fashion and beauty items inspired by your signature style. You have deep roots and strong connection to both Palm Beach and the Hamptons and they serve as inspirations for your brand. Why did you open a West Coast location versus one like an Aspen? Well, I thought Los Angeles was the Palisades. I thought was a really interesting retail experience. I love what Rick Russo has done with the Palisades Village. It's so unfortunate about the fire, but when we went and visited it, it felt like this wonderful oasis. I loved all the different types of brands that were there. The experiences with restaurants, there was a vintage movie theater that had a great field to it. I think Rick Russo is a brilliant, brilliant marketer and real estate developer, so I really wanted to be part of it. Our brand is very sunshine. When you think about the products that really resonate, it's the white chagrin, it's the beautiful Raffia elements. I thought and I knew, immediately when we opened, people loved the brand and embraced it and it was a really exciting opportunity for us and I hope that it will come back. It's supposed to reopen in fall 26. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, which is great. But I think that's also the element of surprise and delight. It doesn't always have to be the obvious and I think that's what makes the brand refreshing. We just did an East Hampton pop-up in this beautiful little structure from 1775 that used to be a one-room schoolhouse and no one would have thought that we would have done that. Then I gave it an element of rustic charm, which then made it unlike any of our other stores. My uncle used to have so many wonderful quotes and he used to always say act global at the think local. Therefore, our stores are all a little different. They have a different sensibility in the design. The West Coast, the Palisade store had a different type of assortment, kind of really catering more to a California consumer. The Palm Beach store is a little different than South Hampton and our East Hampton pop-up was very, very different as well. For me, that's exciting because our customer shops all the different stores and I still want her to be surprised and inspired when she comes. Do you see a difference between your in-store shoppers? Are they different from your online consumers? They're actually very similar. Our consumer, the person who loves the Aaron brand, is really quite consistent both online and in stores. Lifestyle brands are usually closely tied to current trends and consumer preferences. Staying relevant means constantly monitoring trends and quickly adapting your product offerings to meet demand. Of course, you have to have a sense of the competition in your space. So what is your approach to staying on top of changing customer preferences and digital trends? I think you really have to just always keep your eyes in yours open. I mean, I am very aware of trends. I love to see what's going on in the marketplace. I love to watch what other brands are doing. I mean, just today I was looking at Rolex. They've done these amazing new collection of silver Rolexes with beautiful colored faces, like playing up with color, you know, taking a classic brand like that and adding an element of color to it. So, you know, I think as a founder and a creative person developing products, you have got to keep your eyes in yours open and be aware. And sometimes a trend might not be right for you, but you definitely have to understand what's going on around you. Do you use data to analyze the purchase habits of your customers to determine, you know, like which products to release? We definitely do. I mean, we do a lot of analysis of what our customers are purchasing, how they're purchasing, what are they looking for, you know, what are they returning, what are they concerned about. So I definitely like to look deeper into the analytics of, you know, the consumers. Have you seen any changes in patterns of purchase patterns since you are looking at the data over the past couple of years with the challenging marketplace? Well, I think people are really interested in experiences. And that's a word you keep hearing about, you know, when I launched my brand 12 years ago, it was all about lifestyle. I remember when I went to a lifestyle conference in Morocco that the Wall Street Journal was hosting, it was all about lifestyle brands. And it was really the beginning of these lifestyle concepts. Now, everything is about experience. And I think that's one of the reasons why you've seen such a return to these pop-ups, you know, in different areas, because people are walking in and experiencing a brand, experiencing Netaporte, double J, just did one in Nantucket. You know, every time I look at my phone, there's another brand experience going on in the Hamptons. And I think that that's something that is the new word that people are constantly referring to. Like, how do you make your brand an experience? And it's not just this old, fashion way of going in and shopping. It's like the candy, the music, you know, food is a huge part of it. You know, a lot of these events have these, you know, even at the Netaporte, they had a clam bar, which is a local restaurant that's absolutely adorable and delicious. They catered the food and they had a clam bar truck. So you're really seeing this word of experience being translated into businesses, such as beauty and fashion, where you normally might not have seen it as much. Your grandmother understood that she wasn't just selling cosmetics, she was selling an idea of beauty and luxury. Everything from her packaging to her marketing was designed to reinforce this brand image. This focus on branding allowed her to command premium prices and build customer loyalty. Have you taken a similar approach with Air and thinking beyond your products to build a strong brand identity and vision? Yes, I mean, you know what, that's a great question because I think about that every day, you know, my father called me as she said, "Why are you going to the market for the day?" I'm like, because it's an amazing market or consumer is there. I'm doing a book signing and I'm curious to learn more about that market. So I feel that branding is so important and there's so many brands, as you said earlier, like more and more brands are launching, more and more brands are launching into different categories and you really have to stay true to who you are and have a distinct point of view. Let's talk about flowers because I know you love flowers. You have a passion for flowers and it's reflected in your frequent collaborations with various brands, often incorporating floral designs and a love for flowers into your collections. It's also evident in your personal life with photos of you often surrounded by floral wallpapers, centerpieces and floral arrangements across your homes. You even recently published a Rosoli coffee table book living with flowers. Pun intended, where does the appreciation stem from and what role do they play in your brand? You know, flowers have always been a very important part of my life. I actually dedicated the book to my mother who really was the first person to really introduce me to love nature in flowers. I said that when I was little, she would do little potter geraniums as my party favors and everyone would leave with those instead of a little bag of candy. And at the time I was so upset, but now looking back on it, it was so clever. So my mother introduced me to flowers. And my grandmother, when people asked me what was my earliest memory of Estee, it was her scent. She was always working on a fragrance. Bulgarian Rose was her favorite note. And she always worked on beautiful for many, many years. So when I think about Estee, it was really the way she smelled and this incredible rose fragrance that she was always working on. So flowers have always been a very important part of my life and my memory and my history. And I thought there was an opportunity to tell flowers, a story about flowers in a different way, incorporating our vases and wonderful partnerships that we've had with Flores from around the world and even artists. There's so many artists today who are doing flowers out of paper. Vladimir Kinevsky is an amazing artist who just did something for the Frick and he's an incredible sculptor who does flowers out of porcelain. And it's just kind of learning about different ways to incorporate flowers into your life. And even there was something during the Victorian time where there was something called the language of flowers, which was all the symbolism. You know, Lily of the Valley was good luck. Gardini was about a secret love. Red Rose was a traditional love represented romance. So in this book, there's lots of beautiful imagery about how to entertain and live with flowers. But then at the same time, the idea of symbolism and just the different layers of using flowers in a home and in a world. You've done a number of interesting and diverse collaborations from Mark Cross to William Sonoma to Gracie Wallpaper. And most recently, teaming up with pottery barn kids and pottery barn teens bringing your style to nurseries kids and teens rooms. What types of brands do you seek out that make ideal partners for capsule collections and other collapse? Well, I think it's very important. You know, as I said earlier, it's my name on the package. It has to be the best it can be. And I only want to partner with the best. And I think William Sonoma, pottery barn, Mark Cross just recently launched this wonderful partnership with Benesson, which is a beautiful fabric company out of England. You know, I always try to find great quality and great brands. And that's, you know, and sometimes I think what makes it fun is when it's outside the box. You know, I think there's something wonderful about doing pottery barn teen or, you know, Benesson makeup bags or Mark Cross garden bag and tennis racket cover. It's really that's the element of surprise. And then finding a brand that has, you know, wonderful quality and wonderful management. That's what makes it kind of a dream. And they're very American brands. And I do want to talk to you about American luxury, you know, while France and Italy, both the lion's share of the world's top luxury brands. American fashion and beauty fortunes have historically been made in mass and sports apparel, such as gap or Nike or in categories such as affordable luxury. I know think about coach Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, but Americans have proved themselves in sectors such as high end cosmetics and estate lauders sits on top. It seems like what your building is also an American luxury lifestyle brand that pulls from our identity and heritage. Is that what you're aiming for? Well, I take that as a huge compliment. And yes, that is what I'm aiming for because I think American style and storytelling is wonderful. And I'm so proud to be American. I love, you know, there's nothing I love more than finding wonderful design out of America. So, you know, yes, we do produce all over the world, but then there's wonderful products that we produce right around where we live. So I think that there's something about this American luxury brand that I think is very appealing. And, you know, for example, David Webb, which is a beautiful brand that has very, very high end jewelry. Just recently they called me and they had gone into their archives and found these beautiful pieces that were commissioned by my grandma that they never made. And, you know, when I went to visit them, their headquarters in Urine, New York City, right on Madison Avenue, and that's what they produce all their beautiful jewelry. So I think there is so much wonderful talent and design coming out of America that I love supporting it. I don't have to tell you this but building a brand isn't always a smooth path. What have been some of the highs and lows of building the Aaron brand? Well, you know, when you build everything, there's always highs and lows. And you get excited about the highs and you learn from the lows. And there's been times when I've produced product that didn't do well. And, you know, there's certain times like certain designs, like the color isn't right. You know, we're very pretty, we're very feminine brand and when we go too dark and too masculine, it doesn't really appeal to our customers much. So we've learned from that. And then at the same time, seeing this little girl who came into our East Hampton pop-up last week, every day coming in to get a sample, that to me is a high. Like, I love when someone loves the product and to me, that's what puts a smile on my face. Your uncle Leonard Lauder passed away recently at the age of 92. He was the eldest of SD and Joseph H. Lauder. And he played a really crucial role in transforming the SD Lauder business into a global beauty empire. What have you learned from Leonard in building your business? I have learned so much about Leonard. I mean, from Leonard, he, you know, really taught me the importance about being, you know, kind of true to who you are, passionate understanding, but the brand is, you know, he used to always tell me when I was doing the advertising, cover the logo, you have to make sure that you can still tell which brand this is and really think true to who you are, you know, the idea of act global, think local. And he was also really kind to everyone that he worked with. And I think that's something that I think about all the time, you know, really working as a team and he used to say, he's only as good as the people around him and he's surrounded by the best. And that's something that I try to apply to everything that I do and surround myself with the best of the best. So Aaron, my final question is the luxury item question, which I ask all my guests. So if you was stranded on a deserted island and you can only have one single luxury item with you, what would that luxury item be? It can't be any form of air or water transportation to get you off that island or anything that requires mobile service so you can call somebody to get you off that island. It's just you by yourself on this lonely island, not a person in sight or a boat in sight. And you had one single luxury item with you, what would that be? Probably fragrance because I think fragrance is really interesting. I think it allows you to feel good, smell good, it allows you to dream. I mean, you know, of course, I could pick anything, it'd be like my husband and my children and then my dogs. I would go through a whole list of things, but if I had to think of one luxurious thing, it probably would be beauty related, like whether it's a cream or a fragrance because at the end of the day, I think that always makes you feel better. Aaron Lauder, Founder and Creative Director of Aaron, thank you so much for joining me on the luxury item. Thank you so much Scott. That's it for this episode of the Luxury Item Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful and entertaining, I would be really grateful if you can share it with a friend or colleague. I would love it if you subscribe so you never miss an episode. And while you're there, be sure to rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It really helps other listeners find us. The luxury item podcast is a production of Silver Tone Consulting. I'm your host Scott Kerr. Until next time.