Forum Brands Acquires Skincare Brand Ever

Forum Brands has acquired clean skincare brand Ever from Stella & Dot.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Ever joins brand holding company Forum Brands’ health and wellness group of brands, including pregnancy-focused skincare brand Trilastin, ingredient-forward skincare brand QRxLabs, scar care brand Nuvadermis and clean period care brand Lola. 

As part of Forum Brands, Ever will continue to be operated by Jessica Norman, the brand’s current VP of Operations. Jessica Herrin, CEO and founder of Stella & Dot, will remain on board in an advisory capacity to consult Ever and Forum Brands during the transition. 

Forum Brands founder and CEO Brenton Howland points to the skills of Ever’s team as an exciting aspect of the acquisition. He says, “[Norman] brings this depth of expertise in science-backed, clinically proven skincare both as an operator and as a brand person that we feel is going to be additive to Forum not just in the leadership of Ever, but will be additive in extending to our broader portfolio.”

Direct-selling accessories company Stella & Dot introduced Ever in 2015 and extended its direct-selling model to it. The same year, it introduced charm bracelet brand Keep Collective, too. Stella & Dot launched in 2003 and drew $37 million in funding from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital in 2011.

Business has been rocky for some direct-selling businesses of late. For example, Alcora Corp., parent company of direct-selling brand Monat, saw its sales dip 6.9% last year to $350 million, according to the fashion and beauty trade publication Women’s Wear Daily. In April this year, Beautycounter went into foreclosure and was rescued by founder Gregg Renfrew, who plans to resuscitate it later this year.

Today, Ever offers a sweeping collection of face, body care and color cosmetics priced from $20 to $90. The brand uses the descriptor “cleanical,” and its products are formulated to address the impacts of hormonal changes affecting the skin of people in their 30s and beyond. They feature a patented ingredient complex called LSR10 that’s designed to combat the signs of aging. They feature skincare ingredient stalwarts like peptides, hyaluronic acid, retinol and alpha hydroxy acids as well. 

Over the years, Herrin recounts Stella & Dot has been approached by various parties about possibly purchasing Ever, but ultimately determined Forum Brands’ structure as a portfolio company was ideal for the brand. She says, “The platform that they’ve built of other wellness brands is a more efficient way to grow a business.”

Founded in 2020, Forum Brands, which specializes in buying e-commerce brands, has been looking to establish itself via acquisitions as a serious player in the personal care space. Prior to the Ever deal, the company purchased Lola earlier this year. Howland says the two deals happening in quick succession was purely opportunistic and suggests Forum Brands’ deal pace could slow in the future. 

He explains, “It’s less about timing and pace and more about finding the right businesses and brands that have a story to tell that we think we can continue to grow, and particularly from a reach perspective, put in the hands of more consumers that should want and need these products, but haven’t had a chance to get exposure to them.” He adds Ever has an “incredibly retentive community” that returns to the products it knows and loves and also tries new products. 

“As Ever has been built and grown, we’ve seen that this loyal customer base continues to want to see more from the business in terms of expanded assortment,” says Howland. “It’s something that to us shapes a growth story that we feel like through our distribution network at Forum, through our operational processes, through our depth of expertise in marketing and the communities that our other brands bring to bear, we’re ready to go execute against.”