Elemis cofounder and chief executive officer Sean Harrington has seen it all, from Stringfellows to collagen-focused skin care and everything in between.
Leaving school at 17 years old, Harrington landed his first job at Stringfellows, an adult entertainment club in London. Soon after, he began driving a London black cab during the days to supplement his income. But while a young Harrington was having fun for a couple of years, his father, who had a product distribution business in the U.K., eventually stepped in.
“My dad said, ‘two and a half years of this play time is enough,’” recalled Harrington with a laugh, who subsequently joined his father’s business.
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For six years, he worked in sales and distribution, representing other brands, until the 1989 recession struck and essentially ended the business.
“I was bust at 23, which was not the ideal way to begin your journey. But in many ways a lot of the lessons I learned and a lot of knowledge and strength I got from that was remarkable moving forward,” continued Harrington, during a fireside chat with Beauty Inc editor in chief Jenny B. Fine.
It was at this point that he changed course, deciding he wanted to have his own brand. He soon teamed up with Linda Steiner, Noella Gabriel and Oriele Frank. Elemis launched spa and retail onboard cruise ships in 1994.
The choice of cruise ships was critical. “That gave us the volume, the reach to new customers. It taught us that travel, vacation, all of those modes were really great opportunities to sample and meet customers and learn,” he said.
The group went public through an IPO as Steiner Leisure Ltd. in 1996. “That seemed like a good idea at the time because it meant good cash flow, it meant we secured the cruise line business, it meant we really did have a machine behind us that could drive us to success,” Harrington said. “Be careful what you wish for because being quoted on Nasdaq we were being challenged for earnings growth all the time….I spent the last five years of being public trying to go private.”
That opportunity to go private came from L Catterton, which acquired Steiner Leisure for approximately $925 million in 2015. Four years later it changed hands again when L’Occitane International SA bought the British premium skin care and wellness brand for $900 million.
Harrington, who wanted to remain with the business, was attracted to L’Occitane for its dedication to founders.
“Reinold Geiger [the chairman of L’Occitane] wanted to build an ambitious group of founders who want to stay with their brands, who want to live the full journey,” he said.
Since then, Harrington has been focused on expanding the business internationally, recently launching in Sephora U.S. He has also been laser focused on expansion in Greater China with 350 Sephora doors and other retail partners, even moving to Hong Kong to oversee the Asia business at one point.
“I was very fortunate that we managed to secure a fabulous partnership with Sephora into China, which really did change the game for us because it enabled us to get into China and really learn,” he said.
“The challenges in China are huge and varied — 50 percent of the business there is e-commerce and in the last few years investing in digital has been hugely expensive,” he continued. “We focused on building a business long term. We didn’t focus on trying to hit the short term wins. We tried to put in place strong foundations with distribution with Sephora and a few key brand stores. We’ve enjoyed learning through Tmall, Douyin and Little Red Book but even on a bad year in China last year we grew at 65 percent.”
