Though a beauty brand that’s typically slow-and-steady, versus growth-at-all-costs, Vintner’s Daughter has recently been ramping up its growth efforts.
In Aug. 2021, Vintner’s Daughter began a subscription program it describes as having a “girlfriend-to-girlfriend” approach. Subscribers receive prioritized access to its products, which often sell out, and can send product samples to friends. After launching a limited-edition tea collaboration in Oct. 2021, Vintner’s Daughter followed up with a limited-edition fragrance, launched on June 22. The fragrance, called “Understory,” is unisex and retails for $245 on the brand’s DTC e-commerce site. Approximately 400 units were made, said April Gargiulo, founder of Vintner’s Daughter. She added that Vintner’s Daughter will introduce a new product in the fall, adding to the brand’s core collection, but declined to provide details.
“What some people recognize, but probably not most, is that we begin every single [skin-care] bottle with whole botanicals to drive product performance — and also, botanical ingredients [provide] a connection to nature,” said Gargiulo. “Connecting to nature is a powerful way to connect with oneself. That is how both [our] tea and fragrance [products] came about.”
However, the timing of these product debuts was not entirely intentional, said Gargiulo. Vintner’s Daughter is not working on a launch schedule or setting a cadence for new products. Part of its claim to fame is its ultra-slow and -steady approach to product launches: Its last skin-care product, the Essence, debuted in 2019, and it has just two core products in its portfolio. Aside from its own e-commerce site, Vintner’s Daughter sells its products through Violet Grey, Goop and Nordstrom.
Yet, the power of limited-edition products is strong. Makeup brands like E.l.f. Cosmetics and MAC Cosmetics have partially built their reputations on sell-out and viral limited-edition collections. But a skin-care brand offering limited-edition products, as opposed to just limited-edition packaging, is more unusual. This makes its limited-edition launches all the more notable, as it offers a brief moment of newness to Vintner’s Daughter without making skin-care products for products’ sake. However, Gargiulo said there are no plans to bake limited-edition products into the brand’s sales or product launch strategy.
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“The nature of [the fragrance and tea] are driven by taste and scent, which are specific to the season and place. They had to be limited edition because they can’t be easily reproduced over and over, all year round,” she said. “We always [say] we move at the speed of quality; we’re able to tell [our] story with three products that underscore our mission.”
Gargiulo declined to say how many subscribers the girlfriend-to-girlfriend program has, but said it’s experienced month-over-month growth since it launched. She added that it drives a “significant” portion of the brand’s DTC sales. According to previous Glossy reporting, Vintner’s Daughter’s core customer demo is women 25- to 55 years old, though 10% of customers are men. And 41% of the brand’s subscribers are subscribed to both of its products.
