On January 6, sensitive-skin-friendly beauty brand Tower 28 Beauty released a new collaboration with the Universal Pictures movie “Kung Fu Panda 4,” set to be released on March 8. The collaboration includes two sets of products, which the brand launched alongside Lunar New Year-themed beauty products, all available at Sephora.
It’s not the brand’s first collaboration, but it is its most widely-known collab partner. There are two offerings: the Tower 28 x Kung Fu Panda 4 Cream Blush + Lip Gloss Kit, which includes two of the brand’s hero products: the Lip Jelly Gloss, in an existing shade called Magic, and the Beach Please Lip + Cheek Cream Blush, in an exclusive shade called Dumpling Hour. The other product is a limited-edition version of the brand’s cult-favorite SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray featuring themed packaging.
Since it launched in 2019, Tower 28 has collaborated with brands including healthy snacks brand Deux, piercing brand Studs, wearable blanket brand The Comfy and athleticwear brand Set Active, among others.
Tower 28 CEO and founder Amy Liu said she aims to collaborate with like-minded brands, driven by her belief in collaboration over competition. “Collabs are a beautiful way [for brands] to cross-promote and access each other’s audiences,” she said. In 2023, Tower 28 grew its sales 3x. In 2024, it will expand in Sephora, going from having branded end caps in 160 doors to having end caps in all Sephora locations.
Liu said the brand does a total of around 20 collaborations per year, though only five are “major” in scale — others include partnerships inclusive of a gift with purchase, for example. Liu doesn’t view these collaborations as direct sales drivers, but she said they’ve helped Tower 28 build relationships, drive awareness and tell its story.
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Many of the brand’s choice collaborators point to Liu’s identity as an AAPI founder — that’s important, as collaborations offer storytelling opportunities, Liu said. For its part, “Kung Fu Panda 4” is “set in Asia and rooted in martial arts, which is a big part of Chinese and Japanese culture,” she said. Along with raising awareness, these collaborations often double as fundraisers supporting a related cause.
Meanwhile, other Tower 28 collaborations are DEI-based and driven by the opportunity to “share a platform with someone else,” Liu said, citing examples such as a bundle with fellow AAPI-owned brand Cocokind in January 2022.
Finally, to play up the brand’s focus on sensitive skin and products made with non-irritating ingredients, other product partnerships hone in on the “clean, healthy” aspects of both partners. The collaboration with “clean and healthy” Deux, for example, fused the brands’ stories by way of a holiday set that included a Tower 28 cookie-dough scented Lip Jelly Gloss and a glitter-flecked version of Deux’s popular Cookie Butter.
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According to Liu, Tower 28’s fastest-selling partnership to date was in November 2022, with Yam, a small, Black-owned sustainable jewelry brand that works with upcycled materials. The earrings sold out five hours after launching. For holiday 2023, the brand took part in another earring collaboration, with ear-piercing company Studs. The earring style featured Tower 28’s signature “W” logo.
Recently, in November 2023, the brand put its name, logo and brand colors on one of The Comfy’s wearable blankets, inspired by one of its employees who often wears a Comfy while working. It aimed to show that the holidays should be about comfort, as well as glitz and glam. Tower 28’s marketing director, Alex Kalatzis, initially reached out to The Comfy via its online Contact Us form. The style was eventually gifted to influencers including Serena Kerrigan and Audrey Peters, who have continued to wear it on social media.
As for the “Kung Fu Panda” partnership, Chinese food brand Fly By Jing, founded by Jing Gao, has also collaborated with the film. As Liu and Gao are friends, Tower 28 and Fly By Jing plan to co-host a dumpling-making class for influencers in Los Angeles, as well as send a co-branded mailer and host a screening of the film.
