A rare British beauty start-up success story and pioneer of the ‘clean’ beauty movement, REN Clean Skincare had all the right ingredients to become a global household name.
But instead, after a decade under Unilever’s umbrella, several missteps have led to the demise of this once-celebrated and still very much-loved beauty brand.
Last week, Unilever announced that it will close Ren Clean Skincare after 25 years in business, blaming “market challenges”.
A failure to keep up with changing trends, a lack of innovation, unfocused strategy and fumbling the US market are among the reasons that REN Clean Skincare is now effectively worthless.
A former REN staffer who did not wish to be named told Cosmetics Business how they quickly realised they had joined “a brand and business in real decline and chaos” after a round of “significant” redundancies and restructuring in late 2023.