LVMH Ventures, the investment arm of the luxury giant Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) devoted to taking minority stakes in businesses and brands with a rosy future within the fashion sector, has recently added two promissing brands to their portfolio.
LVMH Ventures has officially confirmed the acquisition of a stake in Madhappy’s capital equity and several media have published that the company has also invested in the vegan, cruelty free cosmetics firm at affordable prices called Verse. Two young, even rebel, purchases that bring the multinational of luxury closer to the pulse of the street, in the same or analogue way that Sephora once did.
A low cost cosmetic brand who is expanding quickly
No way shocking the purchade of a a stake in Versed by LVMH as the luxury giant operates a retail brand dedicated to natural cosmetics at affordable prices called Sephora.
And like Sephora, Verse seems prepared for a worldwide spread. In January 2020 Verse announced their entry into the UK market.
With Versed LVMH accentuates the natural proposal with a brand that presents itself as a manufacturer of good cleaning and skin care products available to everyone and that defines itself as vegan and not tested on animals (cruelty free) .
Versed is sold online at a price that rarely exceeds $ 20 per product and offers on its website an area where, by answering a few questions, the firm advises the treatment that best matchs with the client’s needs. Versed also offers a one-to-one advice line (Skin Hotline) via SMS where it answers specific questions and doubts raised by each client.
Last but not least, Versed products are presented in very simple standard packages and pushes their customers to recycle with a guide that graphically shows how to do it with their packaging.
The only thing that has surprised us a little about this vegan low cost cosmetics brand is that its name name sounds the same as the common appelation of the Midazolam a calming and pain releasing medicament, commonly known as Versed.
Madhappy a branded movement for positive thinking
The latest purchase officially recognized by LVMH investment arm led by Julie Bercovy is Madhappy (madly happy).
Further than a fashion and accessories brand, Madhappy is a community (social network) focused on promoting a positive mental, physical and spiritual state. And Madhappy does it both online (with contents, music included) selling casual, simple, flexible, very sporty designs (through the Internet and in physical pop up stores) and though the design and activity of pop up offline stores.
Madhappy belongs to self named The Local Optimist Group which encourages Internet users to become “activists” for the positive thinking. And not only though buying Madhappy products but also triggering conversations around the mental health issue and supporting (with donations or volunteering) institutions such as The JED Foundation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness or the Trevor Project, all of them dedicated to the promotion, monitoring and care of people who has tried or is thinking to commit suiccide and those that suffer under mental illnesses, or are at risk of suffering from them.
Noah Raf, the brain or rather the human being after the Madhappy phenomenon has created a “missionary” brand capable of transcending the borders of the United States as the hippie movement did. In fact Madhappy shares some iconography with the hippie movement, while not the love for drugs.
Madhappy markets sweatshirts, t-shirts, shorts, sweat pants … but also other products such as optimistic or positive pins for activists, as if they were the UN activists using the sustainable development goals pin. Blankets, caps, hats , glasses and scented candles complete the products portfolio.
Image over the headline.- Respectively © Madhappy and © Versed