The story of Estée Lauder's founding and founder: Who is Estée Lauder?

And she did it all with charm, humor, and exquisite style. She loved beauty passionately and believed in its power wholeheartedly. Ms. Estée Lauder started her business with four skin-care products and a simple premise: every woman can be beautiful. Armed with this philosophy, as well as determination, creativity, and passion, she changed the face of the cosmetics industry.

Josephine Esther Mentzer was born in New York City, the second child of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Rose Schotz and Max Mentzer. The name Estée was a variation of her nickname Esty. Her interest in beauty was sparked in high school when she lived with the family of her Hungarian uncle, a chemist, and made velvety skin creams, first in the kitchen and then in a laboratory in the back of a barn.

Estée Lauder (July 1, 1908 – April 24, 2004) was an American businesswoman. She co-founded her eponymous cosmetics company with her husband, Joseph Lauter (later Lauder). Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century.

From her uncle, Estée learned not only how to prepare wonderful creams, but also how to apply them to women's faces. She was also inspired by her uncle's founding of New Way Laboratories in Brooklyn in 1924.

In the late 1920s, Estée met Joseph Lauter. They married in 1930 and moved to Manhattan. Shortly thereafter, the couple adopted the surname Lauder, correcting a spelling error dating back to when Joseph's father emigrated from Austria to the United States.

Establishment of the Company and First Products

His uncle's products included Six-in-One Cold Cream, Dr Schotz Viennese Cream, and several perfumes.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (stylized as ESTĒE LAUDER) is an American multinational cosmetics company, a manufacturer and marketer of makeup, skincare, perfume, and hair care products, based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is the second largest cosmetics company in the world after L'Oréal. The company owns a diverse portfolio of brands, including La Mer, Jo Malone London, Clinique and Tom Ford Beauty, among many more, distributed internationally through both digital commerce and retail channels.

Lauder started by selling these products in New York City and then in Miami Beach from 1939 to 1942. In 1944, Lauder began working in various New York beauty salons and smaller stores, selling her line of products from behind a counter. Three skin creams from this original line were her uncle's creations. Lauder also sold a face powder, an eyeshadow, and a lipstick called Just Red.

In 1946, she and Joseph Lauder officially founded the company, and a year later they received their first large order. The year Estée Lauder started, women's cosmetics was a $7 million business in the United States. Lauder's next goal was to move her belongings to Saks Fifth Avenue. After a successful conference and demonstration at the Waldorf Astoria that prompted customers to line up outside for more product information, Saks convinced its buyers that there was a demand for its products. The Saks connection helped Lauder gain a reputation that would allow it to sell its products nationally. Beginning in the late 1940s, Estée Lauder traveled the country, making personal appearances at specialty and department stores and training staff in proper sales techniques.

Against the advice of their lawyers, Lauder and her husband went full-blown into an industry known for wild market swings and short-lived ventures. While Joseph Lauder worked every day in the small space they rented, their oldest son, Leonard, rode his bike making deliveries to Saks and other stores. A technique pioneered by Estée Lauder that has now become standard in the cosmetics industry was the offer of a gift with purchase. Lauder first began offering free sample products with any purchase to keep the customer coming back for more. Free products were then offered to customers who purchased a certain minimum dollar amount. Lauder's gift-with-purchase offer gained her a loyal following and helped launch her business. However, over the years, this practice would lead to significantly lower profit margins in the cosmetics industry as a whole and Lauder's company in particular.

Estée Lauder's Advertising Success

When Estée Lauder began advertising her brand, Estée insisted that printed images be both aspirational and approachable, and chose one model to represent the face of the brand at any given time. She chose pale turquoise for the brand's jars, believing it felt luxurious and would match any bathroom decor. Estée attended nearly every new store opening, staying for a week to instruct beauty consultants on sales techniques and product display. Always stylish and well-dressed, she traveled the country meeting store buyers and beauty editors and speaking to consumers. It was a one-man research department. Estée was running word-of-mouth campaigns decades before social media became mainstream.

Estée Lauder was a skincare pioneer, but she also had a great “nose” and ability to smell. One of her first successes was Youth-Dew, a blend of rose, jasmine, vetiver, and patchouli that would bring her olfactory fame. Until the 1950s, most women saved perfume for special occasions. A woman would expect her husband to give her perfume on her birthday or anniversary. Estée wanted to find a way for women to purchase their own perfume, so in 1953 she created Youth-Dew, a bath oil that could also be used as a skin perfume. This innovation took the cosmetics industry by storm, changing the way fragrance was sold and turning the company into a multimillion-dollar business.

Leonard Lauder

In 1958, 24-year-old Estée Lauder's son Leonard Lauder joined the company. That year, he married Evelyn Hausner, a Viennese-born teacher who would later rise through the ranks at the company and eventually succeed Estée Lauder herself, appearing as a company spokesperson.

Estée Lauder Inc. developed an identifiable image in the 1960s. The company could not afford color advertising, so it used black and white photographs instead. Moreover, in 1971, model Karen Graham began portraying the serene, elegant “Estée Lauder look,” a role she would play for 15 years. Graham's identification with Estée Lauder was so successful that many people thought she was Estée Lauder.

Other Brands of the Company

Estée Lauder was an iconic American entrepreneur. She oversaw the founding of five additional brands, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series, and Origins, always insisting that the company's products be made from the highest quality ingredients. She was always aware of fashion trends and created her namesake brand; It was founded at a time when Givenchy, Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, and other designers were shaping the latest fashions. She loved New York City and was inspired by its sophisticated, vibrant, stylish culture. In the mid-20th century, New York was a global center of art, architecture, innovation and entrepreneurship. Although Estée's heart was in New York, she had homes in the South of France, London, and Palm Beach, among other places. She traveled the world and loved visiting museums and art galleries, attending fashion shows, and learning about her clients and their respective cultures.

In 1964, the company launched Aramis, a trendsetting men's fragrance blended with citrus, herbs, and spice. The launch of the Clinique line in 1968 solidified Estée Lauder's success in the cosmetics industry. From development to full-scale use, Clinique was designed to be more than just an allergy-tested product line. As noted in Business Week on September 26, 1983, "Clinique helped the major cosmetics company grow tenfold."

Lauder Family Management in the Company

After 12 years at the company, the founder's eldest son, Leonard, became president of Estée Lauder Inc. in 1972. Estée Lauder, the chief executive, works at home in the morning; She spent afternoons in the office in the General Motors building. In the executive changes in 1982, the company's president, Leonard Lauder, was also named CEO. Ronald Lauder, the founders' other son and vice president, became president of international operations; The division accounted for half of the company's sales volume, although it earned less profit.

A visionary businesswoman, Estée Lauder has been honored with many awards throughout her career. Receiving the French Legion of Honor was one of the highlights of her life. She supported numerous civic and cultural programs and other charitable causes, including the restoration of the Palace of Versailles and the construction of several playgrounds in New York City's Central Park. The only thing more important to Estée than the company was her family, and she was thrilled to have her children and grandchildren join the family business. Estée retired in 1995 and passed away in 2004.

Going Public in the 1990s

In late 1995, Estée Lauder stepped down as president, assuming the honorary title of founding president. Leonard Lauder assumed the chairmanship in addition to his duties as CEO. Ronald Lauder continued as president of Clinique and international operations. Partly as an estate planning measure and as a way for some Lauder family members to cash out some of their company stock, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. went public in November 1995, raising more than $450 million through an initial public offering.

In 2014, the company acquired two beauty brands, RODIN and Le Labo, a skincare brand famous for its “Luxury Facial Oil.” Later that year, the company also made its first investment in India by acquiring a minority stake in Forest Essentials, a luxury cosmetics company specializing in Ayurvedic products. In 2015, the company acquired Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, a fragrance brand, and GLAMGLOW, a Hollywood skincare brand.

In 2016, the company acquired Becca Cosmetics, their first color cosmetics group acquisition. In November 2016, the company made its largest acquisition to date when it acquired California-based cosmetics company Too Faced for US$1.45 billion.

In 2019, the company acquired Dr Jart+. Founded in Korea in 2004, Dr Jart+ pioneered the invention of BB Cream, setting the standard for multifunctional beauty.

In 2021, the company acquired Canada-based Deciem Beauty Group Inc. In 2022, Estée Lauder opened a 300,000-square-foot distribution center in Galgenen, Switzerland.

In November 2022, the company announced it would acquire designer fashion house Tom Ford in a $2.8 billion deal, with Ford remaining as creative director until 2023.

Lauder Family Today

Estée Lauder and her husband, Joseph, founded the company in 1946 with four original beauty products and a boundless desire for success. Ahead of her time in every way, Estée Lauder challenged convention and her fearless persistence set the tone for the family business. Sons Leonard Lauder and Ronald Lauder have contributed many of their talents and business acumen to the company's expansion, including opening new global borders and building new brands. Members of the third generation, William, Aerin, and Jane, are today at the heart of the company and actively participate in its leadership in collaboration with executive leaders. Seventy years after its founding, second and third-generation members of the Lauder family remain at the heart of the publicly traded, family-controlled company and actively exercise its leadership.

Today, the Company connects with women both in stores and online in more than 150 countries and territories and dozens of touchpoints.