Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Cosmetics |
Founded | 1931 |
Founder | Merle Norman |
Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Number of locations | 1,007 (2021) |
Area served | United States Canada Guatemala Bahrain United Arab Emirates Hong Kong Taiwan |
Key people |
|
Products | |
Services | Day spa |
Revenue | US$100 million (2018) [1] |
Website | www |
Merle Norman Cosmetics Inc. or simply known as Merle Norman, is an American cosmetics company that manufactures skin care, personal care, and makeup products founded in 1931 by Merle Norman. [2] The company sells its products through e-commerce and its beauty store studio franchises, along with operating day spas through its Merle Norman Spa brand. As of 2021 the company had 1,007 locations throughout 7 countries, primarily in North America. [3]
Merle Norman, with her education in chemistry, started making makeshift cosmetic products in her home kitchen to sell to her neighbors while her nephew, J.B. Nethercutt, worked as the delivery peddler. [4] Growing in local popularity, in 1931, she opened her first official cosmetics studio in Santa Monica for $150 during the Great Depression. [5] By 1934, the company had expanded to dozens of independently owned studios across the contiguous United States which were predominately owned by women. [6] By the 1940s the company expanded overseas to Asia, marketing in Thailand. [7] During the American involvement in World War II, the company produced gun oil and camouflage. [8]
In 1963, Norman stepped down as chairman and passed down the company to J.B. Nethercutt. [6] In 1969, the company changed to be publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). [9] The company sold 400,000 shares at $25. [10] The company opened secondary factory in Sylmar, Los Angeles in 1971, and a forward distribution center in Memphis, Tennessee for its East Coast studios in 1973. [11] In 1974, the family bought back all the public stock due to a lack of demanded trading interest, and the company reverted to being privately held. [12]
In the 1980s, Merle Norman was named one of the ten largest American cosmetic companies by People magazine. [13] The company started its first national advertising campaign, having previously only used word-of-mouth marketing regionally, including being the primary sponsor of the 1981 Met Gala. [14] The company experimentally expanded to Europe in 3 countries, but would leave the continent by the next decade. [6] In 1999, the company redesigned its studios to have a common interior. [15]
In 2004, Nethercutt passed the company down to his son, Jack Nethercutt II. [16] In 2007, the company was ranked No. 21 in Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise 500. [17] Merle Norman expanded to the Middle East by 2011. [18] Later in the year, the company unveiled a new separate logo emblem with an updated wordmark along with a redesign of product packaging. [19] From 2012 to 2019, the company had a decline of 269 studio units. [20] In 2018, the company announced its beginning of day spa services to select studio outlets in the United States and Canada. [21]
In 2019, Merle Norman's products were available for purchase online through e-commerce. [22] The company produced WHO hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic. [23]
Merle Norman is a privately held family owned company by the Nethercutt-Richards family. The corporate headquarters is located in Los Angeles, California. [24] The company is a member of the Personal Care Products Council. [25]
The company sells its products online and through its own retail franchise studios, nearly all of which are independently owned. [3] The primary manufacturing plant and distribution center is located in Westchester, Los Angeles and is connected to the corporate headquarters. In 1971, a secondary plant was opened in Sylmar, Los Angeles which produces the containers and packaging for its products. [11]
Merle Norman is certified by PETA as cruelty-free. [26] The company uses non-vegan ingredients. [27]
Merle Norman Spas are select specialized outlets throughout the United States and Canada that offer day spa services, including facial treatments and massages from trained estheticians. [5]
Below is a list of current domestic and international studio outlets as of 2021, with there being 955 throughout 49 U.S. states and 52 locations throughout 8 Canadian Provinces and 5 countries abroad totaling 1,007. [3]
Merle Norman was the primary sponsor of the 1981 Met Gala with the event's theme of The Eighteenth-Century Woman. [14]
The company sponsors the USC Trojans and funded Merle Norman Stadium for the school's new NCAA Division I beach volleyball program in 2012. [34] From 2020, the company sponsored the Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders in the NFL. [35]
In the animal rights movement, cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products tested on animals or made from animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of millions of animals every year.
The Body Shop International Limited, trading as the Body Shop, is a British cosmetics, skin care, and perfume company founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick. In 2017, it stated that its products were sold in about 3,000 stores, some company-owned and others franchised, in 66 countries.
Neutrogena Corporation, trading as Neutrogena, is an American company that produces cosmetics, skin care and hair care and owned by parent company Kenvue and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. According to product advertising at their website, Neutrogena products are distributed in more than 70 countries.
UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center is a hospital located within the city of Santa Monica, California. The hospital was founded in 1926, and is a member of the UCLA Health. The hospital is also known internationally for operating its Rape Treatment Center and the adjoining Stuart House for sexually abused children.
e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. is an American cosmetics brand based in Oakland, California. It was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba in 2004. Items include bath and skin-care products, mineral-based makeup, professional tools, eyeliners, lipstick, glosses, blushes, bronzers, brushes, and mascara, among others.
Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) was founded as an educational charitable trust in England in 1959 by Muriel, the Lady Dowding (1908–1993), past president of the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) and wife of Lord Dowding (1882–1970), the former commander-in-chief of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. It investigated and exposed the brutality inflicted on animals in the fur and cosmetic trade and led the way in the commercial production of synthetic alternatives to fur and cosmetics, without the use of animal ingredients and not tested on animals, pioneering the cruelty-free movement. The initial fundamental purpose of the charitable trust was to demonstrate that alternatives to cruelly derived clothing and cosmetics were easily obtainable and, if they did not exist, to get them on the market. BWC spread the concept that one could easily look beautiful, without inflicting cruelty and death upon any creature.
James Albert Markham is an American hair stylist and serial entrepreneur, who has founded four hair care companies– Markham Products, ABBA Pure and Natural, PureOlogy Serious Colour Care, and, most recently, ColorProof Color Care Authority. He was also celebrity stylist Jay Sebring's protege and successor of Sebring International after Sebring was murdered by the Manson Family. Markham is known for advancing the Sebring cutting technique and introduced a generation of men to a new way of cutting and caring for their hair in the early 1970s, which emphasizes cutting hair in the direction it grows, daily washing and conditioning, and blow-drying. By 1973 Markham had improved upon the concept and took it nationwide over the next decade, coining the technique The Markham Method. Under his men's hair care line, Markham Products, he personally trained and certified thousands of barbers and stylists as Markham Style Innovators. The stylist's client list included many notable celebrities including Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Peter Lawford, Wolfman Jack, among many others. He also taught film producer and celebrity hairstylist Jon Peters the Sebring method.
Dermalogica is an American personal care company headquartered in Carson, California. Its products include cleansers, exfoliants, toners, masques, eye treatments, and moisturizers, as well as an acne treatment line for teens. Dermalogica has primary operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan and Ireland and is sold in more than 80 countries worldwide.
TheNethercutt Collection is a multi-storied museum and car collection complex located in Sylmar, California. It was founded by J.B. Nethercutt in 1971 and its centerpiece is the prestigious automobile collection of the Nethercutt-Richards family that contains over 250 cars, nearly all of which J.B. originally collected and owned. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest car museums in the world.§
Tropic Skincare is a British online and multi-level marketing company which sells skincare and cosmetic products. The company is based in Croydon, South London, where it designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes its products. The business is owned by The Apprentice series 7 runner-up Susie Ma.
NYX Professional Makeup is an American cosmetics company that is a subsidiary of L'Oréal. The company was founded in Los Angeles by Toni Ko in 1999. It was named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. NYX Professional Makeup is "certified" and acknowledged by PETA as a cruelty-free brand, and they offer a wide range of vegan-friendly products. NYX products are sold in over 70 countries at thousands of retailers, ranging from specialty beauty and fashion stores to freestanding shops and the brand's corporate website.
IPSY is a beauty membership service.
Merle Norman Stadium is a beach volleyball facility located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The on-campus USC facility, built in 2013, serves as the home of the USC Trojans women's beach volleyball team. The facility has three sand courts where USC plays its home matches and holds practices.
Marcia Kilgore is a Canadian born entrepreneur who has founded several companies in the beauty industry in the United States.
Merle Nethercutt Norman was an American cosmetics magnate, chemist, and philanthropist. She was the founder of Merle Norman Cosmetics and was one of the early business pioneers of franchising.
Jack Boison Nethercutt was an American entrepreneur and car collector. He was the founder and namesake of the Nethercutt Collection, which he is considered a pioneer of car collecting and the greatest car restorer of all time.
Jack Boison Nethercutt II is an American businessman, restaurateur, and former racing driver with Ferrari and Lotus. He is the chairman of Merle Norman Cosmetics and president of the Nethercutt Collection.
Monat Global Corp., or simply Monat, is a privately-held American multi-level marketing company headquartered in Doral, Florida, which sells haircare, skincare and wellness products. It is a subsidiary of the Alcora Corporation, a private-labeling company formed in 2001. Monat operates in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Poland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Lithuania, France, Mexico, and Colombia.
The Nethercutt-Richards family is a prominent American family in the fields of business and cars. The family originated from the Midwestern U.S. in the 19th century and made their fortune primarily from the cosmetics industry in the early 20th century.
Helen Richards-Nethercutt is an American autism philanthropist.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)