Glossier, Inc.

What does Glossier, Inc. own?

The company owns the Glossier brand and the Into The Gloss editorial site. Its product lines span skin care, makeup, body care, and fragrance, all under the single Glossier name.

Is Glossier publicly traded?

No. Glossier, Inc. is privately held and venture-backed. It has raised more than $265 million and was last valued at $1.8 billion in its 2021 Series E round.

Who founded Glossier?

Emily Weiss founded Glossier in 2014, growing it from the community she built on Into The Gloss, the beauty blog she launched in 2010 while working at Vogue.

Where is Glossier headquartered?

The company is headquartered in New York City, where it has operated since its founding.

Who owns Glossier?

Ownership is split among founder Emily Weiss and institutional investors including Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Benchmark, Forerunner Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Lone Pine Capital. No single entity holds a controlling majority.

Who is the CEO of Glossier?

Kyle Leahy has been CEO since May 2022, succeeding Emily Weiss, who remains executive chairwoman. Leahy previously led commercial operations at Glossier and held executive roles at Nike.

Is Glossier sold at Sephora?

Yes. The Sephora partnership, rolled out from 2023, is the company's largest retail channel, carrying the full assortment across hundreds of stores in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Emily Weiss launched Into The Gloss in 2010 as a beauty blog built on candid product conversations with women, conducting interviews for Vogue during the day and writing at night. The community it created became the company's product development engine: readers told editors what they wanted, and Glossier built it.

Glossier launched in October 2014 with four products: a moisturizer, a face mist, a skin tint, and Balm Dotcom, funded by early seed capital and run from a New York office. The company's pink packaging, no-makeup makeup aesthetic, and Instagram-native marketing made it a phenomenon. By 2018 it was a unicorn, having raised a Series C at $390 million and Series D at $1.2 billion.

Rapid growth strained the model. The company opened flagship stores in Los Angeles, New York, and London, expanded into dozens of products, and built an international shipping operation, all while managing the costs of physical retail and headcount that grew to several hundred employees.

In 2022 the company underwent a significant reset. Emily Weiss stepped back from the CEO role to executive chairwoman, and Kyle Leahy, a Nike veteran who had joined as chief commercial officer, became CEO. Roughly one-third of corporate staff were laid off, the company exited markets where it could not operate profitably, and strategy shifted toward profitable channels.

The Sephora partnership, announced in 2022 and rolled out through 2023 and 2024, put Glossier in hundreds of stores across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, transforming the company from a direct-only brand into an omnichannel business. As of November 2026, Sephora is its largest retail channel by volume, and the brand has resumed modest retail expansion with new concept stores.

The company's claims are company-reported rather than independently certified:

Cruelty-Free: Glossier states it does not test on animals and does not sell in markets requiring animal testing. It appears on cruelty-free lists including Leaping Bunny's program, though certification status should be verified directly against current registry records.

Packaging: The company has reduced virgin plastic across packaging and offers limited recycling guidance, but it does not hold major environmental certifications such as B Corp or Climate Neutral.

Labor and Culture: The company's 2022 layoffs of roughly one-third of staff drew criticism over execution and severance, though subsequent reviews stabilized. It has faced periodic criticism for slow progress on inclusive shade ranges compared with competitors.

2022 Restructuring: The layoff of roughly one-third of corporate staff and the leadership transition from Weiss to Leahy was widely covered as a reckoning for the company's rapid scaling. Critics questioned whether the direct-to-consumer model could sustain the valuation it commanded.

Shade Range Criticism: The brand faced criticism for limited complexion shade ranges compared with competitors such as Fenty Beauty. It expanded shades over time, but the gap relative to category leaders persisted as a reputational point.

Exclusivity and Marketing: Early criticism characterized the brand's aesthetic as narrowly targeted, and its community-driven image was challenged as marketing rather than genuine co-creation. These criticisms faded as the brand's assortment broadened but inform its positioning history.