Aussie skincare brand Unlabelled lands ‘loud and proud’ national Coles deal

Australian skincare social enterprise Unlabelled has announced that Coles will stock its selected ‘loud and proud’ range of skincare products across stores nationally, complete with new splashes of colour and Pride messaging, just in time for Sydney WorldPride.

The brand was created by award-winning skincare professionals Anthony McDonough and Chris Glebatsas to reduce youth suicide and launched in Australia last year. Both McDonough and Glebatsas say they were inspired by their personal experiences to help encourage young Australians just to be themselves.

From February 6 and over the next 10 days, three handwashes, three body washes, and two body bar products from Unlabelled’s exclusive range will start to hit shelves in Coles around Australia. 

Each product features fun, positive messages on its sleek eco-friendly packaging and 100% of its profits are donated towards charities deeply connected to tackling youth suicide in Australia. The funds support the lifesaving youth work of LGBTQIA+ charity QLife, as well as the Black Dog Institute, Headspace and Kids Helpline.

Both Glebatsas and McDonough have been closely collaborating with the Coles team for the exclusive range and packaging. Unlabelled products will proudly wear new splashes of colour and positive messages as a nod to Pride. New taglines include the joyous, “love always wins,” to the independent, “march to the beat of your own drum”, the bold, “be out, be loud, be proud”, and the inclusive, “be brave, be true, be kind”. 

Glebatsas said the Coles team were attracted to the Unlabelled products because of their natural ingredients — the products are made with Tasmanina sea kelp extract and contain no nasty chemicals — and the brand’s social mission. 

“We’ve looked at the market data for the Coles hand and body wash category, and there are some brands that customers would likely switch from to buy Unlabelled, because we are a similar price point, but have higher quality products as well as being more ethical and sustainable. Two of these brands are around the $10 million sales mark each in Coles,” he said. 

“Given the positioning of Unlabelled, we believe over time, Coles could add an extra $5 million to Unlabelled’s sales – not only through the stores but by making us into a household brand with great distribution and easy access. The Coles opening order was over $500,000 so we are already on our way.

“Most new brands only end up with a small level of distribution, however Coles are keen to see Unlabelled succeed and therefore have given us 100% distribution from day one.”

McDonough and Glebatsas say the Unlabelled brand aims to speak to young consumers, as well as their parents.

“The messages on our bottles and body bars are about celebrating diversity and promoting inclusivity and this flows over into our events and social media as well,” said McDonough. 

“Any parent buying Unlabelled is showing their children that they are a modern thinking parent who understands that they want to grow up without being labelled – it’s already becoming a badge of honour/pride in people’s homes and bathrooms. It definitely conveys the message to your kids that they can talk to you about anything and you as a parent can show your kids they are able to grow up to just be themselves.”

The founders of Unlabelled are both proud members of the LGBTQIA+ community and know all too well how damaging labels can be from their own experiences. That’s why they believe so passionately in the Unlabelled brand and the work they are doing to end the stigma of living within a box defined by labels. 

“Coles is currently our exclusive grocery partner in Australia, and Chemist Warehouse is our exclusive pharmacy partner. Between these two giants, we have most of the Australian households covered,” say McDonough and Glebatsas.

“Coles and Chemist Warehouse have been incredible partners to work with and both companies believe that our brand values also represent the values of their customers, so we feel we are in really good hands with these two retailers.”

Unlabelled is exploring international markets too, having recently launched in Thailand. McDonough and Glebatsas say they are on track to also launch in Hong Kong and Israel in the first half of this year, and are presenting to potential grocery and pharmacy retailers in the US and UK, while also working with Amazon Prime for online sales across the US. 

Sydney WorldPride 2023 will run for 17 days, from February 17 to March 5, 2023.