Karin Eldor

1 week ago | forbes.com | Karin Eldor

By 3 a.m., the first eager fans were waiting. By 10 a.m., the line wrapped around multiple SoHo blocks. And by day’s end, Parke had its biggest sales day in history. When Parke popped up in SoHo on the weekend of May 16, the turnout surpassed all expectations. Some eager shoppers arrived as early as 3 a.m., taking trains from New Jersey and Connecticut — all to support founder and CEO Chelsea Kramer and her namesake brand ("Parke" is her middle name).

1 week ago | forbes.com | Karin Eldor

The rise of founder-led Substacks isn’t just another content trend — it’s reshaping how brands communicate. I started noticing the shift last summer. Then came the on-point predictions: Emily Sundberg of FeedMe noted, “We will see more brands trying out Substack this year,” echoed by Rachel Carten’s “Here Come the Brands” and Coco Mocoe’s take that brands are headed to Substack. The momentum hasn’t slowed. Every time I went to hit publish on this piece, new brands joined the movement.

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Karin Eldor

Call it nostalgia, self-expression, or a playful twist on everyday luxury — bag charms are having a moment. From whimsical plushies to refined, jewelry-inspired tokens, statement charms are dangling from purses everywhere. Women aren’t just getting the bag — they’re accessorizing it, too. Of course, this isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Fashion has long been known to sit at the intersection of practicality and play.

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Karin Eldor

When Nancy Twine launched Briogeo out of her East Village apartment in 2013, she was navigating new territory: a clean, high-performance haircare brand inspired by Twine’s mother’s DIY formulas, long before “skinification” of hair became a mainstream buzzword. At the time, she was the youngest Black woman to ever launch a product line at Sephora, and she had just left a role as Vice President at Goldman Sachs.

3 weeks ago | forbes.com | Karin Eldor

Facile is in its expansion era — and it’s been years in the making. But getting there wasn’t always easy (even if the brand’s name, which is French for “easy,” suggests otherwise). This week, the dermatologist-developed brand officially lands in over 270 Sephora stores across the U.S. as part of the retailer’s “Next Big Thing” program, a major milestone for any beauty brand breaking into national distribution.