The beauty brand, which founder Francisco Costa bought back from parent company Amyris in December, is resuming operations and will be available for sale again on Thursday.
Amyris abruptly closed the beauty brand, founded in 2018 by former Calvin Klein designer Costa, in August in advance of bankruptcy proceedings.”We’re very happy to be on the other side of the fence,” Costa told The Business of Beauty. “It’s like we never left, which is so important because in August, everything was dismantled. It was like the brand never existed in the eyes of Amryis.
Following the brand’s closure, Costa made a $350,000 bid to buy back Costa Brazil’s intellectual property rights, trademarks, website domains and social media handles in December. (Costa told The Business of Beauty that the brand was bought for $6 million in claims including a cash portion of $350,000.) The label will relaunch with 14 of its bestselling items including the Kaya Jungle Firming body oil and Aroma eau de parfum to start, and build up to offer its complete collection via weekly drops.
In the coming months, more news is expected from the company, including its upcoming collaboration with the Cristalino Lodge in Brazil’s Southern Amazon rainforest, new products and retail expansion. While Costa has been in talks with its biggest retailers like Bluemercury and Nordstrom, he said the line likely won’t re-enter wholesale immediatley as the brand focuses on owned operations.
”The first thing we did when we were closed was to call our most important partners. People have been incredibly patient and supportive. Competition is tremendous and we’ve seen how so many [brands] have lost their space on shelves. We will absolutely be back at retail,” he said.
