Refy Launches Lifestyle Category With a Pop-up in London
LONDON — Refy, the U.K.-based cosmetic brand is expanding its horizons into lifestyle with a pop-up titled “The Exhibition” taking place at the The Stables in Covent Garden kicking off during London Fashion Week.
The brand’s cofounders, Jess Hunt and Jenna Meek, are set on building a Refy world from the floor to the wall paint to the smell of a room.
More from WWD
Ones to Watch: The Rising Stars of London Fashion Week 2024 February Edition
For Fall 2024, JW Anderson Embraces the Pragmatic, and the Grotesque
EXCLUSIVE: Josie Maran, 'Clean' Beauty Innovator, Relaunches Brand With New Packaging and Scents
“Ever since we did our first photo shoot, we wanted to create our own products and for our first campaign, we designed items of clothing for it and that’s where the idea started,” Meek said in a preview interview with Hunt.
Refy launched in 2020 with Hunt being the selling face of the brand. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, she masterminded a beauty business strategy with Meek.
“This is just that stepping stone into being able to give our customer the opportunity to see and buy the lifestyle that people see through Jess, but that’s it. Now it’s about living in it,” Meek said.
The showcase will run until Feb. 28.
In line with Refy’s brutalist style of gray and off-white hues, the products in its lifestyle category follow suit with a steel coffee cup and saucer; a melted mirror made out of metal, and chrome claw hair clips, earrings and key rings.
A larger part of the new category is also fashion — starting with minimal black T-shirts, tote bags, scarves, knit vests, dresses and hoodies that feature the Refy logo capitalized in metal.
The lifestyle range is priced from 10 British pounds an accessory to 130 pounds for a long knit dress. Meanwhile, a few items, such as a floor-length coat with a cutout in the back or a metallic dress that takes the motif of the melted mirror, are made bespoke with prices available on request.
“During our first call with Sephora, who are now our retail partners, they were asking us how they can get their hands on the items of clothing featured in that first campaign of ours. People are always asking about the clothes in our campaigns,” said Hunt, who wore a prototype dress from the collection in December last year to the Fashion Awards.
“One of the reasons we’re successful as a business is because we’ve made beauty become an accessory. We see from the content our customers create that they always have their lip glosses and bronzers out at dinner. We’re now taking it to the next level by giving them more accessories to put into their life,” Meek added.
The concept for “The Exhibition” began with putting the Refy customers front and center. The pop-up’s tag line is “You are the art,” revolving around a curved human sized sculpture that sits in the space and represents inclusivity.
Everything in the pop-up is a trickle down from the sculpture, including the smudged artwork on the wall and the steel rails, side tables and benches.
Refy will be inviting its global customers to experience the exhibition virtually through its website.
“Over the last couple of years our main focus has been on the U.K. and U.S., but our next venture is looking across Europe. The idea for Refy is to create a world through retail, we will have a spot in Copenhagen and we’re looking at locations in Paris and Berlin,” Meek said.
In July 2023, Refy hosted a health and wellness pop-up concept in London’s Soho called The Studio.
“The biggest learning factor we learned was that people were coming not to buy a product or the newest release, but to community build,” Meek explained.
The pop-up, despite a quick turnaround, was a success and allowed Refy customers to connect with Hunt, who has a social following of 1.8 million on Instagram and on TikTok, the brand’s hashtag #RefyBeauty has more than 200 million views.
Best of WWD
