Nearly a yr because it launched, Atwater is making its first category expansion.

The reasonably priced men’s grooming brand founded by former Kiehl’s president Chris Salgardo is entering the nail category, launching a spread of 4 nail polish colours in dark hues of black, gray, green and blue that every retail for $20. The polishes shall be available for preorder on Tuesday.

Salgardo explained the brand’s entry into the nail category felt natural as male customers have been more open to experimenting with grooming and sweetness products in recent times.

“I felt prefer it was a category that men were accepting,” he explained, naming musicians like Harry Styles as some men who’ve been spearheading this movement. “It’s amazing, I’ll catch an interview and it looks as if increasingly men are rocking polish. I felt prefer it was one other move in only helping to proceed to interrupt down those stereotypes to make grooming more acceptable for men.” 

Salgardo explained that 40 percent of Atwater’s customer base is between the ages of 18 and 34 and that the brand is seeing an enormous growth in its TikTok following. So the nail category launch can also be meant as an accessible entry point into the brand for brand spanking new, younger customers and one other area of experimentation for current customers.  

Atwater’s nail launch is the brand’s second philanthropic initiative. Atwater is partnering with amfAR to donate $10,000 from sales of the nail collection. Salgardo himself has worked closely with amfAR for the reason that ‘90s and has been honored twice by the organization.

After greater than a decade at Kiehl’s, Salgardo launched Atwater last August after still seeing a white space in the boys’s grooming market. He created his brand to supply an inexpensive, full range of products that address virtually all grooming concerns.  

“Men appear to be embracing and caring for their skin greater than I’ve seen prior to now,” he said. “As much as I believe men are getting there, I believe it’s still somewhat of a challenge and it’s still breaking down those stereotypes to get him to cross the road and need to care for himself. I’m excited that retailers are embracing men in a much larger way than I’ve seen before and men’s [grooming] is not any longer this tiny little area behind the shop.” 

Along with its direct-to-consumer business, Atwater has quickly built up its retail distribution with major partners. The brand first launched exclusively at Nordstrom and this yr has entered Saks Fifth Avenue and Bluemercury. 

“I’ve at all times believed in an omnichannel approach,” Salgardo said about his retail partners. “I believe the industry type of bobs and weaves with it. In some unspecified time in the future, we saw everyone was in wholesale after which digital began to rise and everybody was like, ‘you want to be in digital and retail is dead.’ I’ve just never believed that. I believe the chance to specific the brand is so vital that you want to have the ability to point out up in alternative ways so the shopper can discover you.” 

Going forward, Salgardo has his sights set on other category expansions, comparable to hair care and body, but will achieve this on the brand’s own pace.

“We will go deeper into grooming,” he said. “I believe there’s space for hair products, for beard and body that can just allow him to be the easiest version of himself and a routine that may last a lifetime. I would like to enter those categories regularly when I believe there’s something interesting and now we have a perspective because to easily put something on the market with the quantity of products that we see, it’s just not going to resonate.”