The company was founded in 1999 by Kate Morris, a 21-year-old business student, and her boyfriend James Height.[3][4] Morris used savings and an A$12,000 loan from Height's parents to start the business, which she ran out of her garage.[5][6] She found a company in the newspaper to build the first website, which cost A$8,000 and took six months.[7]
At first, the company only stocked two small Australian brands: Baiame and Santalia. The first mainstream brand, Bloom, signed on in 2002.[6]Clarins signed on in 2006.[7]
The company had a $2 million turnover by the end of 2010.[8] In 2014, the company secured a deal with Estee Lauder Companies to become an authorized agent for Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Estee Lauder brands.[9] That same year, the company earned over $7 million in revenue and ranked 29th in the Smart Company ‘Smart50’ Awards.[3] Morris won the Innovation Award for Victoria in the 2014 Telstra Women's Business Awards.[10]
In 2015, Australian retailer Woolworths Limited bought a 25% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum. The investment grew the company 70% over one year.[1][5]
The company reported an annual turn over of $16 million in 2016, carrying 150 brands and 10,000 products.[7][11] The company is an official online stockist of Dermalogica, ghd, Clarisonic, Lancôme, Benefit Cosmetics, Aesop and Kérastase.[12] The company's Findation service, which compares 22,000 foundations to find the best match, had 1.5 million users, as of 2015.[13]
In 2016, the company began expanding into China.[5][14] In 2017, Morris bought back Woolworths' 25% stake in the business, restoring her stake to 100%.[15] Morris and Height were co-CEOs until 2018 when Height became the sole CEO.[16]
Tamalin Morton became CEO in January 2023 after O'Shannessy left the company the previous month.[20] In May 2023, Morris and Height announced they would step down from their executive roles (chief innovation officer and chief data officer, respectively) at the end of June but retain their boards seats.[16]
Adore Beauty purchased Ikou, a wellness and skincare brand with three stores in New South Wales, in June 2024 for $25 million. The purchase gave Adore Beauty its first physical retail footprint and helped the company improve its private label revenue.[21] In July 2024, Sacha Laing took over as CEO.[22] The first Adore Beauty physical store under its own name is expected to open by the end of 2024.[23]
^ abVillanueva, Aaron Jefferson (15 September 2014). "29. Adore Beauty". Smartcompany. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
