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Bonjour Millionaire, I hate when I'm late to find out about a brand. Speaking of... |
Was this email forwarded to you? |
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ON THIS EPISODE OF GO-TO-MILLIONS |
Weleda Skin Food is a cult favorite Swiss moisturizer you can buy at Whole Foods, Target, CVS, or any shop that has a crunchy section with dry brushes and neti pots (IYKYK).
I could make a hype reel of all the celebrities who’ve mentioned Skin Food in interviews, but that would take time and I’m lacking that these days.
Let’s just say Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, Rihanna, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jennifer Aniston, to name just a few. |
They’ve all gushed about Skin Food. They all glow.
And I wanna glow, too.
Before we go any further, Weleda is pronounced Wuh-LEE-duh. I know, because I watched an official TikTok about it. I love a brand that realizes there are multiple ways to mispronounce its name. Skin Food, on the other hand, is unmispronounceable (that’s a word, right?). |
It’s a brilliant product name. You immediately know it’s for skin—our largest, most problematic organ, IMO. And you know it’s nourishing, so skin can survive and thrive and not need too much concealer.
Despite what the social media hype might have you thinking, Skin Food isn’t new. It’s been around for 100 years (!). It blows the competition away AND it’s affordable (not an affiliate link — never ever).
Skin Food is so iconic that it was featured in the Harper’s Bazaar “History of a Hero” series. Other notables in the series: Levi’s 501s (classic), Louis Vuitton Neverfull (ugh — I wish I never bought it, but in my defense it was 2010), and Baccarat Rouge 540 (ALL-TIME GREAT). So you can see the kind of company we’re in.
But Weleda isn’t just Skin Food. As mentioned, the brand’s been around since 1921 (!). For years, its best-selling product was its Arnica Massage Balm, which still slaps (and kneads, rubs, etc.). |
Of course, there comes a time when even the strongest heritage brands can benefit from some zhuzhing up.
Over the last decade, Weleda has expanded from all-purpose skincare to more specialized SKUs formulated for age performance (note: not “anti-aging”), baby and mom care (important to me now), and men’s care.
In March 2025, Weleda announced its 1st major rebrand after 104 years (!) in business, with hopes of appealing to a broader audience in a crowded market.
Here’s how the OG clean skincare brand glowed up by scaling its cult product and plans to modernize without forgetting its roots.
Weleda—named after Veleda, a German priestess of healing from the 1st century—started as a side gig and ended up becoming the whole damn thing.
Austrian occultist, philosopher, and all-around kooky guy Rudolf Steiner wanted to raise money for a spiritual philosophy he developed called anthroposophy and the first Steiner school. You probably know them better as Waldorf schools.
Waldorf schools still exist and are known for turning out the most creative and/or chaotic people you’ve ever met. (Jennifer Aniston and her ex Justin Theroux both went to a Waldorf school, and you can guess which is which.) Waldorf students have no grades, lots of hands-on time in nature, and the flexibility to learn in their own style. Even at the time: pretty crunchy.
But, back to Rudolf Steiner: In 1921, he partnered with Dutch gynecologist Ita Wegman and Austrian chemist Oskar Schmiedel in Switzerland to start the company that became Weleda.
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Weleda’s founders: ambitious, moisturized, crunchy, AND scientific. Le photo credit |
The company was a pioneer in biodynamic farming and planted huge gardens in Germany and Switzerland to harvest ingredients for its products. |
And, they’re still using these gardens today. (1 is bigger than NYC’s Central Park!) |
Weleda was in the right place at the right time, as the social movement Lebensreform (“life reform” in German) promoted more natural living via healthy food, alternative medicine, and as much “nacktkultur” (“nudism” in German) as you could pull off. Ummm…. cool?
Weleda launched a number of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products in the 1920s. The great-great-great granddaddy of Skin Food called Skin Cream (which, booooring) was born in 1925. By 1931, the company had expanded to the U.S.
Then World War II happened.
Any European brand around during this time was impacted, if not involved. The Nazi party banned anthroposophy in 1935 and threatened to shut down Weleda several times. In 1943, the Nazi Party consigned Weleda to make frostbite protection cream later used in experiments on prisoners at Dachau.
Weleda has spoken openly and regretfully about this horrible part of its history; apologized to survivors; and supported investigations into these experiments. And this is the heaviest part of this email, promise.
During the post-war boom of the ‘50s and ‘60s, Weleda grew its product line and expanded to Italy, Sweden, New Zealand, Argentina, and Brazil.
Meanwhile in the U.S, you could only buy Weleda at independent pharmacies or health food stores full of patchouli and granolas on granolas on granolas.
Weleda got a big break in 1984 when a little health food chain called Whole Foods Market started to carry it. |
The 1st Whole Foods in Austin, TX. Oh how far they’ve come.
Le photo credit |
The “farm-to-tube” brand became an underground favorite of naturopaths, hippie aunts, celebrity makeup artists, and in turn, celebrities through decades and decades of word of mouth.
Weleda just Weleda’d, focusing on clean ingredients and eco-friendly packaging before they were cool. And it made excellent products. That’s the real secret to its success: the slow, careful cultivation of TRUE believers and evangelists.
If you nail that, and stay true to your values, you’re in a great spot to capitalize on momentum when the culture shifts in your direction. (Spoiler.)
The ‘90s ushered in a new era of products-focused beauty reporting with the launch of Allure (1991), famous for its “Best of Beauty” list, and InStyle (1994).
Weleda, particularly Skin Food, racked up mentions in magazines, then websites and blogs, and eventually a bajillion posts on social media.
The platforms, influencers, trends, and vernacular (“hydrated,” “dewy,” “glazed,” “glass skin” etc.) kept evolving, but Weleda really didn’t until…
We reached peak skincare.
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What’s “peak skincare”? Let’s review:
1️⃣. Beauty consumers now spend more money on skincare than makeup (guilty). 2️⃣. We’ve seen the concurrent rise of simple clean beauty brands + sophisticated cosmeceuticals that are beautifying AND backed by science. 3️⃣. Every celebrity with an epidermis is trying to get in on the action. (I see you, KORA Organics Goop Fenty Skin Rare Beauty rhode.)
4️⃣. And more than ever, consumers recognize that there’s no single face and body skincare solution. Even single straight guys.
Weleda needed to get its arsch in gear, if it wanted to stay relevant among all this competition...and break out of “cult fave” status into the mainstream. |
Weleda’s introduced a number of new products with Smoothing, Plumping, and Rejuvenating skin care lines, but its #1 strategy has been to scale Skin Food. Remember: let consumer behavior (sales yes, but also social signals, earned media, celeb credibility, etc.) guide your growth strategy.
In 2019, Weleda introduced the Skin Food Experience, a smorgasbord of new Skin Food products, including a lighter version of the heavy cult fave, plus a body butter, and a lip butter.
And it worked. In 2020, Weleda North America reported that it sold a Skin Food product every five seconds. But the Skin Foodapalooza was not over! In 2023, we got Skin Food day and night creams. Followed by Skin Food oil-to-milk cleanser in 2024. In 2025, Weleda rolled out a Skin Food serum stick and face mist. |
They turned their hero product into an entire product CATEGORY.
What Skin Food will they come up with next? I’m thinking sunscreen. As Weleda expanded its offerings with all the Skin Food SKUs, it also expanded its retail footprint.
Today their selection on Amazon is more comprehensive than anything you’ll find in an American health store.
OMG, there’s toothpaste and 1 of the flavors is Salt and it looks like peanut butter! I’m terrified intrigued. |
Sorry, I’m crashing out back. Back to retail: Weleda is now sold at Target and as of 2021, Walgreens and CVS.
At the same time, Weleda has doubled down on its clean beauty credibility. It became a certified B Corporation in September 2021. When the competition raises the bar in a category you OWN, you need to remind people: you’re true to this, not new to this. 🧛♀️ And, a new team of Gen Z social media managers are using Instagram and TikTok to amplify all the love Weleda organically gets from celebrities.
But, they’ve got a long way to go. @weleda global has only 196K Instagram followers. @weleda_usa has 60K. And the feeds read as very…branded. In a bad way. Puzzle grids? In 2025? On TikTok, @weleda and @weleda_usa experiment with amplifying celeb love, getting meta about working in marketing, and trend exploration.
Nothing’s gone as viral as Skin Food itself, but that’s a good problem to have.
Okay, now the Weleda moment we’ve all been waiting for: the rebrand announced in March 2025 (or at least, the logo reveal).
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And…….we’re still waiting, I hope think.
Because this is giving Walmart rebrand energy. |
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. Weleda didn’t launch its 1st global brand campaign until 2019 and its first Skin Food TV campaign in the UK until 2022. Weleda plans to:
1️⃣. Update its logo with more refined typography and a more ~aesthetic~ Rod of Asclepius logo that evokes medicine and health.
2️⃣. Change its tagline from “Since 1921” to “Natural Science” or “Swiss Natural Science” to lean into its heritage and medicinal plant ingredients. 3️⃣. Keep Skin Food’s signature green and white packaging, so it’s easy to spot. |
Weleda plans to roll out new packaging over time, as they use up the old products, because it doesn’t want to waste any materials with the old branding. I find that very on-brand and pragmatic. And kinda crunchy-cute.
I assume the website relaunch will follow, because VAT IST THIS? |
I’ll be slathering my everything in all the Skin Food formulations and waiting…for their ecom game to catch up with their products. Auf Wiedersehen, Weleda rebrand. FOR NOW. |
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Daniel is still watching Dawson's Creek and I still can't get into it. I feel sad that I can't - it's like some people's Gilmore Girls. Hoping it clicks for me soon. We've been watching for what feels like years.
Yours, Ari |
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