LEADING VOICES
S Salad. Suitcases. Razors. Face wash. None of these words typically inspire enthusiasm. But when associated with certain fast-growing enterprises, the reactions can be rapturous. Sweetgreen’s Nicolas Jammet, Away’s Jen Rubio, Walker & Company’s Tristan Walker, and Glossier’s Emily Weiss talk to Fast Company’s Amy Farley about creating products that provoke passion.
“The insight that we had at Glossier,” says Weiss, “was to encourage every woman to become her own expert.”
When we talk about cult brands, we often mean companies that have been able to identify a void in the marketplace. Was this on your mind when you were founding your business? E M I LY W E I S S : Beauty has traditionally been brands telling customers that they have some kind of inadequacy or that they should ascribe to a specific idea of perfection.
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The insight that we had at Glossier was to encourage every woman to become her own expert. T R I STA N WA L K E R : I couldn’t shave, and I was frustrated. I thought, Here is an industry that’s been around for 100 years and, [because] I have curly hair on my face, I couldn’t use any of the mass-market tools that existed. And the shopping experience sucked: