5 Beauty Copackers to Watch in 2024!

Cheers to the first Friday of 2024! Here’s to 51 more.

Before I dive into a new series I'm excited about regularly posting, I'd like to give a shout-out to our sponsor: Factory6 - an integrated contract manufacturer and co-packer that offers complete turnkey service. With expertise in Capsules, Tablets, and Powders, clients receive superior and unique nutraceutical products.

Now onto a list of 5 beauty copackers, I'm big on this year! (Yes, copacker = contract manufacturer in this list)

220 Labs

Year Founded: 1991

Number of Employees: 101-250 (per Crunchbase)

Location: Riverside, CA

Core Competencies: “Hair, Skin, & Body”

Google Reviews: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

CEO / Founder: Yoram Fishman

My Thoughts: Interesting. Their website is stuck in the year they were founded, but I find that interesting because they aren’t hiding behind a fluffy website. Are those stock images unfriendly? Sure. Are they not found on LinkedIn? Yep. But something tells me they mean business, don’t have time for social media or website optimization, and are likely good at what they do. PLZ, a $260m+ company, acquired them back in 2021. So they are doing something right.

Ko-Pack

Year Founded: 2020

Number of Employees: 7 (per LinkedIn)

Location: Chandler, AZ

Core Competencies: “waxes to butter, lotions to shampoos, serums to soaps, and powder cleansers to essential oils”

Google Reviews: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

CEO / Founder: Payton LaCivita

My Thoughts: I’m biased toward the young copacker. Maybe because I’ve had 4 kids and love watching them grow up, or maybe because the younger copackers are just more flexible, eager, and willing to outwork their competition. Kopack has added capabilities significantly since 2020. Having talked with Payton before, he’s incredibly committed to what he’s building and the industry as a whole. I’m confident that your brand, no matter how small or big, will be in good hands at Kopack.

Garcoa

Year Founded: 1983

Number of Employees: 63 (per LinkedIn)

Location: Calabasas, CA | Chicago, IL | Ottawa, IL | Brampton, Canada

Core Competencies: “Hair care, Skin Care, Body Care, Bath Care, Face Care, Foot Care, First Aid, Household Cleaning, OTC

Google Reviews: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

CEO / Founder: Greg Rubin

My Thoughts: Unlike 220Labs, Garcoa has a pretty robust website. They have a ton of capacity. 3 different manufacturing facilities are a plus. They have a pretty lean team, at least according to LinkedIn. I assume they have more than 63 employees based on their size. This could be a concern or could be just the opposite. Overall, I’m pretty big on Garcoa as a manufacturer. I’d just be concerned about their want to work with smaller brands. They are likely better suited for medium or large brands. Still doesn’t hurt to reach out if you’re a startup.

Cohere Beauty

Year Founded: 1972

Number of Employees: 800+ (per Website)

Location: Santa Fe Springs, CA | Phoenix, IL | Omaha, NE | Cedar Grove, NJ

Core Competencies: “Hair Care, Face Care, Body Care, Specialty Products”

Google Reviews: ⭐⭐⭐

CEO / Founder: Christine Staples

My Thoughts: Cohere is much like Garcoa, at least from the 30k mile-high view. They have a stunning website. Their capabilities are vast. They are a combination of 4 different companies, so their experience within the beauty industry is vast. I’ve been on a few phone calls with them and they are attentive, proactive, and truly solutions-oriented. They have ready-to-go formulas, a library of over 10k hybrid formulas that the brand owner can tweak, and of course, fully customized formulations. I know most co-man’s don’t do this, but if I were them, I’d think about acquiring (or seriously investing in) a packaging manufacturer. Knowing how imperative packaging is in the beauty industry, being able to control the supply chain from that perspective would be immense.

Craft Beauty Lab

Year Founded: 2016

Number of Employees: 3 (per Linkedin)

Location: Tucson, AZ

Core Competencies: “Cleansers, Scrubs, Balms, Salves, Lotions, Creams, Liquids, Gels, Serums”

Google Reviews: N/A

CEO / Founder: Christina Mahar

My Thoughts: What can I say? They are small. They are young. They are set up to work with startup brands by offering small production runs. This is often a pain point for a lot of startups. Their typical run sizes are between 500 and 25k units. This is hard to come by in the beauty industry. I think of them as more than a manufacturer; they are an extension of your brand. Oh, they are also on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. I love it when copackers are where the brands are! It makes too much sense and many copackers don’t do that. If I were launching a beauty brand, Craft Beauty Lab would definitely be one of the first I’d call.

That’s all! Hope you enjoyed this overview of these 5 copackers doing their thang in the beauty industry.

Also, don’t forget to check out their profiles on Comanufactured - my trusted copacker marketplace to connect your brand with the right manufacturing partner.

If you’ve worked with any of the copackers on the list, I’d love it if you could leave a review of your experience. It truly helps the community!

Lastly, are you a copacker and want to get added to the Comanufactured marketplace? Let’s connect!

This truly is a first of its kind. We are more than a matchmaker. We are more than just a directory. We build trust within the CPG community and fix the broken copacker-brand relationship.

Email me: [email protected]