“We sell nothing but the best.”
Andy Shin, CEO, Rosée & Co.

Rosée & Co, the brand known for its colored contacts, has launched a new product, lip gloss. Colored contact lenses and lip glosses may seem far apart, but they’re both indispensable in beauty, and they’ve both been through Rosée’s rigorous development process. Meet the President Andy Shin and his unique product and management philosophy: extensive research, rigorous testing, fail-safes, and an uncompromising approach to products.

 

Rosée No.2, Lip Gloss 

Rosée is located in Chicago’s Bellwood area. Half of the 13,000-square-foot warehouse is filled with colored contacts and the other half with lip glosses. The lip gloss product line, which launched in October, was ordered in quantities of 1 million units from a factory in China. What does he make of this bold movement?

 

“Company K, a global company in the beauty industry, is the only one ordering this quantity in the beauty supply industry.”

Andy Shin explains his reason to bet big. “The factory had a good argument. The product I benchmarked was a $40 lip gloss from a luxury D brand, and they said my quality standard cannot be met at our price point. I insisted though, and they said I’d have to order 1 million units. That’s what I did.”

Companies like to test markets first where they order a small amount first and make follow-up orders only if it works out, but the factory doesn’t make a profit that way. If the market doesn’t react well, all future orders may be withdrawn. Understanding the factory’s legitimate concerns, Mr. Shin made one more bold decision at the outset. “I sent a 70% down payment in advance. And he put his foot down saying, “I’ve done my part, now it’s your turn to make it right.”

It took a whopping 14 months to finalize the lip gloss. That’s because Mr. Shin is so thorough in product development. When the factory sent them samples, they’d try them all out, adjusting the balances and scents. It was only after 150 samples were sent back and forth that the product was ready for market.

“I finished up the development process and said thank you to the factory. I expressed my gratitude for not giving up when I was very demanding. Then they laughed and said, ‘You’re like Steve Jobs.'”

 

Rosée No.1, Colored Contacts

Rosée & Co. started as a colored contact lens supplier in 2020. The company received FDA approval in October of that year and launched the Mint series the following year.

“Usually, the colors of lenses vary, but the packaging is uniform. When I tried selling it at retail, I saw the downside. They’re busy, so after showing a product to a customer, they often misplace them. It would get mixed up over time, and customers often end up with wrong colors, so there were a lot of requests for returns. That’s why we’ve marked the packages in colored series.”

 

Currently, Rosée have three colored contact lens series, each with its own color theme: mint, red, and pink (with yellow coming next summer)

* Mint Series: Classic Style for Classic Eyes
– Debuted in February 2021/ Available in 29 colors
– A longtime favorite, this general contacts line is trendy and stylish.

* RED Series: For Cosplay & Party
– Debuted in August 2021/ Available in 29 colors
– Magical & enchanting for costume cosplaying or parties.

* PINK Series: For K-Pop Idol-inspired Styles
– Debuted in February 2022 / Available in 28 colors
– Star/Galaxy patterns are hand-crafted on the lenses to make them glittery and sparkly in the light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How the contacts business was a mountain after a mountain

Mr. Shin started planning his contact lens business in 2004. The reason was simply, “I don’t want to be in the business just anyone can do.” Compared to other items, the contact lenses are considered a medical device, which raises the bar for newcomers. But it took more than a decade to put that dream into action.”

“Life wasn’t always going my way. I went bankrupt once, got tricked by an acquaintance into buying a poorly performing store and went bankrupt again, opened another store in a different location but got foreclosed on by the bank because the landlord missed mortgage payments … ended up on the street, and then opened my current retail store, Beauty Gallery. Money was tight, so I erected the walls, laid the flooring, and did a lot of the hard work myself. Still, I didn’t let go of the dream of contact lenses. If I’d ever gotten the chance, I’d be going all in.”

While running a beauty supply, he was constantly researching the market, gathering information, and raising funds. In 2017, he finally got to work on the products, and it wasn’t easy, he says. “I collected pictures of people all over the world and captured their eyes. I’ve sorted them into hundreds of folders and zoomed in by race, and they’re all different, but they all have Hazel color in common. I used it as the base color. It took us three years to figure that out.”

 

After all the hard work of color schemes and product development, the next hurdle was FDA approval. While general manufacturing only requires the manufacturer to be licensed by the FDA for export to the U.S., contact lenses are classified as medical devices, so both the manufacturer and distributor must be licensed. The FDA application was not only loaded with paperworks, but also expensive.

“My beauty supply license renewal fee is $125 per year, but the FDA one costs $12,000. So everyone’s prone to go rogue. I’ve sold many contact lenses in my shop. I trusted the seller because they showed me FDA certificates. One day, a customer had a problem with her eye, and I contacted the seller, but they didn’t return my calls. When the police came, I produced the documents. Only then I realized they were all fake. It goes into people’s eyes, so that’s not acceptable.”

It wasn’t until 2020, when they received their FDA license under the name Rosée & Co, that they started looking for a lens manufacturer, and the response was unexpected. “I called four Korean factories, and they were all less than enthusiastic. They got a lot of requests from the US, and most of them were seeking under the table deals for illegal distribution. If it gets caught, the factory’s license would get revoked. So they were like, “Show us the FDA paperwork,” and I sent them right away, and they were going crazy. It was their ‘first’ official export in 30 years.“

 

 

Rosée’s growth has a good reason

After many bumps and bruises, the contacts were out in the market, but selling it was another matter. Beauty supply retailers were already on a high alert for illegal contacts and the potential risks.

“If I visit 100 stores in a year for most products, I would persuade 60. But for the contacts I have to go 15 places to get 1 business. Mistrust is widespread. So, opening 100 merchant accounts for contacts is a daunting task, but we’ve opened 1,300 accounts so far. The secret? I had all the paperwork to prove it.”

To sell colored contact lenses, you need FDA approval, insurance, and National Contact Lens Examiners(NCLE) certification. The company is open and transparent with its documentation, and added the shop’s name to its insurance policy so that shopkeepers can sell with confidence. “I pay over $2,000 a month in insurance for our contacts. Customers who wear our contacts and have a problem will be covered up to $2 million in medical bills, up to 200 incidents in a year. If you’re not going to take responsibility, you shouldn’t sell it.”

In the four years he’s been selling contacts, he’s only had two claims. One time, the insurance policy covered the medical bills to treat a customer who had dry eyes due to a pre-existing condition that caused the outer layer of an eye, corneal epithelium, to fall off when removing lenses. Another time was a repeat fraudster who was looking for insurance money. A family knew there were shops selling illegal contacts, and they would travel around the country and extort money from them. That’s why Rosée has double and triple safeguards, despite the high monthly cost.

 

 

Rosée’s backward sales policy

Once the contacts business stabilized, Mr. Shin turned his attention to lip gloss. I had a plan when I chose lip gloss. “We’ve opened up 1,300 accounts so far. Now we go to the rest of the stores with lip gloss. It’s an easy item to buy and sell with little worries about inventory.”

 

 

Even though it’s one of many items on the market, the 0.5 fl. oz. tube represents Rosée’s care and quality that is second to none. It’s made of 100% plant-based, natural ingredients and free of a known cancer risk, parabens, that are often found in cheaper products. The package design, logo, and even the stickers were tailored to the tastes of Millenials and Gen Zs, and the hexagonal-shaped cap is patented. Lip gloss products are also insured.The idea is that even though it’s made with safe ingredients, one in a million people can have an adverse reaction. That alone costs a lot of money. And a whopping 1 million units in the warehouse. Still, Mr. Shin has faith that it will succeed. “Over the years, we’ve built up so much trust in our contact lenses that when we show them the lip gloss, it leads to orders almost every time.”

 

When asked if there is a difference in retail price between online and in-store, the answer was surprising. “Our lip gloss will be sold at Beauty Supply for $2.49 and on Amazon for $6.99.”

Many products are cheaper online than in brick-and-mortar stores, but Rosée works backwards. “If I sell it for $6.99, it’s not going to fly off the shelf on Amazon. But nowadays, consumers are internet savvy, so they’ll know that their local beauty supply has a much better deal.”

 

The next 30 years, why Rosée won’t stop

When asked what the next plan was, the answer was simple: to keep launching products. After contacts, they just launched lip gloss and are finalizing research for the next product. There’s a reason why Mr. Shin is so greedy. “I just happened to meet and get to know our dealers, and there are a lot of heartbreaking stories. I have to feed these people for next 30 years.”

Rosée established a distribution system that sells only through dealers, not directly from the company. There are eight authorized dealers who have been with the company for a long time, and Mr. Shin is like family to them. “In retail, I was known to salespeople as ‘the client who picks up the bill’. I’m in the store all day, so I hear from them about what’s going on in the world. We’ll get together, have a barbecue party, and so on… That’s how everyone at Rosée is from.” One of them, Christine, the head of marketing, interjected. “His dream is to see all of us driving Mercedes-Benzes.”

Five full years and 30 more to go. We can’t wait to see more of Rosée’s products take over the beauty market. We look forward to seeing all of his employees driving Mercedes Benz.