Nearly a year since it launched, Atwater is making its first category expansion.
The affordable men’s grooming brand founded by former Kiehl’s president Chris Salgardo is entering the nail category, launching a range of four nail polish colors in dark hues of black, gray, green and blue that each retail for $20. The polishes will be available for preorder on Tuesday.
Salgardo explained the brand’s entry into the nail category felt natural as male customers have been more open to experimenting with grooming and beauty products in recent years.
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“I felt like it was a category that men were accepting,” he explained, naming musicians like Harry Styles as some men who have been spearheading this movement. “It’s amazing, I’ll catch an interview and it seems like more and more men are rocking polish. I felt like it was another move in just helping to continue to break down those stereotypes to make grooming more acceptable for men.”
Salgardo explained that 40 percent of Atwater’s customer base is between the ages of 18 and 34 and that the brand is seeing a big growth in its TikTok following. So the nail category launch is also meant as an accessible entry point into the brand for new, younger customers and another area of experimentation for current customers.
Atwater’s nail launch is the brand’s second philanthropic initiative. Atwater is partnering with amfAR to donate $10,000 from sales of the nail collection. Salgardo himself has worked closely with amfAR since the ‘90s and has been honored twice by the organization.
After more than a decade at Kiehl’s, Salgardo launched Atwater last August after still seeing a white space in the men’s grooming market. He created his brand to offer an affordable, full range of products that address virtually all grooming concerns.
“Men seem to be embracing and taking care of their skin more than I’ve seen in the past,” he said. “As much as I think men are getting there, I think it’s still somewhat of a challenge and it’s still breaking down those stereotypes to get him to cross the line and want to take care of himself. I’m excited that retailers are embracing men in a much larger way than I’ve seen before and men’s [grooming] is no longer this tiny little area at the back of the store.”
In addition to its direct-to-consumer business, Atwater has quickly built up its retail distribution with major partners. The brand first launched exclusively at Nordstrom and this year has entered Saks Fifth Avenue and Bluemercury.
“I’ve always believed in an omnichannel approach,” Salgardo said about his retail partners. “I think the industry sort of bobs and weaves with it. At some point, we saw everyone was in wholesale and then digital started to rise and everyone was like, ‘you need to be in digital and retail is dead.’ I’ve just never believed that. I think the opportunity to express the brand is so important that you need to be able to show up in different ways so the customer can discover you.”
Going forward, Salgardo has his sights set on other category expansions, such as hair care and body, but will do so at the brand’s own pace.
“We can go deeper into grooming,” he said. “I think there’s space for hair products, for beard and body that will just allow him to be the very best version of himself and a routine that can last a lifetime. I want to go into those categories gradually when I think there’s something interesting and we have a perspective because to simply put something out there with the amount of products that we see, it’s just not going to resonate.”