The RealReal Shuts Down Its Beauty Business

Say goodbye to the The RealReal’s dynamite deals on skincare, hair care, and fragrance — the luxury resale giant is quashing its beauty category in an effort to refocus on fashion consignment, the core of its business.

According to a company spokesperson, The RealReal’s beauty division comprises “a small piece” of its marketplace. “We’ll continue to sell through the existing inventory and sunset the category,” the representative told WWD.

At the time of publishing, its website stocked brands including pricey perfume house Ormaie, clean hair care purveyor Ceremonia, and Kindred Black, a skincare, makeup, and fragrance label that packages its products in hand-blown glass.

The RealReal’s withdrawal from beauty runs counter to retailers’ recent embrace of the category. Over the past year, e-commerce and brick-and-mortar giants including FarFetch, Moda Operandi, and Best Buy have expanded into makeup and skincare, which some consider to be recession-proof.

But The RealReal has bigger fish to fry than keeping its beauty division afloat. In February, the company laid off approximately 230 employees and announced the closure of four stores including its flagship locations in San Francisco and Chicago.

The cutbacks weren’t exactly a surprise to anyone who’d followed allegations that The RealReal — which claims to employ a rigorous authentication process — sold fake designer items. The accusations first surfaced in 2019, when CNBC spoke to former employees who shared firsthand accounts of counterfeits, damaged items, and pricing errors slipping through the cracks.

Four years later, the scandal hasn’t blown over. Last August, The Cut published a feature investigating the “dumpster fire” that is The RealReal. Log on to TikTok or Twitter, and you’ll find no shortage of disgruntled customers (including former Real Housewife Bethany Frankel) taking to social media with their unsavory shopping experiences with the company.