Key Takeaways
- Chen, a Parsons Faculty of Design graduate, got down to create ‘wearable artwork that basically exhibits who you’re.’
- Wu’s background in model advertising and marketing helped the co-founders construct environment friendly methods and scale.
- Now, with $1.5 million income and a ‘Shark Tank’ deal secured, the enterprise continues to broaden.
Susana Chen and Jess Wu’s New York-based magnificence startup By no means Have I Ever started with a easy query: What if artwork could possibly be residing on sudden canvases — not simply on printed T-shirts or hats?
Chen had some expertise with the latter, rising up in New York Metropolis’s Chinatown, the place she helped promote “I Love New York” tees and different custom-made gadgets at her mom’s memento store.
As an grownup, Chen graduated from Parsons Faculty of Design, labored at a number of artistic businesses, based the non-profit Asian Artistic Basis and attended craft gala’s, the place she bought artist-made items and noticed a hole available in the market when it got here to a sure slice of self-expression.
Chen noticed the potential to begin a enterprise promoting press-on nails, momentary tattoos and tooth gems — “wearable artwork that basically exhibits who you’re,” she says.
Chen introduced the thought to her former colleague Wu, whose company background in model advertising and marketing got here in useful. Wu has helped cross-cultural manufacturers, from shopper items to tech firms, go world. She knew learn how to construct environment friendly methods.
The duo formally launched By no means Have I Ever in November 2023. Chen says the model title has “a number of meanings to empower individuals of their individuality” — encompassing her and Wu beginning a enterprise for the primary time, artists experimenting with new mediums and clients making an attempt new seems to be.
Shifting shopper habits and a major ache level
It was a well-timed rollout, coinciding with a shift in shopper habits round non-essential magnificence companies. Final 12 months, salon house owners and different magnificence professionals throughout the U.S. reported decreased enterprise amid an financial downturn and intensive tariffs, per NBC Information.
By no means Have I Ever’s press-on nails, which retail from about $18 to $45, not solely supply customers a extra inexpensive choice to do their nails, but additionally tackle one other, typically missed ache level.
“I’m going to the nail salon,” Chen explains. “I need an artist’s work on my nails. However the artists don’t get credit score for the nail drawing, and the nail tech can’t draw precisely what I need. So the client isn’t glad. We simply solved that complete problem.”
By no means Have I Ever pulled in $3,000 to $5,000 per weekend
Within the early days, Chen and Wu introduced By no means Have I Ever’s artist-designed merchandise to craft gala’s to see if it will stick. It did, with the custom-made nails “simply bringing in $3,000 to $5,000 per weekend,” Chen says. That’s when it made sense to attend commerce exhibits and seize the eye of bigger retailers.
These days, By no means Have I Ever’s merchandise can be found at City Outfitters, Revolve, Anthropologie, PacSun, Zumiez and Nordstrom. What’s extra, in line with its creative roots, the model is carried at cultural establishments together with the Met Museum, MoMA and Denver Artwork Museum.
“ After we had this concept of working with artists, I knew I needed to promote to MoMA,” Chen says. “I needed to promote to Metropolitan. As a result of I don’t need to go simply to see artwork — I need to carry dwelling souvenirs of the artwork, however to not put it on my fridge or desk. I need to put on them.”
A enterprise mannequin permitting artists to monetize their work
From the outset, Chen and Wu centered creatives of their method. By no means Have I Ever works with greater than 100 artists, who’re usually paid 5% in royalties for his or her licensed paintings.
The vast majority of By no means Have I Ever’s provide chain is predicated in China, however the manufacturing course of is all the time a collaborative one, the co-founders say. As soon as an artist submits their paintings, By no means Have I Ever works intently with them to make sure the ultimate product stays true to their imaginative and prescient.
“We constructed an inner system and template to bridge artists’ artistic course of and manufacturing realities in order that we are able to reduce the hole between artwork and manufacturing,” Wu says. “So it’s typically fairly easy.”
Moreover, By no means Have I Ever showcases its artist group on its social media platforms. The enterprise’s social media technique isn’t simply centered on getting customers to buy the press-on nails; it makes some extent to spotlight the person artists behind the designs, Chen notes.
By no means Have I Ever boasts collaborations with artists together with Lorien Stern, Tay Beepboop, Jade Roland, Lily Hoang-Zhu (liliuhms), August Wren, Mercedes Bazan, Omotola, Zoe Wodarz, Hey Su Lee, Alice Lee and Priyanka, amongst many others.
Hitting $1.5 million in income and 120,000 items bought
By the top of 2025, By no means Have I Ever had about ten individuals on its group, half primarily based within the U.S. and half in China. The corporate closed out its second full 12 months in enterprise with $1.5 million in income, with 3.5X 12 months–over-year gross sales development and 120,000 items bought, per the corporate.
“ We went from promoting at a market on the weekend to now being in additional than 2,000 outlets in lower than two years,” Wu says, “so it was an extremely quick scale.”
What’s extra, in one other main milestone for the younger model, By no means Have I Ever appeared on an episode of Shark Tank final month.
“It was wild,” Chen says of pitching to the Sharks. “It was nerve-wracking. Nevertheless it was additionally one of the crucial weak experiences, speaking by means of rising up in New York Metropolis, promoting I really like New York T-shirts at my mother’s memento store [and how that] gave me the attitude to know the significance of artistic expression.”
By no means Have I Ever secured a cope with Kevin O’Leary: a $150,000 funding for 10% of the corporate and 50 cent per unit loyalty royalty capped at $450,000.
Turning into the go-to model in on the spot glam
Wanting forward, the co-founders intend to make By no means Have I Ever the go-to model within the on the spot glam class, persevering with to broaden into further retail shops and companion with new artists alongside the way in which.
Now’s a first-rate time to begin a brand new enterprise, Wu says, noting that aspiring entrepreneurs don’t want an enormous group or large finances to launch, simply an understanding of what they need to do and why they need to do it.
“We knew that we needed to assist artists,” Wu provides. “We needed to assist them do what they love.”
Key Takeaways
- Chen, a Parsons Faculty of Design graduate, got down to create ‘wearable artwork that basically exhibits who you’re.’
- Wu’s background in model advertising and marketing helped the co-founders construct environment friendly methods and scale.
- Now, with $1.5 million income and a ‘Shark Tank’ deal secured, the enterprise continues to broaden.
Susana Chen and Jess Wu’s New York-based magnificence startup By no means Have I Ever started with a easy query: What if artwork could possibly be residing on sudden canvases — not simply on printed T-shirts or hats?
Chen had some expertise with the latter, rising up in New York Metropolis’s Chinatown, the place she helped promote “I Love New York” tees and different custom-made gadgets at her mom’s memento store.
As an grownup, Chen graduated from Parsons Faculty of Design, labored at a number of artistic businesses, based the non-profit Asian Artistic Basis and attended craft gala’s, the place she bought artist-made items and noticed a hole available in the market when it got here to a sure slice of self-expression.
