Melbourne-based men’s skincare brand, Black Leopard, will open its first standalone retail store this year and take its offering international, as it looks to pounce on the $33 billion male grooming market. The family-owned business currently has 13 items in the range, including a face scrub, anti-shine moisturiser, hair styling cream, and nourishing lip balm, and is only sold online via the Black Leopard website, which launched earlier this month. Peter Collins, president of Black Leopar
rd, began working on the concept of Black Leopard along with his three sons around two years ago, and told Inside Retail Weekly that the first Black Leopard retail store will open on Chapel St in Melbourne’s South Yarra.
The two level, 150sqm store is scheduled to open between October and November and will house all of Black Leopard’s products, with the company also looking to collaborate with other men’s brands for additional products, such as shaving kits.
“We’ve done a lot of research and there’s probably two reasonable men’s brands that operate in Australia, and the rest are mainly women’s products for men,” Collins said.
“There’s lot of opportunity. We haven’t really seen any men’s brands rolling out standalone stores for skincare either.”
Over the next 12 months, Black Leopard will look to open a second store in Sydney, expand its range, with SPF moisturisers, aftershave, and face masks likely new products, and also look to international markets.
Collins said the brand has had interest from around 60 countries but is mainly focusing on Asia, which makes up around 60 per cent of total global sales in the male grooming market, and India.
