Nordstrom's New Category Makes It So Much Easier To Shop Black-Owned Beauty Brands

Over the past few months, virtual directories of Black-owned businesses have been springing up all over the internet, except where you actually want them: On the e-commerce sites themselves. But finding BIPOC-founded brands shouldn't feel like searching for needles in a haystack, at least not with Nordstrom's new Inclusive Beauty category now compiling them ever-conveniently into a single, curated space.

In a June statement, Nordstrom laid out its plans to prioritize diversity among brand partnerships, vowing to deliver $500 million in retail sales "owned by, operated by, or designed by Black and/or Latinx individuals" within the next five years. Now a few months into the mission, the retailer is making progress on that claim with a new category showcasing Black-owned beauty.

"It has always been a top priority to ensure we offer our customers an inclusive assortment that meets everyone's beauty needs," Autumne West, Nordstrom's National Beauty Director, said in a press release on October 15. "We hope that by launching the Inclusive Beauty online category, we'll make it easier for all customers to find products that meet their specific beauty needs across skin care, hair care, hair tools, makeup, and men's grooming."

So far, the Black-Owned Beauty category — a subset of the broader Inclusive category — includes 111 products from almost 20 brands.

Seven of them are new to Nordstrom, including Baby Tress, creator of the Edge Styler; Beauty Bakerie, a line of cruelty-free, research-driven makeup inspired by baked goods; BeautyStat, whose Universal C Skin Refiner falls into the category of cult-classic serums; and Bomba Curls, churning out clean and sustainable, wellness-based curl products.

The widely loved natural haircare brand Briogeo has been added alongside Epara Skincare and Queer Eye star Karamo Brown's own MANTL. In addition to the online category, Inclusive Beauty can be found at 27 select Nordstrom locations throughout the U.S.

Some of The Zoe Report's favorite findings, ahead.

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