Kendo Brands
LVMH's beauty incubator, the company that built Fenty Beauty. Now winding down after failing to launch a second hit.
Kendo Brands is a beauty brand incubator owned by LVMH. It doesn’t sell products under its own name. It builds, manufactures, and distributes beauty brands in partnership with founders and celebrities. Its most successful brand is Fenty Beauty, which generates over $600 million in annual revenue.
It’s also, as of 2025, winding down. LVMH is exploring a sale of its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty — which represents nearly all of Kendo’s value. Every other brand Kendo built has been sold, shut down, or stalled. Business of Fashion called the potential Fenty sale “a death knell for the beauty incubator.”
Kendo is still worth understanding. It’s the clearest example of what a beauty incubator does: it provides everything a beauty brand needs except the creative vision — formulation, manufacturing, packaging, supply chain, regulatory compliance, and global distribution through LVMH’s retail network, primarily Sephora.
At a glance:
| What it is | Beauty brand incubator and manufacturer |
| Parent company | LVMH |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Biggest brand | Fenty Beauty ($602M revenue, 2024) |
| Current brands | Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, Fenty Hair, Fenty Fragrance, Ole Henriksen, Lip Lab |
| Former brands | KVD Beauty (sold 2025), Bite Beauty (closed 2022), Marc Jacobs Beauty (license expired 2021) |
| Primary retailer | Sephora (also owned by LVMH) |
What Kendo Actually Does
When someone like Rihanna decides to launch a beauty brand, she doesn’t set up a factory or figure out cosmetics chemistry. Kendo does all of that. Here’s what their side of the operation covers:
Product formulation. Kendo’s in-house labs develop the actual products — foundations, lipsticks, skincare, fragrance. The founder provides direction (Rihanna wanted 40 foundation shades covering every skin tone), and Kendo’s chemists make it happen.
Manufacturing. Kendo operates or contracts manufacturing facilities that produce products at scale. Getting a beauty product from formula to finished, packaged, shelf-ready goods involves dozens of steps: ingredient sourcing, batch production, quality control, stability testing, filling, packaging, labeling. Kendo handles all of it.
Regulatory compliance. Selling cosmetics internationally means meeting different safety and labeling regulations in every country. The EU, US, China, Japan, and others all have different requirements. Kendo manages this across 150+ countries for Fenty Beauty alone.
Supply chain and distribution. Getting products from the factory to Sephora shelves in 35 countries requires logistics infrastructure that takes years to build. Kendo has it ready.
Retail placement. Because LVMH owns both Kendo and Sephora, Kendo brands get access to Sephora’s retail network — prime shelf placement, inclusion in promotions, and often exclusive launch windows.
Brands Kendo Has Built
Fenty Beauty (2017–present): Rihanna. 50/50 partnership. $602 million revenue in 2024. Expanded into Fenty Skin (2020), Fenty Fragrance (2021), and Fenty Hair (2024). Kendo’s only genuine success — and the source of nearly all its value.
Ole Henriksen (acquired 2011–present): Danish skincare brand founded by celebrity facialist Ole Henriksen in 1984. Kendo acquired it and expanded distribution through Sephora. Still operating.
Lip Lab (spun off from Bite Beauty): In-store experience where customers create custom lipsticks. Survived Bite Beauty’s closure and operates as its own concept.
Brands Kendo Lost
KVD Beauty (formerly Kat Von D Beauty, 2008–2025): Originally launched with tattoo artist Kat Von D. She departed in 2020 following controversies, and it was rebranded to KVD Beauty. Revenue dropped from ~$150 million at its peak to tens of millions. Kendo sold it to Windsong Global in September 2025 — the first brand Kendo ever sold.
Bite Beauty (2011–2022): Canadian lip product brand. Kendo acquired it in 2014. In 2020, Bite attempted a clean beauty rebrand — reformulating its entire line as vegan. The rebrand flopped. The pandemic crushed lipstick sales at the same time. Bite closed entirely in 2022. The Lip Lab stores survived as a separate concept.
Marc Jacobs Beauty (2013–2021): Licensed beauty line, not a Kendo-built brand. The license expired in 2021 and was briefly picked up by Coty before being discontinued. Never built sustained momentum.
The pattern is clear: Fenty Beauty succeeded massively. Everything else either stalled, failed, or was sold at a loss. Kendo spent eight years after Fenty’s launch without producing another hit. That’s the core problem with the incubator model — it works spectacularly when it works, and it’s expensive when it doesn’t.
Why Kendo Is Winding Down
LVMH is reportedly working with investment bank Evercore to sell its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty. If that sale happens, Kendo loses the brand that generates nearly all of its revenue. What’s left — Ole Henriksen and Lip Lab — doesn’t justify the overhead of a full incubator operation.
The broader lesson: building beauty brands from scratch is hard, even with unlimited resources. Kendo had LVMH’s manufacturing, Sephora’s shelves, and significant capital. It still only produced one brand that worked. The beauty incubator model requires finding the right founder with the right audience at the right cultural moment. Rihanna was that. Kendo never found a second one.
This doesn’t mean the incubator model is dead. It means it’s high-risk, high-reward — even at the LVMH level. For context, LVMH also houses beauty brands outside of Kendo — Benefit Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever (founded by makeup artist Dany Sanz), Guerlain, and the new Louis Vuitton “La Beauté” line created with makeup artist Pat McGrath. These sit under other LVMH divisions, not Kendo.
How a Kendo Partnership Works
Kendo partnerships aren’t standardized — each deal is negotiated. But the general structure:
The founder brings: Brand vision, creative direction, audience or cultural relevance, product ideas, ongoing involvement in marketing and product development.
Kendo brings: Formulation, manufacturing, supply chain, regulatory, distribution through Sephora and other retailers, capital for launch and marketing.
Ownership: Varies by deal. Rihanna negotiated a 50/50 split, which is unusually favorable for the founder. Most incubator deals give the founder less — sometimes significantly less. The founder’s negotiating power depends on what they bring that Kendo can’t get elsewhere. Rihanna’s global audience and cultural influence gave her the leverage for an equal split.
How it differs from licensing: In a licensing deal, the founder gets royalties (typically 3-10% of revenue) but owns nothing. In a Kendo partnership, the founder owns actual equity in the brand. When the brand’s value increases, the founder’s wealth increases proportionally.
What This Means for Independent Beauty Founders
You don’t need Kendo to launch a beauty brand. Contract manufacturers (also called private label or white label manufacturers) offer similar services at smaller scales:
| Kendo / LVMH incubator | Contract manufacturer | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum order | Not applicable (they invest in the brand) | 500-5,000 units typically |
| Cost to founder | $0 upfront (they invest capital) | $5,000-$50,000+ for initial production |
| What you give up | Significant equity (potentially 50%+) | Nothing — you own 100% |
| Distribution | Global through Sephora | You handle your own |
| Formulation support | Full in-house labs | Most offer it, quality varies |
| Realistic access | Extremely limited — invitation only | Open to anyone with capital |
For most women starting a beauty brand, a contract manufacturer is the realistic path. Companies like Cosmetica Laboratories, Kolmar Korea, and smaller domestic manufacturers will formulate, produce, and package products at MOQs (minimum order quantities) starting at a few hundred units.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply to Kendo to launch my brand?
Kendo doesn’t have a public application process, and given its current trajectory, new partnerships are unlikely. If you’re building a beauty brand and want to work with a large beauty company, the most realistic path is building a successful independent brand first. Acquirers look for brands that have already proven product-market fit, not ideas.
Does Kendo own the brands it incubates?
It varies. In Fenty Beauty’s case, it’s a 50/50 split between Rihanna and LVMH (through Kendo). KVD Beauty was 100% Kendo-owned after Kat Von D’s departure — and was eventually sold to Windsong Global.
How is Kendo different from a contract manufacturer?
A contract manufacturer makes your products for a fee. You own everything and handle your own distribution. Kendo is a full partner — they invest capital, handle manufacturing AND distribution, and take an ownership stake in return. It’s the difference between hiring a factory and partnering with a conglomerate.
Sources
- LVMH, “Annual Report 2023”. Kendo Brands financial data, Perfumes & Cosmetics division revenue, and Fenty Beauty performance within the LVMH portfolio.
- Business of Fashion, “Kendo’s Fenty Problem,” 2024. Analysis of LVMH’s reported Evercore-led sale process, Kendo’s failure to produce a second hit brand, and the future of the beauty incubator model.
- WWD, “Kendo Brands: Inside the LVMH Beauty Incubator,” 2023. Kendo’s brand portfolio history, KVD Beauty decline, Bite Beauty closure, and Ole Henriksen status.
- Cosmetics Business, “How Fenty Beauty Changed the Industry,” 2024. Fenty Beauty revenue data ($602M, 2024), expansion into Fenty Skin/Fragrance/Hair, and the 50/50 partnership structure with Rihanna.
- Beauty Independent, “Kendo Sells KVD Beauty to Windsong Global,” 2025. KVD Beauty sale details, brand value decline from ~$150M peak, and Kendo’s remaining portfolio.
- Forbes, “Rihanna Billionaire Profile,” 2024. Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty stake valuation ($1-1.5B) and ownership structure within the Kendo partnership.