Cardi B's Grow-Good Beauty Doubles Sales and Pulls New Shoppers to Revolve

Grow-Good Beauty nearly doubled its net sales from the second quarter to the third, co-founder and co-CEO Michael Mente said on Revolve Group's November 3 earnings call. The Cardi B hair-care line entered Revolve's top 10 selling brands within a quarter of launch. The company did not disclose the brand's revenue.

"Repeat purchases among existing customers have increased meaningfully over the past three months," Mente said. He added that Grow-Good was already contributing to the group's bottom line. Revolve disclosed no margins and no customer acquisition costs for the brand, so the profit claim rests on management's word alone.

Who is the Grow-Good customer?

The brand is reaching shoppers outside Revolve's established fashion audience, according to co-founder and co-CEO Mike Karanikolas. "The [Grow-Good] customer, of course, has a different profile than Revolve," he said. The company is "still in the early stages" of understanding those shoppers' behavior.

That gap in knowledge is notable. Revolve did not say how those customers differ demographically. It did not say whether they are also buying fashion.

What did the brand do to customer growth?

Grow-Good arrived during Revolve's strongest quarter for customer additions. The number of people who bought from the group over the 12 months ending September 30 reached 3.24 million, up 18% year over year. That compares with 11% growth in the second quarter.

Revolve added 202,000 active customers compared with the previous quarter, its largest quarterly increase. Karanikolas said Grow-Good played a "meaningful role" in bringing in new customers, though the company did not break out its contribution. "Even absent the [Grow-Good] additions, we would have seen acceleration in that active customer growth rate," CFO Jesse Timmermans said.

Timmermans framed beauty as serving two purposes: attracting new shoppers and giving existing customers another reason to buy.

What did it cost Revolve?

The growth carries a measurable trade-off. Grow-Good's lower-priced products helped bring Revolve's average order value down 5% year over year to $292. Without the brand, the figure would have been relatively flat, Timmermans said.

Revolve reports average order value as a key business metric. Smaller orders make shipping and fulfillment costs harder to absorb, which pressures the profit each purchase generates. Management says Grow-Good is already profitable, but the absence of disclosed margins leaves that claim untestable.

The beauty business also helped lower Revolve's overall return rate, which fell more than two percentage points year over year. Karanikolas credited part of the decline to a greater share of sales from beauty and from international markets, where return rates run lower. He did not quantify each factor's contribution.

Group sales rose 20% to $356 million in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA fell 7% to $23.5 million, as higher shipping costs more than offset the savings from fewer returns.

Where does Revolve go next?

The Cardi B venture has given Revolve confidence to pursue more partnerships. Karanikolas said it "opened the door for the opportunity with Donatella," referring to the group's fashion and beauty venture with Donatella Versace, announced on September 21. That venture is expected to introduce its first products in 2027, starting with beauty.

"We do think that the Donatella partnership will open even more doors," he said. "We will be extremely selective."

How is Grow-Good building on the momentum?

For the brand itself, the immediate priority is turning improved availability into sales. All products are back in stock after several early sellouts, Mente said, which allows Revolve to begin investing in marketing to build awareness. Mini versions are due to launch in November to encourage shoppers to try the range ahead of the holidays.

The marketing leans on Cardi B's existing audience and her history of sharing homemade hair treatments online. Creative agency Bully developed a 45-second launch film narrated by the rapper, which played to audiences on her national tour. The campaign's imagery and packaging drew inspiration from Bronx beauty supply stores, bodegas and Dominican salons, according to the agency.

Cardi B has promoted the brand in person as well. On March 24, she hosted a Shopify-backed beauty bus pop-up outside the Hip-Hop Museum in the Bronx. Grow-Good later ran an activation across both days of September's Create & Cultivate festival, where Cardi B performed. On the earnings call, Mente credited her profile and social following with supporting awareness, citing activations around her Create & Cultivate and iHeartRadio Music Festival performances.

The next test comes in the holiday quarter: whether mini formats and restored stock can convert a record cohort of new customers into repeat buyers at a price point Revolve has never centered its business on.