Target Codesigns Haeze, Very Great's First Fragrance Brand

Very Great invested several million dollars into Haeze, a fragrance brand codeveloped with Target that launches November 1 in every Target store nationwide and on target.com. It is the New York incubator's first beauty brand.

The company confirmed the spend in a statement: "We invested several million dollars to launch Haeze the right way, in the highest-quality product, multiple formats and best-in-class content and marketing."

Who is behind Haeze?

Cofounders Josh Williams and Eric Prum founded Very Great in 2016. The incubator's portfolio includes W&P, Wild One and Courant — kitchenware, pet accessories and tech, respectively. Beauty is new territory for the pair, and Haeze took 18 months to develop.

Creative director Andy Anderson, based in Los Angeles, led the brand build and the packaging. Swiss fragrance house Givaudan created the scents.

What does the brand sell?

The premise is layering. Anderson rejects the industry's signature-scent orthodoxy outright.

"The fragrance industry, in our experience in the past, has loved to sell you on the idea of pick your signature scent, singular, and Haeze is asking why? Why do you have to pick just a single version of yourself?" Anderson said.

The debut collection runs five eau de parfums:

• & Only This — amber with clove bud, iris and ambroxan
• Petal Pusher — floral with pink pepper, bergamot and cashmere wood
• SPF 1987 — gourmand with banana leaf, sea salt and coconut
• Ember Noir — woody with patchouli, cedar and vanilla
• Down Pour — fresh aquatic with rainwater, neroli and vetiver

Each scent comes in four formats: a $49 eau de parfum, a $25 body, hair and linen mist, a $20 solid fragrance that doubles as a bag charm, and a $10 candle. A $20 discovery set completes the range. All formulations are vegan and cruelty-free.

Anderson also designed the bottles: geometric forms with cube-shaped bases, spherical caps and concentric rings meant to suggest planetary orbits and rippling water.

"I view each of these scents as their own world within a bottle that create the Haeze universe together," Anderson said.

How deep does Target's involvement go?

Deeper than shelf space. Target codeveloped both the brand and the product collection, a step beyond its usual retailer role.

"Our guests want to explore fragrances in ways that feel personal, playful and entirely their own," Amanda Nusz, senior vice president of essentials and beauty merchandising at Target, said in a statement to WWD.

Williams has worked with Target across ventures for roughly a decade. He argues the retailer's scale lets Haeze fund Givaudan formulations and custom packaging without inflating prices.

"They're bringing to the table distribution that can sustain those quality choices," Williams said.

The pricing supports the claim. A $49 eau de parfum sits well below typical Givaudan-developed launches at specialty retail.

Who is the customer?

Primarily Gen Z and younger Millennials. The founders see room to reach a broader demographic over time.

The launch campaign runs on five cinematic short films, one per fragrance, plus content across social media and Target's own platforms.

Williams frames the ambition plainly: "We're launching and building this brand as a true brand universe that we need to create from zero to 100."

He confirmed expansion beyond traditional beauty formats within the next 12 to 18 months, with future development steered by consumer response to the first collection.

A mass retailer codesigning a fragrance brand with an incubator — rather than licensing one — is the notable move here. Expect Target's rivals to study whether Haeze's $10-to-$49 architecture moves units at scale.