GREATER CHINA. Edward Forrest, Parfums Christian Dior’s outgoing Regional Director Travel Retailing Asia/Pacific, is to become General Manager Greater China for BeneFit Cosmetics. He will be based in Hong Kong.
BeneFit is 70% owned by Dior parent company LVMH. It was founded in 1970 and is based in San Francisco. Turnover in 2003 reached US$106 million.
Considered one of the beauty industry’s more innovative and creative cosmetic houses, it is described by LVMH as “an indy company, a young emerging enthusiastic line”.
Forrest told The Moodie Report: “The brand, one of the most dynamic in the world at the moment, will be launched here sometime in 2005. Clearly, I am going to miss Dior and the travel retail family a great deal but the prospect of launching a brand like BeneFit from scratch in such an exciting market is almost too good to be true.”
BeneFit sells its lines through counters called “˜Beauty Bars’ in department stores worldwide, through LVMH’s beauty specialty store Sephora, and dedicated boutiques in California.
The company was founded in 1976 by sisters Jean Ann and Jane Ann Ford as The Face Place. The brand’s celebrity-endorsed Benetint product brought the company into the mainstream commercial limelight.
As reported earlier this week, Forrest is vacating his travel retail role on 1 March and will be replaced by Philippe Guitelmann, currently International Operational Marketing Director for Dior’s travel retail division.
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