Flair Brand Partners, a newly launched commercial agency dedicated exclusively to travel retail, has announced its official launch alongside its first strategic brand partnership with fast-growing skincare brand Summer Fridays.
Co-founded by travel retail industry veterans Ed Forrest and Antoine Lafourcade, Flair Brand Partners was created to support the entry and expansion of high-potential beauty brands in the channel.
Forrest has more than 25 years of experience in travel retail, having held senior leadership roles with Dior and Benefit Cosmetics across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Lafourcade brings more than 20 years of travel retail experience from senior roles at Dior, Coty, Puig and L’Occitane Group.
The duo behind Flair said their launch comes at a pivotal moment for the beauty industry and for travel retail, as social media platforms transform how beauty brands build global awareness, particularly among Gen Z and Millennial consumers.
Flair Brand Partners was founded to address this shift — identifying high-growth beauty brands while they are culturally relevant and helping them enter travel retail when consumer demand is at its peak.
“Flair Brand Partners was created to bring the hottest beauty brands into travel retail at exactly the right time,” said Ed Forrest. “Consumer awareness now happens globally through social media, and younger shoppers are actively looking for the brands they already follow online. Travel retail has become one of the most exciting discovery channels in beauty but does have an opportunity to be more relevant to new consumers.”
The company’s launch partnership with Summer Fridays reflects this strategy. The Californian skincare brand has developed a highly-engaged international following and has become one of the most recognisable names in prestige skincare and hybrid make up among younger consumers worldwide.
“We are delighted to be launching Flair Brand Partners with such an amazing brand as Summer Fridays,” added Antoine Lafourcade.
“Retailers are actively searching for brands that consumers are excited about right now, and Summer Fridays is a perfect example of the kind of globally relevant, socially driven beauty brand we want to bring into travel retail.”
Summer Fridays Co-Founders Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Ireland said, “Travel has always been part of Summer Fridays’ DNA since our very first product, Jet Lag Mask, was born from life on-the-go.
“Today, our skincare and hybrid makeup essentials are designed to hydrate, refresh and simplify routines wherever you are, which makes travel retail a natural next chapter for us. We are so excited to bring the Summer Fridays feeling to travellers around the world.”
Summer Fridays will officially enter the travel retail channel in June with an initial launch in partnership with ARI at Dublin and Larnaca airports. This first phase will also see the brand debut its partnership with Gebr. Heinemann with launches in Norway, Austria and Hungary taking place exclusively in travel retail ahead of the brand’s entry into the respective domestic markets.
Additional travel retail locations will then follow over the coming months.
Flair Brand Partners operates as a fully outsourced travel retail commercial agency, noted the partners, offering brands strategic planning, retailer relationships, operational execution and in-market expertise across global airports and duty-free channels.
The founders have over 45 years of senior beauty industry and travel retail experience across Europe, the Americas and Asia. They said they are fully focused on launching Summer Fridays into the channel this summer. In time, further brand partnerships are expected to follow. ✈
