Horace

Two HEC Montreal classmates noticed in 2015 that men's skincare in France was either luxury repackaged for women or generic body wash with a darker label. They launched a French men's brand in March that year and shipped the first product 18 months later. Marc Breant, Toulette and Kim Mazzili founded Horace in Paris in March 2015 with the first commercial product, a mattifying face cream, going live in November 2016. The pricing range sat between 15 and 25 euros for face creams, anti hair loss shampoos and grooming oils. Most men's skincare reused women's formulations in masculine packaging. Horace built clean formulations for men's skin from scratch. The distribution choice was the asset. Horace launched direct to consumer in France first where the brand could control the conversation with the customer and avoid splitting margin with department stores.