While Estée Lauder is a mainstay in today's skincare and makeup industry, its child brand Prescriptives is far less so. In fact, you might have never heard of it — Prescriptives officially closed down in 2011, with retail distribution shuttered and remaining inventory sold online while stocks lasted.
Prescriptives was the Estée Lauder Companies’ second brand launch after Clinique. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as successful.
By the late 1970s, Estée Lauder was fast becoming one of the biggest names in the industry. So big, in fact, that they "now became a target for rivals seeking to invade [the] market." A major threat loomed on the horizon — the French fragrance and beauty house Lancôme.
At the time, Lancôme was an up-and-coming brand which saw Estée Lauder as both its role model and its target. Leonard Lauder, then-CEO of the company, recalled,"What made Lancome's threat so menacing was that it attacked our core customers using our own tactics." Slowly but surely, Lancôme was stealing away v ...
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