Troubled start to Elsa Pataky’s Purely Byron skincare brand before collapse
The skin care line co-owned by Chris Hemsworth’s wife Elsa Pataky has collapsed. But it endured a troubled start just days after launching.
Just days after launching her now defunct skincare line, Elsa Pataky’s new business was being questioned over the similarities between its product and an existing Aussie brand.
The wife of Australian actor Chris Hemsworth co-owned Purely Byron, a range of products made using local botanicals, that claimed it would “level up” your skin.
However, Purely Byron’s entry to market didn’t go to plan after it was engulfed by claims Pataky had taken ideas from an Aussie mum’s start-up.
Purely Byron refuted the claims that it copied Keira Rumble’s clean and sustainable skincare business, Habitual Beauty – but it seems the brand wasn’t able to overcome its rocky start.
On Tuesday, less than a year after its launch, Purely Byron collapsed with Cameron Gray and Justin Holzman of DW Advisory appointed as administrators.
The company is 47.4 per cent owned by ASX-listed BWX brands, while Pataky’s husband Chris Hemsworth’s Byron Bay 1st Management owns a 3.2 per cent stake.
Company documents indicate that directors Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish own slightly more than 22 per cent each.
At the time of the announcement, the brand’s website was still live, though none of the 15 products listed were available to purchase.
Pataky, who was born in Spain and lives in Byron Bay with Hemsworth and their three children, previously said a make-up collection and sunscreen were in the works, while a physical spa space was also something she’d one day like to bring to fruition.
But signs of trouble first emerged last month when beauty group BWX recorded a huge revenue dive, which wrote down the value of its Purely Byron stake by $2.8 million for the December half year, The Age reports.
Two former BWX employees, chief financial officer Efee Peell and chief executive Rory Gration, resigned from the Purely Byron board of directors at the time and were not replaced.
Just months earlier, the brand had been accused of copying Habitual Beauty, with social media users noting Purely Byron had strikingly similar packaging, imagery and website design.
Wellness entrepreneur Keira Rumble, who launched Habitual Beauty in July 2021, said she was alerted to the situation by customers just five days after the birth of her son.
“We had [received] some very generous orders just after we launched, from the company Purely Byron, sent directly to their head office in Sydney,” she told news.com.au in June.
“We didn’t think much of it at the time as they hadn’t launched, and we weren’t aware that Elsa Pataky was associated in any way,” she said.
“This week, a few of our loyal (and keen-eyed) customers reached out noticing some similarities in packaging, but it wasn’t until we investigated it further that we made the connection and discovered there were more shared attributes than initially thought, including packaging, website, product ingredients and imagery.”
Ms Rumble, who also owns Krumbled Collagen Beauty Bites sold in Coles, said Habitual Beauty was “a true labour of love”.
“My family and team have made so many sacrifices, including our time, which is especially precious as new parents, our life savings, and other ongoing challenges that come as small business owners, especially during a pandemic,” she said.
She also shared screenshots of receipts to social media at the time, proving Purely Byron and received “multiple orders” of their products.
Mummy bloggers Jessi and Millie Poutama first flagged the brands’ likeness in a now-viral clip that compared Purely Byron’s six-product collection to Habitual Beauty’s five-product line-up.
“I was like, ‘Hang on, that’s kind of familiar. Where have I seen this before? Where have I seen this?’ … And for legal reasons, I’m not at all insinuating that they have copied this brand, I’m just like, ‘Wow, this is such a crazy coincidence, such a wild coincidence.’”
The video drew hundreds of comments, with Instagram users labelling the situation “outrageous” and noting that they’d been blocked from Purely Byron’s page after flagging the brands’ “similarities”, and comments on their posts had been turned off.
In response, Purely Byron issued a statement that claimed the branding was “inspired by nature” and argued it had done its due diligence and research with an “exploration of the competitive landscape”.
Pataky said she helped develop the skincare range using botanical ingredients from the Byron Bay region, after “discovering” them when she moved to the area.
“I started discovering all these natural botanicals, which are so powerful and clinically proven – they really work,” she told Grazia magazine at the time of the brand’s launch.
“I fell in love with all the different ingredients that grow here, so when the idea came about to make it happen with my co-founders, I was so excited.”
Since news of its collapse, Purely Byron has not responded to requests for comment, but its verified Instagram account is continuing to post as normal.
Embattled beauty company BWX, which has had its overall worth reportedly drop to less than $40 million as a result of the revenue dive, also owns 51.5 per cent stake in Zoe Foster-Blake’s Go-To skincare line.
The company blamed its huge loss on retailers stocking fewer products, spending money on its Victorian manufacturing facility and out-of-stock issues both in Australia and internationally.
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