Estée Lauder
Cosmetic Company Founder – Her Business was Beauty
1908 – 2004 A.D.

Though one report described cosmetic company founder Estée Lauder as coming from European aristocracy, her origin was very different and she didn’t actually need that characteristic of exclusivity. This was because this totally American entrepreneur became a business success because she worked hard recognizing, creating and then selling cosmetics and fragrances, enabling her customers to feel beautiful. In effect she was selling feminine loveliness. For as she once said, “Never underestimate any woman’s desire for beauty” and that was the basis of her business and her success.

Josephine Esther Mentzer, who would become Estée Lauder, was born in July, 1908 in New York City, the daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Her mother Rose had arrived in the U.S. with five children in 1898 to join a first husband, but later in 1905 married Max Mentzer, a shopkeeper who had arrived several years earlier. When their first daughter was born her mother wanted to name her Eszti, the diminutive of Esther or in Hungarian Eszter, but eventually she was named Josephine. However, in the family she was still called Estée and that was to be the name by which the fragrance and cosmetic world would know her. Later she added an accent mark to have it appear to be French.

At the time Estée and her family were not prosperous so thrift was important as she began working in the family hardware store and thus learning the retail business. Then her maternal uncle Dr. John Schotz, a chemist, came to live with the family and operate his company, New Way Laboratories, out of a building near their home. He sold cosmetics-lotions, creams and fragrances-and Estée became fascinated by the business. Her uncle taught her about skin care and how to do a facial massage. Then as she grew older she became more fully involved as she learned how to formulate the skin creams and how to apply them. Over time she became more actively associated in his company as she watched her uncle create, develop and then sell the different products. After high school Estée took on an even bigger part as she created a name for one face cream and then began to sell it to her friends as well as to beauty shops, resorts and other places. One time as she was having her hair done at a beauty shop, the operator complimented her on her perfect skin, and she used the opportunity to describe her uncle’s products. The shop became a new customer, and Estée not just sold the products there but also demonstrated them, even for customers under the hair dryers.

In 1930 Estée married Joseph Lauder, son of an Austrian immigrant and after one son was born they were divorced in 1939. However, they later reconciled and remarried in 1941 and their second son was born in 1944. Later Mrs. Lauder admitted regret at the divorce, commenting that she had married young and thought at the time that she had missed out on some life experiences. She then came to realize her deep feelings for her spouse, calling him “the sweetest husband in the world.” In 1946 they established the Estée Lauder Cosmetic Co. with offices on Madison Avenue in a 1929 era building. A year later they had their first order—$800 worth of products from a major department store.

From her experiences and observations, Mrs. Lauder developed a sense of recognizing and identifying what her customers wanted and needed and she then developed sales techniques that fulfilled these desires. One was that she would explain the product and show results on her own skin. In addition, she carefully utilized sales by word of mouth, offering free samples of her products at the point of sale. In fact the idea of providing a free gift with a purchase became a standard sales method. As she once said, “No one ever became a success without taking chances…One must be able to recognize the moment and seize it without delay.”

To promote the products and also maintain the right sales atmosphere, Estée Lauder often personally attended each new store opening where her products were to be sold. She often remained at the location, training the beauty advisors as to techniques and merchandise displays. Throughout her career, Mrs. Lauder made it a point to be always well dressed and stylish as she traveled across the country to visit retail outlets and also meet with the media. Being in touch with customers was so important that she often spoke to them at her retail outlets, thus receiving feedback on her methods and products. One personal touch was her choosing the color of the jars containing her products, with the desire to reflect a sense of luxury, and also to match the colors of bathrooms at the time.

Then in 1953 Lauder introduced a product that she called Youth-Dew which was actually a bath product that doubled as a perfume. She knew that fragrance was often a very personal item that women might see as only suitable as a gift on a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary. However, Mrs. Lauder wanted to influence women to purchase their own scents and Youth-Dew was designed to be such a purchase. With this product a woman could apply a small amount behind an ear for the fragrance, and also use it in their bathtub water to create a satisfying personal experience. Featuring a blend of ingredients (according to one source) “…Youth-Dew took the beauty industry by storm, changing the way fragrance was sold and transforming the fledgling start-up company into a multimillion-dollar business.”

Mrs. Lauder also expanded her product sales beyond her own name brand by creating other new brands such as Aramis, Clinique, and others. However, she always made sure that these new products were created and manufactured by quality ingredients.

Throughout her life and career Mrs. Lauder was naturally the recipient of various honors and one of most important to her came in 1978 when she received the French honor of Chevalier (Knight) class of the Legion of Honour, presented by the French Consul. She was the first woman to be so honored. Another achievement was the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. She also supported many other causes, such as restoration of the French palace of Versailles and establishing playgrounds for children in New York’s Central Park.

The two Lauder sons, Leonard and Ronald, were in essence raised in the family business-in fact Leonard began with the company by packing products at a salary of 25 cents an hour. Then he worked his way up to become chief executive of the company in 1995. For his part, brother Ronald was successful in other areas. He entered politics, then served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan presidency in 1984 and then became American ambassador to Austria in 1986.

Sadly, Mrs. Lauder herself became a victim of Alzheimer’s later in life and she passed away in April, 2004 at the age of 95. A proactive and dynamic entrepreneur to be sure.

~*~

Anne Adams is a retired church staffer. She lives in East Texas and has an historical column for a local newspaper. She has published in Christian and secular publications for more than 40 years.

References:
Wikipedia
Estee Lauder Companies
Hungarian Conservative