Fraîche’s slim, flat packaging borrows visual cues from the beauty industry, fitting into a pocket as easily as a Rhode lip tint. Across the premium oral-care category, brands are embracing a fashion-forward, sensual and sometimes provocative design language. Even names such as Bastét, Köppen, Orist and Fraîche sound more like fashion or fragrance houses than traditional oral-care brands.
“Culture came first, science will make it stick, but aesthetics will drive the behavior change,” says McDonnell. The products are designed to be displayed, shared on social media and flaunted rather than stored out of sight in a medicine cabinet. Their portability could also take oral care beyond pharmacy aisles and into beauty and fashion retailers, checkout counters, gyms and coffee shops.
A new route into retail
Premium oral care remains on the fringes of dedicated beauty and wellness retail. Goop’s offering is limited to mouth tape, while Violet Grey and Ulta carry OLAS mouthwash. Credo has a broader selection, consisting mostly of products from oral-care brand Cocolab.
Instead, the category is gaining traction at upscale lifestyle grocers such as Erewhon and Happier Grocery.
More notably, premium oral-care products are appearing at fashion and luxury retailers. Köppen is stocked at Revolve and FWRD, as well as lifestyle grocer Laurel Supply. Selahatin is available at Holt Renfrew, Selfridges, Dover Street Market, Luisa Via Roma, Printemps New York and FWRD.
Trudy Arnold, head of beauty and home at Revolve and FWRD, says the retailers began noticing the shift in 2024, as consumer interest expanded beyond toothpaste and whitening to tongue scraping, mouth rinses, oil pulling, electric toothbrushes and formulas focused on their ingredients.
“For Revolve, oral care must offer performance and cultural relevance; for FWRD, the lens is discovery, craftsmanship and an elevated experience,” Arnold says. “Ultimately, across both brands, we’re looking for products that work, have a clear reason to exist and make an everyday routine feel more considered.”
Source: www.vogue.com
