Skin Care Brand Urban Skin Rx Acquired by American Exchange Group

Urban Skin Rx has a new owner.

The skin care brand, founded in 2010 by aesthetician Rachel Roff and led by chief executive officer Victoria Payne, has been acquired by American Exchange Group for an undisclosed sum.

The deal marks a third beauty acquisition in two years for AEG, which snapped up “clean” skin care brand Indie Lee last summer and in 2023 acquired HatchCollective — now called AX Beauty — whose brands included NatureWell, Orlando Pita Play, Txtur and Paint and Petals.

“Beauty is a strategic focus for us,” said Josh Kirson, senior vice president of new business development for AEG, which also owns Aerosoles and Island Surf Company. “With Indie Lee, we were bringing on a prestige skin care brand that was servicing a customer in a different class of trade; Urban Skin Rx is just as complimentary to our portfolio in its brand positioning.”

Urban Skin Rx, pegged by industry sources to be doing roughly $30 million in net sales in 2023, sells at Ulta Beauty, Target, Walmart.com and Amazon. Best known for its $25, kojic acid-powered Even Tone Cleansing Bar, the brand was founded by Roff with a focus on serving the needs of melanin-rich skin.

“[Roff] was working at a med spa at the time that was focused on melanin-rich skin, and she saw a gap in treatments for this consumer group. She began developing products that address hyperpigmentation and dark spots — which are problems a lot of people experience, but tend to really be a problem for melanin-rich skin,” said Payne.

To that end, 90 percent of the brand’s direct-to-consumer shoppers are African American, said Payne, with 93 percent being African American women. At Ulta, “that number is different — roughly 60 percent of our customers are African American, and 31 percent are women who do not identify as women of color.”

AEG aims to foster the brand’s core DTC business while also expanding its reach at retail, which Payne said is “where Urban Skin has the most room to grow.”

“One of the things that was so attractive with Urban Skin is that it has a very significant direct-to-consumer business with a very loyal customer base,” said Kirson, adding, “on the retail side, it has great distribution, and we can only help amplify Urban Skin in the marketplace.”

In addition to introducing new innovation, AEG is looking to boost the profile of the brand’s existing offerings: for instance, its 20 percent vitamin C serum, which aims to tackle discoloration and firm the skin, and retails for $58.

“We started with hyperpigmentation and dark spots, and are becoming more well known in the aging category as well,” said Payne, adding that expanding the brand’s purview is “one of the places where the partnership with American Exchange is going to be great; they are looking to to grow the brand, and we will embrace every single customer and try to meet their need.”