The 2nd Launches Incubator To Build The Next Generation Of Men’s Grooming Brands Leave a comment
As entrepreneurial activity heats up in the growing men’s personal care market, grooming e-tailer The 2nd is launching The 2nd Studio, an incubator looking to develop men’s brands and scale them into retail.
The 2nd Studio is an attempt to create the brand-building infrastructure The 2nd founder and CEO Jack Llewellyn-Karski believes is missing from the men’s grooming market. He argues that many of its largest players remain concentrated around broad positions like sports, natural ingredients and luxury, leaving ample room for upstart brands to carve out nuanced identities.
The 2nd Studio’s objective is for brands to leave the incubator with a manufacturing partner, finished products and a go-to-market strategy. It’s teaming up with them on product development, production, branding, creative, fundraising and distribution, and tapping The 2nd’s e-commerce website and relationships with Nordstrom and Ulta Beauty, where it distributes brands through the retailers’ online marketplaces. Cosmax USA, the American arm of South Korean cosmetics manufacturer Cosmax, is The 2nd Studio’s manufacturing partner.
“What we’re really forming is this full ecosystem for brand development,” says Llewellyn-Karski. “We can leverage all the data from our systems and our networks and our distribution partners and figure out where the price points should be, what type of customer acquisition costs you should have. I don’t think anything exists like this specifically for men’s. Our goal is to own the space.”
The 2nd Studio is targeting companies at the earliest stages of development and is in early talks with two major sports and talent companies exploring potential signature product lines for their clients, according to Llewellyn-Karski. The incubator plans to help brands prepare for and secure capital.
That preparation starts well before investor introductions are made. The 2nd Studio will track metrics such as customer acquisition, manufacturing and distribution costs against the benchmarks prospective investors zero in on.
Technology is another piece of The 2nd Studio’s proposition. It’s rolling out The Stack, a proprietary software platform that incubator brands can access and external companies will be able to use on a subscription basis. The Stack comprises four modules spanning product and content management, financial operations, founder marketing and artificial intelligence-powered skincare diagnostics. The first, Product Command, is in beta testing and being used by The 2nd to manage its product database and produce marketing content.
The 2nd Studio is arriving as the men’s personal care market is expanding. Global sales reached an estimated $44.72 billion in 2025 and are expected to approach $49 billion this year, according to Fortune Business Insights. The research firm projects the category will grow at a compound annual rate of 9.24% to reach $99.09 billion by 2034.
Entrepreneurs and investors are keen to capitalize on the growth. Marketplaces and e-tailers such as Hale and Kleonne have introduced dedicated destinations for men to discover and shop grooming products, and men’s brands are attracting deal activity. Unilever acquired Dr. Squatch last year in a deal reportedly valued at $1.5 billion, and private equity firm TSG Consumer made an undisclosed strategic growth investment in Dude Wipes, which generated more than $220 million in retail sales in 2024.
Prior to launching The 2nd in March last year, Llewellyn-Karski worked with brands such as Rolex, Bose, Mercedes Benz, Rubbermaid, Sharpie and Yankee Candle at advertising agency Wunderman Thompson. The bootstrapped e-tailer started with 17 brands and now stocks more than 35, including Oars + Alps, Geologie, Jaxon Lane, Caldera + Lab, Cardon, Blind Barber, Marlowe Skin and Jack Henry.
The 2nd is on track to quadruple revenue year over year and has notched a nearly 30% repeat purchase rate without spending on advertising, according to Llewellyn-Karski. He says it’s in discussions with Macy’s about distributing brands through the department store retailer’s online marketplace.
Llewellyn-Karski identifies customer acquisition as one of the biggest challenges for brands partnering with The 2nd Studio. The incubator will strive to determine where their digital marketing dollars are best spent and factor in manufacturing expenses in brands’ first two to three years of financial projections.
“There’s so much noise about where you have to be and what you have to be doing,” says Llewellyn-Karski. “Not everyone’s going to be a success.”
The Forge, a five-day intensive workshop, is slated to launch in Miami in 2027 and complement The 2nd Studio. Described by Llewellyn-Karski as a “founder bootcamp,” it’s targeting companies that have a clear idea of what they want to develop but need assets such as a brand book, investor deck and marketing strategy to present to consumers and investors. Unlike The 2nd Studio, which concentrates on men’s brands, The Forge will stretch beyond the category.
