Haus Labs by Lady Gaga (or simply Haus Labs; formerly known as Haus Laboratories) is an American vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand founded by Lady Gaga. First launched on September 17, 2019, it was the first major beauty line to launch exclusively on Amazon as a retailer partner, and released in nine countries including France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Haus Labs relaunched on June 9, 2022 with new retail partner Sephora. The company advertises its products as "supercharged clean artistry makeup powered by innovation."
Haus Laboratories was originally launched in 2012 as a perfume brand, in association with Coty, an American multinational beauty company founded in 1904, and known for owning several brands. Their first fragrance, Fame, came out in that same year, while the second one, Eau de Gaga, in 2014.
History
Background
Between 2012 and 2014, Gaga released two fragrances, Fame and Eau de Gaga, via Haus Laboratories in association with Coty.
In February 2018, Gaga filed for trademarks for "Haus Beauty" and "Haus Labs" through her company, Ate My Heart Inc. Then, at the Met Gala in May 2019, fans started to suspect that the makeup she was using was a preview of what was to come. Besides that, she had been using the hashtag #HausBeauty on several posts on her Instagram. Haus Laboratories is Gaga's first solo cosmetics brand. Previously, she had collaborated with MAC Cosmetics, for their Viva Glam Lipstick 2011 campaign, with a video directed by Nick Knight.
The brand is inspired by Gaga's early days as a musician in Manhattan and it carries the spirit of embrace of individuality, and expressing it through bold makeup and body art, authenticity, and inclusivity. Also, the decision to sell it on Amazon was based on Haus Labs' messages of self-acceptance and confidence. Gaga stated in an interview to The Business of Fashion that the partnership with Amazon was made because only they would allow her to commercialize a brand with these principles, saying "no message of self-acceptance, no deal".
The team assembled by Gaga consists of 15 people, such as veterans from Milk Makeup and Benefit Cosmetics owned by LVMH; Gaga's makeup artist, Sarah Tanno, who is the brand's global artistry director; and the former executive at The Honest Company and Zynga, a mobile game company behind FarmVille and Words with Friends, Ben Jones, who is chief executive. She has also secured backing from Lightspeed Venture Partners, an investor in companies including Goop and Stitch Fix.
Beauty line launch (2019–2022) Haus Labs' first products were available for pre-order for Amazon Prime members and through the company website hauslabs.com on July 15, 2019, but only hit the market in September. For the official launch, Gaga hosted a party, called "Haus Party", with 500 guests, on September 16, 2019, in Santa Monica. During her speech, she claimed "we're not just launching makeup. This is a glamour attack on the world to be accepting, humble, brave and, above all, empowered to be kind. No matter how you identify, all are welcome at Haus Laboratories". It was launched simultaneously on Amazon in nine countries, including the US, France, and Germany, while customers from other locations could order from the company's global store, on hauslabs.com. The first products included lip liner, lip gloss, and liquid-to-powder shimmer.
Rebranding (2022–present) In 2022, Haus Labs renamed itself as Haus Labs by Lady Gaga from Haus Laboratories as part of its rebranding campaign, which also consisted of a relaunch of the brand on June 9 for which it partnered with Sephora as its retail outlet. The first round of products became available at select outlets, with plans to roll out to over 500 outlets across the United States and Canada in fall. According to Gaga, 2,700 "dirty" ingredients were removed during the rebranding process, replaced with beneficial ingredients like hyaluronic acid and vegan collagen.
The brand announced Nicole Sokol as its Vice President in November as part of their rebranding campaign. Sokol was appointed to focus on product strategy, product development, merchandising and product design.