Pattern Beauty is prioritizing brand awareness after six years of “tremendous growth,” co-chief executive officer Christiane Pendarvis said, while targeting longer-term global expansion following its entry into Mexico through Ulta Beauty.
Speaking at WWD’s 2026 Los Angeles Beauty Forum about the Tracee Ellis Ross-founded brand’s next phase, Pendarvis said Pattern Beauty, which launched in September 2019, has now moved beyond its start-up chapter.
“We are just now past the baby brand phase. We like to say we’ve gone to kindergarten now,” she said. “We’ve really proven our product market fit.”
Pattern Beauty began in hair care and expanded into body care in late August, broadening its offering.
“There was a reason that it was named Pattern Beauty and not Pattern Hair to begin with,” Pendarvis said.
The company’s foundation across categories is hydration: “That’s our anchor. That’s really what we deliver,” she said.
Although Pattern is expanding beyond its core hair care category, Pendarvis emphasized the size of the opportunity that remains in textured hair.
“One of the biggest misnomers for us is because we are founded by someone who’s Black, that the product is only for Black people,” she said. “We are a textured hair care brand.…Most people actually have some form of textured hair, whether it’s loose waves or ringlets or curls or tight coils. So, there’s a tremendous opportunity, and that’s who we serve. We like to say, hair does not have a race or a gender.”
That message is key in both marketing and merchandising. Pendarvis said Pattern focuses on featuring “the breadth of textured hair consumers” and the “breadth of our assortment,” noting that different curl patterns require different formulas, from lighter styling products for loose waves to richer butters and oils for tighter textures. Casting, influencer strategy and creator partnerships are all built around that point of view.
Pendarvis differentiated Pattern Beauty from the wave of celebrity-founded beauty brands. While the company still benefits from Ross’ profile, she said the business was built from a traditional founder playbook. “Ross wrote the brand pitch when her sitcom “Girlfriends” ended in 2008, and “got told, ‘No,’ a lot,” Pendarvis said. Feedback at the time suggested textured hair was a niche category, with investors expressing skepticism that consumers would pay for premium price points.
“This is a legacy brand that goes well beyond Tracee Ellis Ross and her name,” Pendarvis said. “We moved from her as the muse of the brand to she’s the visionary, the expert, the authority.”
Moving forward, Pendarvis said Pattern Beauty is focused on “driving more brand awareness, driving more trial in our channels of distribution in the U.S.,” while continuing to build body care. The company is also stepping up activations and in-person sampling.
“When people try, they are sold,” she said.
