MCo Beauty: The $1B Shady Business

Luxury brands spend years developing products—MCo Beauty swoops in and replicates them in weeks. And the results speak for themselves.Originally known as ModelCo, an Aussie drugstore brand focused on tanning, MCo Beauty reinvented itself by recreating viral beauty products with eerily similar packaging—at a fraction of the price. By strategically navigating trademark laws, the brand has grown from AU$10M in revenue in FY20 to a staggering $330M in FY25.In February, founder and CEO Shelley Sullivan cashed out, selling her stake in a deal that valued MCo Beauty at over a billion dollars. But how did they pull it off? How is any of this legal? And what’s next for the ultimate dupe brand?In this episode of The Barefaced Podcast, we break down the rise of MCo Beauty.A series of graphs, visual aids, and references have been created to help narrate this story. You can access them at barefaced.substack.comYou can find Barefaced everywhere else -https://beacons.ai/barefaced This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com