L’Oréal Groupe announced on Thursday the retirement of company veteran Carol Hamilton, effective May 1, after a 40-year career within the U.S. division of the French beauty giant.
Carol Hamilton – Courtesy
Hamilton arrived at L’Oréal in 1984, joining the consumer products division as a marketing director for L’Oréal Paris in the U.S. After 24 years of service, the executive went on to become the U.S. brand president in 2000 and then the global brand president. From here, Hamilton transitioned from mass to the world of luxury beauty, taking the helm as U.S. president of L’Oréal Luxe, in 2008.
Under her charge, the U.S. luxe business doubled in size and achieved record profitability, before Hamilton took on the role of group president in 2015, where she was responsible for supporting the global development and acquisitions of American brands in the luxe division such as Kiehl’s, Urban Decay and IT Cosmetics. In 2018, she was appointed U.S. president of acquisitions, before expanding her role in 2020, overseeing the creation of and leadership over L’Oréal USA’s new corporate office.
Opening in June 2022, the newEl Segundo, California-based initiative brought the company’s west coast-based brands all under one roof for the first time.
“Carol Hamilton’s leadership at L’Oréal has been nothing short of transformative. Her strategic vision propelled unprecedented growth for many brands in the portfolio, achieving market leadership across multiple categories. She consistently demonstrated an exceptional ability to identify and cultivate emerging opportunities, pioneer business transformation, and drive key brand acquisitions,” said David Greenberg, CEO of L’Oréal USA and President of the North America Zone.
“Beyond her sharp business acumen, Carol’s commitment to mentorship and talent development leaves an enduring legacy of leadership within L’Oréal. We celebrate her remarkable contributions and wish her all the best in her well-deserved retirement.”
Hamilton’s retirement comes just days after L’Oréal Groupe announced the appointment of Christina (Tina) Fair as president of the consumer products division (CPD) for the North America zone.
Your Turn features a bottle inspired by Eilish’s admiration for dice, with a translucent chrome finish. This design continues the brand’s tradition of turning fragrance bottles into artful home décor pieces.
The fragrance itself opens with a zesty blend of bergamot peel, cardamom pod, and fresh ginger, followed by a delicate heart of velvet peach skin, night-blooming jasmine, and coconut water. It concludes with warm base notes of Australian sandalwood, musks, and sustainably sourced Sylvamber.
Your Turn is vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, and crafted with clean ingredients. The packaging uses environmentally conscious materials, including Envirofoil printing and 100% renewable wind energy.
Developed in collaboration with Parlux Ltd., the new fragrance builds on the global success of Eilish, Eilish No. 2, and the limited-edition Eilish No. 3.
“Since our partnership with Billie and her team began, she has always maintained authenticity in all she does as an artist and creative, and Your Turn is a perfect example of this,” said Lori Singer, president of Parlux Ltd.
“The process was a beautiful collaboration, from the juice creation to the bottle’s design. We couldn’t be more thrilled about what we’ve accomplished with our partners, especially as we begin this next stage of Billie Eilish Fragrances as a master brand.”
Since entering the fragrance market in 2021, Billie Eilish Fragrances has achieved impressive sales milestones and secured a strong presence in the competitive fragrance industry through direct-to-consumer sales, Ulta Beauty, and global retail partners.
“Creating Your Turn with Billie was a journey of discovery,” added Frank Voelkl, principal Perfumer at Firmenich. “We worked through countless iterations to develop a scent that captures the warmth and richness of sandalwood while layering in something unexpectedly fresh. It’s a fragrance that reflects Billie vision of individuality and uniqueness.”
Former supermodel Naomi Campbell said Wednesday she will appeal against a UK watchdog ban on being a charity trustee, suggesting “fake identities” had wrongly implicated her in a funding scandal.
Naomi Campbell – AFP
The Charity Commission last year banned the 54-year-old from running any charity for five years after identifying “multiple instances of misconduct” in the running of her Fashion for Relief organisation.
It found charity money had been used to pay for Campbell to stay in a five-star hotel in the south of France, including spa treatments and room service.
The ex-supermodel at the time branded the watchdog’s findings “deeply flawed” and insisted that newly-instructed advisers were investigating what happened at the charity.
In a statement released late Wednesday, she said a tribunal had granted her permission to appeal the commission’s findings “after considering the evidence I have submitted”.
“Ever since the commission’s report, I have fought to uncover the facts. What has been unearthed so far is shocking,” Campbell stated.
“I want to shine a light on how easy it is to fake identities online and prevent anybody else going through what I have been through.”
Campbell insisted she had “never undertaken philanthropic work for personal gain, nor will I ever do so”.
The case is due to come before the tribunal on Friday, according to Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.
Campbell’s representatives claim documents submitted to the commission gave a false impression of her involvement in running the UK charity, the agency said.
They argue there is evidence of a fake email account which was used to impersonate the former supermodel in communications with lawyers, it added.
Campbell founded the charity in 2005, aiming to harness the fashion industry to relieve poverty and advance health and education, by making grants to other organisations and giving resources towards global disasters.
But the watchdog probe published last September found that between April 2016 and July 2022, only 8.5 percent of Fashion for Relief’s overall expenditure went on grants to charities.
The charity was dissolved and removed from the register of charities last year, with two other trustees also receiving bans.
At the time, Campbell said she was “extremely concerned” by the regulator’s findings and that she was “not in control of my charity” having “put the control in the hands of a lawyer”
French sport retailer Decathlon, owned by the Mulliez group, has been accused by investigative journalism NGO Disclose and French TV programme “Cash Investigation” of having as a subcontractor in China a company exploiting Uighur labour, which Decathlon denies, and of sourcing cotton from the Xinjiang region, the AFP agency learnt on Thursday.
Mulliez-owned Decathlon has been accused by Disclose and French TV programme Cash Investigation of having as a subcontractor in China a company exploiting Uighur labour – Martin LELIEVRE / AFP/Archives
Decathlon has been accused by the two media outlets of sourcing textiles from Qingdao Jifa Group, a company that “relies on a forced labour network in China,” reported Disclose in an article published on Thursday morning.
In the Cash Investigation documentary to be broadcast Thursday evening, which AFP was able to view, a local executive stated that cotton stored at the warehouse of a company producing for Decathlon might come from Xinjiang, the region where the Muslim Uighur people are the main ethnic group.
Decathlon’s communication department confirmed it is sourcing goods from Qingdao Jifa, while also stating to AFP that “we strongly condemn all forms of forced labour. We are committed on a daily basis to ensuring integrity and respect for fundamental rights in our business operations and value chain, and we will not hesitate to react and take all the necessary measures if the facts were to be proven.”
The same source said that “100% of the cotton used by Decathlon in manufacturing its products comes from sources committed to sustainable practices, guaranteeing the absence of any form of forced labour, and including organic and recycled cotton.”
In the past, Xinjiang has been hit by bloody attacks attributed by the authorities to Islamists and separatists, and China has launched a huge security campaign in the region, labelling it as counter-terrorism. According to claims by NGOs and Western studies, which AFP wasn’t able to verify, Uighurs are being subjected to forced labour practices.
In 2020, the United Nations published an alarming report on the plight of the Muslim minority in Xinjiang. A publication that came in the wake of an alert issued in 2020 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and was followed the same year by a document from the Center for Global Policy denouncing a more serious involvement of fashion industry players than previously reported. Amnesty International hammered the point home in 2021, after more than 180 associations and trade unions had formed the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uighur Region.
Cash Investigation mentioned products bearing the logo of the US pro basketball league, the NBA, of which Decathlon has been a partner since 2021. Decathlon claims to be licensed to sell products “in the livery of the NBA and its franchises,” and to do so “in over 1,700 Decathlon stores worldwide and online,” in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
The US Congress passed a law in December 2021 prohibiting all product imports from the Xinjiang region, unless companies in the region are able to prove that their manufacturing activity does not involve forced labour.
Cash Investigation is also interested in the legal status of the Mulliez family’s empire, which includes retailers such as Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Flunch, Boulanger and Auchan, all controlled by the Association familiale Mulliez (AFM), a collective body that doesn’t identify as a consolidated group.
At the end of 2024, Auchan announced an extensive redundancy plan threatening 2,400 jobs in France, but other AFM-controlled retailers, like Decathlon, enjoy a more solid financial position, and the unions have called for redeploying Auchan employees in them.
Given the situation, Decathlon shocked its employee representatives by distributing €1 billion in shareholder dividends at the end of 2024.
Entertainment8 years ago