Credo Beauty, an early player in the “clean” beauty space is acquiring Follain, another clean-only retailer and product label.

The acquisition will see the Follain brand be completely absorbed into the Credo brand. Follain’s store in Boston will be rebranded as a Credo store, while its products will become part of Credo’s private label business.

The deal, which is Credo’s first acquisition, is a move towards consolidation in the increasingly contentious clean beauty space. During the 2010s, clean beauty emerged as one of the beauty industry’s biggest trends, with independent brands like Ilia, Beautycounter, RMS Beauty and more introducing consumers to the concept of cosmetics and skin care free of certain chemicals and additives they claimed were potentially harmful. Once niche, “free-from” has become part of the mainstream beauty marketing playbook, with brands from Chanel to Covergirl offering clean products or even entire clean lines.

However, as clean has become a new standard in the industry, it is no longer as unique a differentiator as it once was. Meanwhile, the concept has sparked a backlash with disputes over the varying definitions of what constitutes a clean product, and some arguing there is no reason to avoid many of the chemicals on these brands’ watchlists at all.

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