Eighty Years On, the House of Lauder Counts Six Brands Past the Billion Mark

The Estée Lauder Companies is marking its eightieth year in business, and the ledger it brings to the party is the real headline. Six of its brands now each clear a billion in annual sales, a roster most beauty groups would be content to dream about. The company says others are close behind, which suggests the shelf is not finished filling. For a title that catalogs who wore what and when, a cosmetics house with eight decades of continuity is its own kind of archive, one measured in compacts and lipstick bullets rather than gowns. The stated strategy is patience, building for the long haul rather than chasing the season. Eighty years in, that approach appears to be aging rather well.

With reporting from WWD.