Factory Tours
Avalah
Avalah is an affordable, all-natural skincare brand based in Brooklyn. We sat with the founder, Alexzandra Denis, and talked to her about how she pivoted from fashion to beauty and lifestyle and her plans for Avalah.
In 2018, while working at a full-time job with Calvin Klein, Denis started to look at the hair care products she grew up with. Her mom, a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was an ardent believer of deriving oils and creams from natural products like coconuts and argan trees. Denis recalls, “My mom made her own skincare when I was growing up… her own haircare products… and she had a solution for everything!” And so Alexzandra learned from an early age the value of natural hair care products, and she realized the vacuum in the market. She intended to create a line of natural products that spelled luxury but were not too expensive. Her mantra for the price point was, “luxury but not crazy” because she wanted people her age to be able to afford it without breaking the bank.
But it was when the pandemic struck that Denis was able to kick things into full gear. She notes, “When COVID happened it was kind of like a little bit of a blessing. Because I was like let’s see what would happen if I did this full time?” And it worked out! Cosmopolitan dubbed Avalah as one of the “Best Skincare Brands To Know Now” and Fashionista vouched for their body wash.
Despite the steady growth, Denis is in no hurry to get Avalah’s products at a big box retailer and prides herself on the connections she’s made with small business owners in Brooklyn. She says, “I think it’s more genuine in my opinion to work with different businesses in Brooklyn…then you just have really great connections to the owners. You can promote them, they promote you, it’s very genuine. And then when people come into a store, I can recommend how my product is displayed. I also know the customer service that my customers are going to get because I know the owners”.