The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 9 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
A 1996 Vogue feature funded most of Bliss Spa's construction costs
“When this article dropped, thousands of people started to call to buy this Swiss oxygen cream. It lasted probably for four or five months of, you know, this article having such an incredible effect on the sales of products out of our little facial place that a…”
Kilgore left Bliss after clashing with Starwood's inexperienced appointed executive
“They put somebody in charge of the business, who was a young guy, probably the prodigy of the man who owned Starwood at the time, who really didn't understand customer service the way I understood it, and I felt like I was spending most of my day trying to tea…”
Marla Beck: 1990s indie brand boom opened up the cosmetics industry
“It was the rise of the independent brands, which is, for the first time in a very long time, you had founders that were breaking into the industry. So, you had Bobby Brown, you had Marcia Kilgore, you had Lev and Alina Glassman at Frosch, you had Francois Nars…”
Big beauty conglomerates shifted to acquiring startups in the late 1990s
“So, retrospectively there were a lot of cool new companies starting, and a lot of interest in those companies from the big beauty conglomerates. They were starting to buy up smaller players rather than, you know, trying to build their own.”
LVMH divested most beauty businesses after 2001, selling Bliss to Starwood
“So LVMH, after 2001 they started to divest of most of their beauty businesses, and we were one of the first ones to get snapped up by another business. So Starwood Hotels and Resorts bought us because they wanted to have bliss bars, and they wanted to put thos…”
A 1996 Vogue feature generated enough sales to fund Bliss Spa's construction
“It lasted probably for four or five months of, you know, this article having such an incredible effect on the sales of products out of our little facial place that a lot of the construction costs were almost covered by that one article.”
Late 1990s beauty conglomerates shifted to acquiring startups over building brands
“It was a hot time for beauty companies. So, retrospectively there were a lot of cool new companies starting, and a lot of interest in those companies from the big beauty conglomerates. They were starting to buy up smaller players rather than, you know, trying …”
Kilgore sold Bliss Spa to relieve her sole financial burden
“We had more than one large, large company come and try and get us, and I think the most exciting thing for me at that time was the idea of not having all of the financial responsibility for that business on, on my head.”
Starwood Hotels acquired Bliss to integrate spas into W Hotel properties
“So LVMH, after 2001 they started to divest of most of their beauty businesses. And we were one of the first ones to get snapped up by another business. So Starwood Hotels and Resorts bought us because they wanted to have bliss bars, and they wanted to put thos…”