12.13.22
Cha Ling, a six-year-old luxury skin care brand owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy that features pu’er, tea in its products, has shuttered its brick-and-mortar operations in the China market.
Pu’er is a variety of fermented tea traditionally produced in Yunnan Province. The brand, whose formulations were developed in France, closed operations following disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic, according to multiple outlets.
A year after its founding by Laurent Boillot, CEO of Maison Hennessy, in 2016, Cha Ling launched at Le Bon Marché, and expanded into Hong Kong and mainland China. The brand opened three independent stores in Chinese shopping malls in subsequent years. On the heels of the closure of the operations of its independent stores, Cha Ling closed its Wechat Mini Program store.
The closure of Cha Ling’s doors, as well as the termination of its official Wechat store, is reportedly a part of the brand’s new business strategy. It will now retail exclusively through LVMH’s Sephora.
The brand continues to operate an official Tmall store, and Cha Ling products are also sold in over 310 Sephora stores in 87 Chinese cities, in addition to spas at renowned hotels including Peninsula Hotel and The Middle House in Shanghai and Puxuan Hotel & Spa in Beijing.
A Tea and Guochao-Inspired Beauty Label
Cha Ling touts itself as the first cosmetics house to integrate the antioxidant, anti-aging and anti-pollution properties of the world’s original tea— the rarest, richest and purest Pu’Er tea from forests that are thousands of years old in Yunnan province. Skin care products, which range from massage oils and detoxifying facial masks, are accompanied by gestures and tools derived from traditional Chinese medicine, according to the brand.
Cha Ling was inspired following a meeting between Boillot, who was then chairman of Guerlain, and environmentalists and husband-and-wife team Josef Margraf and Li Ming Guo.