One of the questions we hear almost every day is surprisingly simple: "I want to start a lash brand. Where should I begin?" Sometimes it comes from someone who's been thinking about it for months. Sometimes it's from someone who only decided yesterday. The funny thing is that the answer almost never starts with finding a factory. Most people think it does. We don't.

Over the past few years, we've worked with many first-time entrepreneurs, salon owners, Amazon sellers, beauty influencers and established cosmetic brands. Even though their businesses looked completely different, the first mistake was often the same. They started looking for a manufacturer before deciding what they actually wanted to sell. They always ask us "What kind of lashes do you have?" and "I want to see all your catalog". They usually don't have a specific need.

If we want to start a lash business, we usually ask three questions to ourselves. Now, Iet me ask you:

What kind of customers are you trying to sell to?

A salon?
Someone shopping on Amazon?
TikTok users?
People buying lashes for themself?
Those answers change almost everything else.

What kind of lashes do you need?

Don't reply all. People often use "false lashes" as if it means one product. It doesn't. Strip lashes, cluster lashes, or eyelash extensions.
They're completely different businesses. 

Why would someone choose your brand instead of another one?

This is usually where the conversation becomes interesting. Sometimes the answer is packaging. Sometimes it's pricing. Sometimes it's simply because they found a style they couldn't buy anywhere else.

What We've Seen Change

Five years ago, most first-time buyers were still asking us about strip lashes, such as mink lashes, or faux mink eyelashes. Today? The conversation is completely different. DIY lash extensions dominate most of the inquiries we receive from new brands. That doesn't mean strip lashes have disappeared. Far from it. But the growth has clearly shifted. Now let's check this trends on Google Trends.

As it turns out, our intuition was correct. Lash clusters have surged in popularity over the past five years, completely overshadowing mink lashes. Mink lashes were once the most popular type of strip lashes. Meanwhile, eyelash extensions have been steadily declining in popularity.

Not long ago, a customer asked us to quote nearly twenty different strip lash styles. A week later they came back. After looking at the market, they reduced the collection to six cluster lash styles instead. Their reason was simple. Their customers wanted flexibility more than variety. That conversation stuck with us.

Interestingly, very few people ask about inventory. Everyone asks about price. Almost nobody asks how quickly they'll need to reorder if one style suddenly becomes popular. From our side of the factory, that's often a much bigger issue than the original order itself.

Will the market look exactly the same five years from now?

Probably not. Beauty trends never stand still. But if someone asked us today where we'd begin, we'd still spend more time understanding the customer than comparing factories. Everything else becomes much easier after that.