Julep, Seattle Beauty Brand, To Lay Off 100+ Employees

SEATTLE, WA - The Seattle-based beauty supply startup Julep will lay off 102 employees over the next two months, according to the state Employment Security Department. A WARN notice indicated that the layoffs are due to a closure, but it's unclear if that includes the entire company, or just Julep's nail salons.

Julep was founded in Seattle in 2007 by former Starbucks executive Jane Park. The company initially operated nail salons around Puget Sound. Two remain today - one in downtown Bellevue, another at University Village in Seattle.

In 2013, Julep began a major expansion into online sales. That year, Julep received a $10 million round of funding from Andreessen Horowitz, the Bay Area investment firm involved in companies like Facebook, Airbnb, and Buzzfeed. Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles' Roc Nation also participated in that funding round.

“We want to be the next MAC, Lancôme or Estée Lauder, but we want to build our brand in a very different way,” Park told the Seattle Times in 2013.

Patch has reached out to Julep for clarification on whether the layoffs and closure mean that Julep will cease to exist. We will update this story if we hear back.

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