fresh

fresh is a US skincare and beauty company founded in 1991 by Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, who opened it as a small apothecary shop in Boston that began by selling individually wrapped soaps for gifting [3]. The company built its identity around naturally derived ingredients paired with modern science, and over the 1990s grew from soaps into a broad skincare, lip care, body care and fragrance range.

Since 2000 fresh has been owned by the French luxury group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which operates it as one of its Perfumes and Cosmetics maisons [5]. It continues to trade under its own name and, by LVMH's account, now operates as a global company based in New York with distribution in more than 25 countries.

Glazman and Roytberg grew up in the former Soviet Union, where, by their account, household medicine cabinets held both Western medicine and Eastern natural remedies — an early exposure the founders later credited as the root of the brand's approach. They founded fresh in 1991 in Boston, starting with individually wrapped soaps for gifting before expanding into skincare [3].

The founders have described themselves as natural-ingredient pioneers, claiming to be the first to use sugar as an exfoliant and crediting their work with the milk-in-beauty-product trend of the early 2000s [4]. One of the company's defining products, the Umbrian Clay Purifying Mask, is said to have emerged after a friend's cystic acne cleared using clay from Nocera Umbra, Italy — a material the brand notes was used by the Etruscans in antiquity.

The early business grew quickly: by 1995 the soaps were carried in more than 200 stores across the United States [11]. The company later launched online retail and entered the Sephora chain, where, according to Coveteur, it became the first natural company to be sold at the retailer [3]. fresh was acquired by LVMH shortly afterward, in 2000 [5].

A later milestone was a charitable collaboration with (RED): a limited-edition version of the Sugar Lip Treatment, branded SUGA(RED), with 25 percent of proceeds directed to AIDS awareness.

fresh has been part of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton since 2000 [5]. Wikipedia's article on LVMH lists fresh among the group's Perfumes and Cosmetics brands, alongside houses such as Guerlain, Benefit Cosmetics, Acqua di Parma, Parfums Christian Dior and Ole Henriksen [2]. Glazman has said the acquisition gave the team full autonomy together with the resources of a large group, including access to the Fresh Research Lab housed within LVMH's Helios Research Center in France [4].

The company frames its work around nourishing the skin rather than correcting it. According to fresh, it treats skin "not as a surface to fix, but a living organ to nourish," combining naturally derived ingredients with modern science to deliver results with what it calls sensory pleasure — a philosophy the brand sums up as "nutrition for your skin" [1]. Its stated starting point is nature: the company says it searches for natural ingredients with high nutritional potential, from kombucha to Bulgarian damask rose. fresh has also pointed to ritual and sensory experience as central, describing itself as devoted to authenticity and craftsmanship, with the experience of using a product treated as equal in importance to its results.

fresh's range centres on naturally derived hero ingredients, including sugar, soy, Bulgarian damask rose, black tea, kombucha and Umbrian clay. Among its recurring products are the Sugar Lip Treatment Advanced Therapy, the Umbrian Clay Purifying Mask and the Black Tea Age-Delay Firming Serum, the last formulated with kombucha and extracts of black tea, blackberry leaf, honeysuckle leaf and lychee seed. The company states that it is a member of the Union for Ethical BioTrade [1]. Through its LVMH ownership, product development draws on the Fresh Research Lab at the group's Helios Research Center in France.

fresh remains active and operates globally, but as a wholly owned LVMH maison rather than an independent company — its status is best described as acquired. LVMH's maison page presents it as a global company based in New York; this differs from its founding location, as editorial accounts place the original 1991 apothecary in Boston [6][3]. The most recent activity reflected in available sources describes the company operating internationally, offering skincare, lip care, body care and fragrance in more than 25 countries.