EXCLUSIVE: Actress Deepika Padukone’s Beauty Brand 82°E Launches Distribution Partnership with the PCA Companies

Deepika Padukone, the actress and global ambassador for Cartier, is hoping to put her beauty brand, 82°E, on the fast track to global retail success through a new partnership with the PCA Companies, which was announced.

The Mumbai-based self care company, pronounced 82 East, originally launched in 2021 as a direct-to-consumer brand selling exclusively on its website, with the capability of shipping out to 200 countries across five continents. Since its inception the business has seen double-digit growth, year-over-year, and has expanded into both body care and men’s grooming, Padukone told WWD.

Now Padukone is looking to scale the international presence of 82°E at an accelerated rate. Searching for a global beauty distributor with “commerical expertise, retailer relationships and commitment to product development quality,” 82°E landed on PCA Companies, which recently acquired Space NK’s U.S. wholesale division.

“I am a very curious and mindful person who researches thoroughly before making decisions,” Padukone said of her decision to sign with PCA Companies. “They spent the time diving into the brand, aligning global consumer insights and clinical results with the consumer data we had from India to create a comprehensive business plan.”

Padukone believes this union will “build upon the foundation” of 82°E, while preserving its original mission as a science-based brand combining holistic ingredients such as turmeric, lotus and ashwagandha  with ceramides, as well as ingredients indigenous to India, including niacinamide of gotu kola, also known as centella asiatica.

She said: “PCA Companies will find retail partners that align with 82°E, but also additional beauty categories that will be created side-by-side with me. The India beauty marketplace is poised for growth and PCA Companies can bring their global consumer insights and data-driven decision-making process to proactively anticipate consumer purchasing changes that will accompany that growth.”

In the official press release for the partnership announcement, Piyush Golia, chief executive officer of PCA Companies, said the company was excited to starting working with 82°E. “We are looking forward to working with Deepika and the talented team at 82°E as we help drive the next phase of the brand’s growth, with strategic retail partnerships and new product launches to engage current and future consumers,” Golia said in the statement.

Paduokone’s belief in 82°E’s ability to compete with the litany of other global beauty brands was expressed just two years after its launch. “Why should it not? As Indians, why should we always second-guess ourselves?” she said in an exclusive interview with WWD. “I can’t comment on anyone else’s journey, I can only comment on ours, and say that we are very confident about who we are, where we come from….I think we’re on track. A large part of the success that we’ve seen since the launch has come from the global market. It’s not only 82 East: I think as Indians we’re very much on everyone’s radar.”

82°E has been intentional with its product drops, timing the rollouts with changes in consumer demands based on the season. Each formula is researched and tested in a development center in Bengaluru. Products include the moisturizer Ashwagandha Bounce, the Patchouli Glow Sunscreen Drops, the Gotu Kola Dew Toner, the Face, Beard and Body Cleanser and its latest addition: the Pomegranate Lip Wrap and Lip Oil with SPF 15.

Jigar K. Shah, cofounder of 82°E, told WWD in 2023: “We’re marrying Indian ingredients to science — we’re focusing more on the India story, not the ayurveda story. It would have been easy to get a third-party manufacturer, but we are unique in building the products and have been very clear that we didn’t want to create a product that just had a celebrity in it, but rather one that truly solves a problem and adds value to customers.” Shah also noted that about 10 percent of 82°E’s revenue was export revenue.