Purely Byron wound-up after BWX collapse, as Julie Mathers scoops up Flora & Fauna, Nourished Life

Purely Byron, the skincare label co-founded by actress Elsa Pataky and partly owned by husband Chris Hemsworth, will be wound up as embattled parent company BWX offloads other components of its beauty empire.

Documents listed by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) on Thursday reveal Purely Byron has voluntarily resolved to wind up, presaging the company’s likely liquidation.

Pataky co-founded Purely Byron in 2021, describing the venture as a “natural skincare range that captures the essence of Byron, celebrating its powerful native botanicals.”

It quickly garnered the attention of skincare giant BWX, which acquired a 49% stake in the business that year, valued at $490,000.

ASIC files show Hemsworth’s own Byron Bay 1st Management also held a 3.2% stake in the business.

But in a turbulent period for skincare startups, Purely Byron collapsed in mid-March.

Its joint administrators, Cameron Gray and Justin Holzman of DW Advistory, suspended operations while offering its business and assets to prospective buyers.

Attempts to sell the operation appeared to falter as BWX faced its own woes, falling into administration itself in early April.

Flora & Fauna, Nourished Life find new (and old) owners

While Purely Byron appears to have come to an end, BWX’s administrators this week sold both eco-friendly retailer Flora & Fauna and natural beauty product platform Nourished Life.

The Australian Financial Review this week reported that BWX Digital, the entity containing both Flora & Fauna and Nourished Life, will be acquired by The Future Collective.

The deal will see Flora & Fauna co-founder Julie Mathers regain partial ownership of a company sold to BWX in 2021 for $30 million.

The Future Collective is a new partnership between Mathers and her husband Tom Abraham, New Zealand e-commerce player HealthPost, and Abel Butler and Lilani Rogers, the CEO and head of procurement and operations at HealthPost, respectively.

That deal has resulted in redundancies across the former BWX Digital team across Melbourne and Sydney, as the company’s centre of power shifts towards New Zealand.

SmartCompany has contacted Mathers for comment.

While Mathers will once again oversee Flora & Fauna, Irene Falcone, the founder of Nourished Life, has outlined a vastly different plan.

Falcone sold Nourished Life to BWX in 2017 for $20 million, before starting a new venture in Sans Drinks, an online alcohol-free beverage retailer which capitalised on Australia’s embrace of high-quality, booze-free options.

Now, Falcone intends to launch a Nourished Life competitor dubbed Sans World, after what she described as BWX’s mishandling of the brand she founded.

“It’s going to be exactly what Nourished Life used to be before it was destroyed,” Falcone told the Sydney Morning Herald last month.

BWX administrators continue to offer the company’s crown jewels — Go-To, the skincare brand founded by Zoë Foster Blake, and popular organic skincare line Sukin — to prospective buyers.