It is not hard to understand how growing up in the shadow of a successful parent can be overwhelming. That’s why Irene Forte, daughter of English hotelier Sir Rocco Forte, says she’s always wanted to feel the triumph that comes from building something great of her own. Forte, 35, spent nearly a decade working for her father’s luxury hotel chain, Rocco Forte Hotels , but in 2019 she decided to launch her own luxury brand, Irene Forte Skincare.
“I guess I’ve always really wanted to prove myself coming from a family of successful entrepreneurs,” she says. “From a young age, I feel like I’ve always wanted to be successful in my own right and I feel like working in the family business wasn’t actually enough for me.” The Irene Forte Skincare brand has since become a major player in the luxury skincare market, with sales up 300 per cent last year and a repeat customer purchase rate of 56 per cent, which she says is more than double the industry standard of 25 per cent.
Whilst we sit and chat in one of her father’s flagship dining rooms of Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, Forte tells me it was while she was working across the Rocco Forte Hotel spas that she came up with the idea. Originally introduced to help unify the brand identity in the spas across the 14 hotels and resorts, the skincare line eventually expanded beyond the Rocco Forte Hotel shelves. She says the secret to the early success of the luxury skincare products – which range from its flagship £165 hi.