The Tamesis
111Skin founder Dr. Yannis Alexandrides is a triple board certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon with a clinic on Harley Street, London. Back in 2007, he teamed up with two biochemists to find a solution that would help patients’ skin heal faster after surgery. They came up with an antioxidant, vitamin C-infused formula called NAC Y2, which Dr. Yannis has since started prescribing to his clients. “A lot of people would come back and say they wanted more because their skin looked so much better,” he said. That sparked the idea of adapting the formula for daily use and selling it out of his clinic. In June 2010, Dr. Yannis’ wife Eva took on the creative and marketing of the formula, and their ultra-high-end skin care brand 111Skin was born.
Annalize Fard, senior director of beauty, home, fine jewelry and watches at Harrods, discovered the brand through one of Dr. Yannis’s patients in 2012 and became its first stockist. “At the time, I was specifically looking for a highly effective post-surgery skin care line that would really deliver results, and 111Skin ticked all the boxes,” says Fard. “The fusion of medical expertise, clinical efficiency and true luxury positioning makes it extremely attractive to Harrods customers.” She’s noticed something: Today, 111Skin is sold in 400 retailers and 140 spas, and its repairing serum NAC Y2 is a best-seller alongside the Celestial Black Diamond Lifting and Firming Mask.
After years of steady growth, 111Skin caught the attention of Kim Kardashian’s private equity firm, Skky Partners, which acquired a minority stake in the skin-care brand in January 2025. Last month, beauty giant The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) announced a minority investment in the brand. “For the stage of growth the company is at, we need strategic investors, not just people giving us money. The next step is to create new products, nurture the products we already have, and continue to grow our user community of users who enjoy using our products,” said Dr. Yannis. fashion business exclusively had an interview with Eva, their first together since the news broke.
According to the company, 111Skin will achieve retail sales of £60 million in 2025 through multi-brand, direct-to-consumer (DTC) and spa channels, with retail sales growing 27% year-on-year. The brand said gross profit margins will remain healthy and exceed 80% in 2025.
But after the investment, the two companies are keen to develop new products, invest in key markets such as the UK, the United States, China and Thailand, and continue to expand their business scale, while coping with the growing pains caused by saturation and scale expansion in the skin care field.
The power of investing
In the year since Skky Partners invested, 111Skin has streamlined its operations. “We were able to look at better warehousing and financially upgrade our internal software. We really leveraged their resources to future-proof our business operations,” Eva said. The brand now manufactures products in Europe and Asia, but its formulas are still developed in the UK.
111Skin’s partnership with Kardashian has also been a boon to the industry, especially in increasing brand awareness. The Skims founder has 345 million followers on Instagram and a history of seriously endorsing other brands — she first posted about 111Skin in 2019, using the Black Diamond Lifting and Firming Neck Mask. “Personally, it’s important that one of the founders, Kim Kardashian, is a huge fan of the brand and had used it before working with us. She is a leader in the beauty space and her trust in the brand is a testament to the quality of the products,” said Dr. Yannis.
