Melissa Butler, the founder of The Lip Bar, revealed that she nearly shuttered her second cosmetic brand, Thread Beauty, which launched in February 2022. Despite The Lip Bar's established success since its 2012 debut—growing from kitchen-made lipsticks to a full line of beauty products and securing a retail partnership with Target—Thread Beauty has struggled to gain similar traction. The brand offers affordable color cosmetics, all priced at $8, and is sold alongside The Lip Bar at Target, but its growth has been limited, causing Butler to consider closing it.

However, Target encouraged Butler to keep Thread Beauty alive, affirming their belief in the brand's potential. Butler acknowledged in a TikTok video that although Thread Beauty boasts appealing branding and products, it lacks a "face" or human connection to drive momentum, something she cannot provide while also leading The Lip Bar. The challenge lies in capturing the brand's youthful, affordable, and fun personality in a way that resonates with consumers, a task Butler sees as essential to Thread Beauty’s revival.

In response, Butler is actively seeking a business partner who can also serve as the brand's public face to help inject the right energy into Thread Beauty. She is targeting U.S.-based individuals with significant social media influence—specifically those with over 100,000 engaged followers—and a passion for makeup who can create compelling content and align with the brand’s audience. This partnership offers an ownership stake in a nationally distributed brand with a vibrant innovation pipeline and a growing social media presence.

Butler emphasizes that The Lip Bar’s success has come from strong community support, and she hopes to replicate this by bringing the right collaborator on board. Interested candidates can apply through her website, melissarbutler.com/thread-beauty, for what Butler describes as a rare and hands-on opportunity to build something meaningful in the competitive beauty space without an upfront financial investment. The move marks a strategic pivot to save and scale Thread Beauty with new leadership and vision.