Meet Quilt: The Launch That Marks a Fresh Take on Ingredient-Driven Beauty

Photo Credit: Ryland Lovvorn

In order to make it in the beauty space nowadays, brands must be innovative. Is your hero product tapping into an underserved market? Does this product meet the needs of your community? Are you redefining certain ingredients? Not many brands can address all of these pressing questions. However, in comes QUILT, a Denver-based beauty brand that is reintegrating a highly nourishing ingredient from an unlikely source.

Co-Founders Anna Peirano and Sophie Gregory aim to reintroduce and educate their audience and community. Before they became co-founders of this innovative brand, the two met while attending the University of Kansas and have been best friends ever since. Enjoying the many twists and turns of life and growing up together, the pair have always wanted to start something of their own.

Inspiration strikes sometimes in the most inconvenient times. Sometimes ideas come to you in a whisper, and other times ideas come to you through blood, sweat and tears. For Gregory, it was a cut on her foot.

Let us explain…while Gregory was pregnant with her daughter, she and her husband were enjoying their babymoon in the South of France. While celebrating in the water, Gregory cut her foot and was introduced to a healing ingredient by her cousin. After that, she was hooked, and this ingredient became her holy grail product for the remainder of the trip and sparked a new business venture.

What is this holy grail ingredient, you may ask? Lanolin.

The beauty industry is notably coming into a space of awareness when it comes to what we are putting on and in our bodies. Brands taking the time to step outside of the box and accurately educating their audiences is essential now more than ever. For QUILT, it’s all about honoring the traditional beliefs of the ingredient with a modern twist.

“QUILT is putting the unmatched power of this liquid gold front and center – modernizing it with 100% clean, sustainable formulations and an aesthetic that looks as good as the product feels. We’re reintroducing lanolin into today’s clean, ingredient driven and aesthetic forward beauty industry,” said Gregory and Peirano.

Lanolin is used traditionally in medicinal creams and ointments. However, in the 60’s and 70’s, it had a brief stint as an ingredient in skincare products.

This high-performance and healing ingredient is found in their product, The Balm ($24.00). As QUILT’s debut product, The Balm is a sheer coverage lip product that delivers long-lasting hydration to maintain the skin’s moisture barrier. With only SEVEN ingredients combined, this skin-loving product is ultra clean and 100% all natural.

While many ingredients and products promise us the world and delve into how it’s your new “skin savior,” how does Lanolin set itself apart?

“Lanolin stands apart for one key reason: it speaks the same language as our skin. Its unique lipid structure closely mirrors our own, which allows it to absorb deeply and create a breathable barrier that locks in moisture, protects from the elements, and accelerates healing. Lanolin doesn’t just sit on the surface of your skin; it deeply absorbs and offers nourishment from within…It’s a powerhouse for long-lasting nourishment and real, visible results, not just a quick fix,” said Gregory and Peirano.

While building a brand, there are always challenges and uphill battles to address. For QUILT, it’s the process of reintegrating Lanolin and the reputation that precedes it. Lanolin is sourced and harvested from sheep. The ingredient is a moisture-locking oil found in sheep’s wool, keeping their fleece soft and hydrated. This oil is extracted from their wool after their annual shearing.

With concerns that this process wasn’t cruelty-free for the sheep, many brands and products paused on using Lanolin for many years, and the subject has been taboo ever since.

“The biggest misconception about lanolin is that it isn’t cruelty‑free. The lanolin we use is 100% cruelty‑free and comes from American sheep raised with love and care,” they said.

For Gregory and Peirano, their top priority was to make sure this was not the case and to work with responsible and ethical sheep farmers. “Most people don’t realize how lanolin is actually harvested, which is why education is such a big focus for us. Lanolin comes from the wool that’s already been shorn. The extraction process causes no harm to the sheep themselves since it takes place after they’ve had their yearly haircut. In fact, proper shearing improves sheep’s quality of life by preventing skin infections, parasites, mobility issues, and even dangerous overheating. When done responsibly, it’s a win‑win: healthy, happy sheep and an incredible ingredient for our skin,” they continued.

Rather than shying away from this subject, they completely leaned in, even down to the branding. Brand Designer Kelley McQuillen broke down how the branding came to life through embracing the natural process of harvesting lanolin and leaning into the charm of having woolly good branding (see what we did there).

The Balm is certainly on our list of products that don’t just talk to the talk but perhaps gallops through a meadow (as sheep do). Although QUILT is in its baby stages, we can confirm that Gregory and Peirano have more excitement and products up their sleeves. When approaching the brand and building a community, for them, intention is always at the forefront and leading with awareness and inclusivity.

“In five years, we see QUILT as a powerhouse team of passionate, badass women dedicated to creating a lineup of nourishing, eye‑catching, and efficacious products – all while staying true to our core values: sustainability, 100% naturally derived clean ingredients, and a bold, elevated aesthetic. We want our campaigns, imagery, and events to feel as thoughtful and inspiring as the formulas themselves.

And don’t worry, you won’t have to wait five years for what’s next. We already have a few things up our sleeve,” they said.

Stay tuned as The Curio Cabinet team tests The Balm in our upcoming “We Tried It” series. Until then, keep up with QUILT on Instagram – @wearquilt and join their mascot Ginny’s group chat for all things new and upcoming.