Despite the widespread hatred of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle e-commerce brand, I’m a proud Goop enthusiast. Having said that, I’m skeptical of crystal healing and health advice from anyone who isn’t my doctor.
So I welcomed the news, which WWD reported yesterday, that the brand is hiring a vice president to lead an in-house home goods category, which has yet to launch. (Goop currently sells home goods, but they are outsourced brands.)
I want more millennial pink ceramic bowls, handwoven artisanal throw pillows, and vegetable spiralizers from Goop. I want fewer detox supplements, DIY colonics, and jade yoni eggs prone to bacteria from Goop.
In other words, I trust Paltrow with my kitchen table, not my reproductive health. Let her become the next Martha Stewart, not Dr. Oz (especially since Dr. Oz, a Columbia University professor and surgeon, himself gives questionable health advice).
Goop chief merchandising officer Blair Lawson explained that the Goop brand products, called G. Label, will complement, not compete with, the 400 other brands in the fashion, beauty, home and wellness categories already sold on goop.com.
It makes sense to trust Paltrow with your throw pillows and lighting fixtures, or what you cook for your next dinner. Paltrow has discerning and worldly tastes, and her cookbooks incorporate surprisingly hearty dishes alongside the requisite green juices and avocado toast (which, to her credit, involves mayonnaise). Her personal trainer Tracy Anderson’s workout methods are brutal but effective (think jumping up and down for an hour while wearing ankle weights in a basement heated to feel like a sauna). She looks great in clothes. She is a remarkably good Academy Award-winning actress, and not a bad singer, either. She has a close group of girlfriends, a healthy relationship with her ex-husband Chris Martin, two kids who appear to be thriving, and a growing company.
Goop is not shying away from the wellness category, of course, and it’s easy to imagine the brand moving into the increasingly luxe and design-focused legal marijuana category. (At the recent In Goop Health summit in New York City, my colleague Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz noticed that employees were quietly polling random attendees on their thoughts about CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that’s showing up in cocktails and cures.)
In any case, the investment in home goods is a step in the right direction, especially for those of us who will never get a colonic, but would totally splurge for a good salad bowl.