The Topicals x Billionaire Boys Club partnership was not on my bingo card of collaborations to close out the year. But the more I sat with it, the more it made complete sense. This is a partnership that sits right at the intersection of skincare, style, culture, and self-expression — and it deserves a closer look.
Because what's happening here isn't just a co-branded drop. It's a signal about where brand strategy is headed when two culturally confident players decide to merge without losing themselves.
Highlights
- Topicals and Billionaire Boys Club represent what I call a "zipper partnership" — two strong brands merging seamlessly without either slowing down or losing its lane.
- This collaboration expands both brands' audiences: Topicals reaches into male youth culture, while BBC moves into skincare and wellness.
- The partnership doesn't dilute either brand. It deepens them.
- It challenges outdated lines between beauty and fashion, between care and culture, between who's allowed in the room.
- The boldest brand collaborations aren't about competing — they're about co-elevation.
Understanding the Players
Topicals: Skincare as Self-Expression
Founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Olamide, Topicals was built on a very clear mission — to transform the way people feel about their skin through products that not only work, but meet you where you are on your skincare journey. And they were very particular about making sure the vibes were always culturally elite.
Topicals has never really been a brand just about skincare. From day one, they positioned skincare as self-care and made sure their audience lived unapologetically in their truth. They challenged the idea that skincare has to be sterile or boring. They've always centered real skin, real people, and real conversations about the insecurities people actually deal with.
That positioning matters. It's what made Topicals more than a product company — it made them a cultural voice in the wellness space.
Billionaire Boys Club: Individuality as Identity
Then there's Billionaire Boys Club, founded by Pharrell Williams. BBC is a brand built on individuality, futurism, Black imagination, rebellion, and self-belief. It was never just about streetwear. It was a cultural signal and a reminder that being different wasn't a flaw — actually, it was the biggest flex.
That ethos is what gives BBC its staying power. It's not trend-dependent. It's identity-driven. And that distinction is exactly what makes it such a strong partner for a brand like Topicals.
The Zipper Partnership: A Framework for Brand Collaboration
What It Is
When Topicals and Billionaire Boys Club came together, it's what I refer to as a zipper partnership. Just like in a zipper merge in traffic, you have two really strong brands moving confidently in their own lane.
Topicals is in one lane, rooted in wellness, self-expression, and rewriting how we talk about skincare. Billionaire Boys Club is in the other, built on culture, style, futurism, and unapologetic individuality.
Neither brand slowed down. Neither tried to take over the other's lane. They didn't crash or compete. They merged — and took their lanes to the next level for expansion.
Why It Matters
This framework is worth paying attention to because most brand collaborations fall into one of two traps: one brand overshadows the other, or both brands water themselves down to find a middle ground. The zipper partnership avoids both. It's about parallel strength meeting at the point of convergence, not compromise.
The Strategic Expansion Play
Audience Growth Without Brand Dilution
If I think about this strategically, the mutual benefit is clear.
Topicals now expands into Billionaire Boys Club's target demo — predominantly male youth culture. That's a demographic that hasn't traditionally been centered in skincare conversations, at least not in the way Topicals approaches them. Meanwhile, Billionaire Boys Club gets to expand into a universe beyond fashion and into skincare and wellness.
Because what's more aspirational than investing in yourself and looking fly while doing it?
Deepening, Not Diluting
This collaboration doesn't dilute either brand. It actually deepens them. And that brand expansion is a reminder that the boldest brands aren't afraid to blur lines — between beauty and fashion, between care and culture, between who's allowed in the room and who's always been allowed to be there.
That's the real work of a great partnership. Not just co-branding. Co-elevation.
Strategic Insight
What this partnership signals is a broader cultural shift in how we think about brand categories. The old walls between beauty and fashion, between wellness and streetwear, between "care" brands and "cool" brands — those walls are coming down. And the brands that are leading aren't the ones trying to be everything at once. They're the ones who are deeply rooted in their own identity and confident enough to merge with a partner who's equally rooted in theirs.
The zipper partnership model works because it requires both brands to maintain their speed and their lane. It's not about slowing down to accommodate. It's about trusting that the merge point creates something neither could reach alone.
That's the signal here: the most culturally relevant collaborations going forward won't be about borrowed equity. They'll be about shared values and expanded reach — without anyone losing who they are.
Key Takeaways
- The strongest partnerships are zipper merges, not takeovers. Two brands can come together without either one yielding its identity or slowing its momentum.
- Audience expansion is most powerful when it deepens a brand rather than stretching it thin. Topicals reaching into male youth culture and BBC moving into wellness both feel like natural progressions, not forced pivots.
- Category lines are dissolving — and the boldest brands are leading that shift. Beauty and fashion, care and culture, wellness and streetwear: the brands blurring these boundaries are the ones defining what's next.
- The secret sauce of a great partnership is co-elevation. Each brand should leave the collaboration more expansive than when it entered — not flattened into a compromise.
What's Next
If this collaboration between Topicals and Billionaire Boys Club tells us anything, it's that the partnerships worth watching are the ones where both brands come in strong, stay in their lane, and merge into something that neither could build alone.
That's what makes a partnership culturally it. And there's more to come.
