How Kristin Cavallari Is Refocusing Uncommon James for Its Next Chapter
In an exclusive interview, the founder and CEO discusses returning to a hands-on leadership role, retaining full ownership of her lifestyle brand and why skincare is central to its next phase of growth.
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When Kristin Cavallari launched Uncommon James from her Nashville home in 2017, the business began with jewelry. Over the next nine years, it expanded into a broader lifestyle brand spanning apparel, home, fragrance and beauty.
Now, Cavallari is taking a more deliberate approach to what comes next. Rather than pursuing expansion across a growing list of categories, she is focusing on the businesses she has already built, with skincare emerging as a central opportunity.
That shift also coincides with a change in her own role. After building an executive team and stepping back from daily operations, Cavallari restructured Uncommon James’ leadership this past spring and returned to a more hands-on position as CEO. She now oversees marketing strategy alongside product design and development, with involvement that extends to the details of how the brand communicates.
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“Being back in the day-to-day has completely reignited my passion for Uncommon James,” Cavallari says. “I feel more connected to the company and more excited about its future than ever.”
Her approach reflects a founder who is reassessing where her attention can have the greatest impact. With full ownership of Uncommon James, Cavallari has maintained control over its creative direction and pace of growth. The next stage, she says, is less about entering new markets for the sake of expansion and more about making the brand’s existing categories work harder.
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The Founder Returns to the Center of the Business
Cavallari’s decision to become more involved in Uncommon James followed an evolution in how she managed the company. In its early years, she was involved in nearly every aspect of the business. As it grew, she built an executive team and shifted her focus primarily to the creative side.
This past spring, she decided to restructure the leadership team and step back into daily operations.
Today, her responsibilities include spearheading marketing strategy and overseeing product design and development. She remains involved in both larger business decisions and details such as copywriting.
“I’m very particular about how the brand looks, feels, and communicates,” she says.
The move reflects what Cavallari has learned about the relationship between a founder and the company she builds. Delegating responsibilities created room for the business to grow, but her experience has also reinforced the value of her own involvement.
“What I’ve realized is that as the founder, I’m the heartbeat of the company,” she says. “No one will ever care about this business in quite the same way I do, and that’s something I’ve learned through experience.”
That level of involvement is possible in part because Cavallari has retained full ownership of Uncommon James. She says independence gives her the freedom to make decisions based on what feels right for the brand, rather than answering to outside investors.
“Maintaining full ownership has allowed me to grow at my own pace, think long-term, and ultimately decide what I want the future of the company to look like,” she says.
The structure also shapes how she evaluates growth. Cavallari says the company’s strategy has centered on direct-to-consumer sales through its e-commerce business and its own brick-and-mortar stores, with select wholesale partners, primarily Anthropologie.
“I love having that direct relationship with our customers and being able to control the entire brand experience,” she says.
Wholesale could eventually become a more meaningful opportunity for Uncommon Beauty, she adds, but she wants to develop the business further before seriously pursuing that direction.
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Why Skincare Is the Next Priority
Uncommon James now spans several categories, but Cavallari says she is becoming more selective about where the company directs its energy. Jewelry remains the foundation of the business. Skincare, however, is where she sees an opportunity to take the company to its next stage.
“I really believe skincare is where we have the opportunity to take the company to the next level,” she says.
That focus is shaping the plans for Uncommon Beauty, the brand’s beauty business. Cavallari says the company has a pipeline of skincare products in development over the next few years, alongside plans to introduce color cosmetics in 2028.
She is not aiming to build a sprawling makeup assortment. Instead, she wants to develop a curated collection of everyday products that fit the low-maintenance approach to beauty she prefers.
“I’m not interested in building a massive makeup line,” she says. “I want a curated collection of effortless, everyday products that you can throw on and go, with skincare benefits built in.”
The strategy is an extension of the philosophy behind the brand: build products around routines customers can incorporate into daily life, while remaining selective about the categories the company enters.
On Oct. 22, Uncommon Beauty introduced its latest launch, the Go Nude Glutathione Body Serum. The launch adds to the skincare business as Cavallari looks to develop the category before considering a larger wholesale push.
She sees a potential role for retail partners over time, particularly in skincare, where customers may want to experience products in person. For now, however, the priority is building out the business.
“There’s still a lot I want to accomplish with Uncommon Beauty before we seriously explore that direction,” she says. “I’m not interested in expanding just for the sake of expanding.”
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From Men’s Jewelry to Beauty From Within
Cavallari’s selective approach does not mean she has stopped exploring new products. It means she wants each expansion to make sense for the brand or reflect a product she genuinely believes in.
The company’s first men’s jewelry collection, for example, grew out of conversations with friends who wanted a destination for simple, understated pieces. Having two sons who enjoy wearing chains also made the category feel familiar to her.
“I saw an opportunity to bring the same approach we’ve always had with women’s jewelry, pieces that are easy to wear and don’t feel overdone, to men,” she says.
Her work with Fizzen, a protein sparkling fruit juice brand where she serves as co-founder, offers a different model. Cavallari says the team approached her, and trying the drink helped convince her to get involved. She had associated protein drinks with a heavy, chalky texture and was drawn to Fizzen’s lighter, more refreshing product.
Her responsibilities there are also distinct from her role at Uncommon James. While she is deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of her own brand, Fizzen already had an established team when she joined. Her focus is more on creative direction, brand positioning and product development.
The company plans to launch two products in January focused on beauty and wellness, she says. The products align with her interest in incorporating skin and hair health into everyday routines.
Across the two businesses, Cavallari’s involvement varies, but her approach to product development remains grounded in whether the offering feels right to her. At Uncommon James, that means continuing to develop its core categories while exploring adjacent opportunities that fit the brand.
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Redefining What Growth Looks Like
As Cavallari looks ahead, she is not focused on adding as many categories as possible. She wants to strengthen the businesses already in place, continue developing products and push the creative direction of the jewelry and marketing.
“I’ve learned that growth doesn’t always have to mean doing more,” she says. “Sometimes it’s about doing what you already do really well, but on a much bigger scale.”
That perspective also reflects how her definition of success has changed. Earlier in her career, she measured it in financial terms. Now, she says, success is more closely tied to the freedom to choose how she spends her time and what she takes on.
“When I was younger, I measured success in dollar signs,” she says. “Today, success looks completely different to me.”
For Cavallari, that means being able to turn down opportunities that do not excite her, protect time with her family and walk away from a chapter that no longer feels right, even if it looks successful from the outside.
She brings that same willingness to make deliberate choices to her career. Rather than continuing to expand simply because she can, she is concentrating on the work she finds most meaningful and the parts of the business where she wants to remain closely involved.
“I want to continue growing our core businesses, creating incredible products, and pushing ourselves creatively with our jewelry designs and marketing campaigns,” she says.
The next chapter of Uncommon James, then, is not defined by how many new categories it can enter. It is about how Cavallari wants to build the business she already owns, with a more hands-on role at the helm and a clearer focus on the opportunities she believes have the most room to grow.
