This wasn’t a normal product launch from Bath & Body Works, but rather a release from Hype Lab, the company’s new initiative dedicated to releasing small-batch, limited-edition fragrances developed quickly based on social and cultural trends, as well as consumer feedback. The products live on Drops, a consumer-facing platform where Bath & Body Works also releases early-access products and other online exclusives. The next product, a spooky season-inspired scent called Hex Appeal, drops on Tuesday at 2 pm ET. 

“It’s really creating fragrance at the speed of culture, testing with consumers, learning in real-time [and] listening to their feedback,” Kristie Lewis, evp of merchandising at Bath & Body Works, said in an interview. 

Internally, Bath & Body Works is in a period of transformation. In the second quarter, the company’s sales declined 2.3% year over year to $1.5 billion. 

In May of 2025, the company appointed a new CEO, former Nike Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Daniel Heaf. That November, Heaf unveiled a new multi-year turnaround strategy called Consumer First Formula. “Underlying business trends remain pressured, but we are seeing further evidence that elements of the Consumer First Formula are beginning to work,” Heaf said in an August press release announcing second-quarter results. 

The strategy consists of four pillars: creating disruptive products, reigniting the brand, winning in the marketplace and operating with speed and efficiency. 

It’s that first pillar that Lewis and her team control. Some of the products Bath & Body Works recently released as part of that mandate include Essentials, a body-care line for sensitive skin, and Reserve, a more minimalist line of home-fragrance products designed to look more like home-decor centerpieces. 

Hype Lab is a cross-functional effort at Bath & Body Works. In May, Lewis started creating her “ninja team,” as she calls it, pulling different people from the digital, creative, merchandising and in-house fragrance teams to work on Hype Lab. 

The products coming out of Hype Lab take about 8-12 weeks to develop. Bath & Body Works partners with MANE fragrance house on the scents and bottles them in Bath & Body Works’ Ohio manufacturing facilities. 

Bath & Body Works is looking at trends on social platforms like Instagram and TikTok for cues on what scents to develop next through Hype Lab. But Lewis said she also wants to take inspiration from unexpected sources, including sports, movies or podcasts. In other words, she sees Hype Lab as a way to gather information about what cultural moments Bath & Body Works customers are currently obsessed with, and try to create a fragrance or a sensorial experience inspired by it. 

Since all of these drops are small-batch, Lewis said sales aren’t the primary metric by which these releases are judged. Rather, “we’re looking at how the consumer is coming back, whether it be on social media comments or in the comments and reviews online, to tell us what they love and what they don’t love.” Bath & Body Works is compiling all of that information to inspire future collections at scale. 

“Our goal is really just to test, learn and listen to the consumer, and create with them,” Lewis said.