Israeli hair care brand REDEFINE will begin selling products at Costco Canada next week, marking its first major North American retail expansion.
The brand's keratin shampoo and conditioner set, featuring 500-milliliter bottles, will be sold in all 110 Costco locations across Canada and through Costco Canada's website. The products are manufactured in Israel. The company said it later plans to introduce its matcha product line, which is produced in Hungary.
Costco, the U.S.-based membership retail chain, operates more than 630 stores in the United States and 110 in Canada, its second-largest market. Some U.S. Costco locations already carry Israeli products, including Medjool dates and food products from Tnuva and Osem.
Keratin products are among the fastest-growing categories in the global hair care market. According to the company, the process of entering Costco took about a year and involved regulatory approvals, quality testing, product and packaging modifications, translations and the development of customized graphics for the Canadian market.
"The decision to work with us represents confidence in the quality and values of the brand," REDEFINE CEO Or Lev Har told ynet. "For us, this is the beginning of a long path of global expansion."
Lev Har said Canadian prices would remain comparable to those in Israel despite the larger bottle size.
REDEFINE was founded just over a year ago and is already sold at more than 500 points of sale in Israel, including Super-Pharm, Be Pharm, Lior Adika and Maccabi Pharm. The company has signed distribution agreements in Ukraine, China and Romania, and its products are also sold in Russia.
The products are manufactured at the Sea of Spa factory in the southern Israeli city of Arad, a former Dead Sea cosmetics facility that produces more than 100 private-label brands in addition to its own lines.
Lev Har said the Costco deal carries particular significance amid the challenges Israeli exporters have faced since the outbreak of the war.
"At the end of the day, a chain like this, during a period like this, is buying a cosmetic product manufactured in Israel," he said. "It clearly states 'Made in Israel.'"
The company exports directly from its Arad factory to Costco warehouses in Canada without using distributors, he said.
Will the products be sold in Costco stores in other countries?
"We are in advanced discussions with Costco. At the moment, Canada is the market, but in principle we have received approval to open additional Costco markets, including Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, Iceland and Costco's online platform in Europe."
He said some European markets requested that production not take place in Israel, reflecting consumer sensitivities rather than concerns from Costco buyers. "There is also future potential for the United States, China and Singapore," he said.
Are you concerned about using the 'Made in Israel' label in Canada?
"Of course they would prefer Europe as the country of manufacture because it avoids potential problems with some consumers, but we took that risk into account and decided to proceed with 'Made in Israel.'"
Lev Har said the opportunity arose unexpectedly at the Cosmoprof cosmetics exhibition in Bologna, Italy, in March 2025.
At the time, REDEFINE was still in the prototype stage, and company representatives brought sample bottles — some produced with 3D printing — as a backup while presenting another brand. "My partner greeted the Costco representatives and told me, 'There's some company called Castro here that seems interesting,'" Lev Har said. "I looked at the badge and realized it was Costco."
After learning that the originally displayed brand did not fit Costco's needs, the company introduced the buyers to REDEFINE's prototypes. "They were enthusiastic and left their details," he said.
Months later, after sending samples and presenting an AI-generated marketing presentation at Costco Canada's offices, the two sides finalized pricing and packaging.
Lev Har said anti-Israel sentiment has complicated international expansion. "Many customers in Europe and the Gulf tell me there is no chance," he said, adding that some industry contacts have advised Israeli exhibitors not to speak Hebrew or to present themselves as European companies. "I tell them, if you don't want products from Israel, don't buy from me," he said.
He added that Chinese buyers have generally shown little concern about the products' country of origin.
Lev Har also criticized what he described as insufficient government support for exporters, saying companies receive little assistance for international exhibitions and travel expenses despite sharply higher costs. "The state knows how difficult it is to export because of the geopolitical situation," he said. "But we're largely dealing with these challenges on our own."