How Barrière wants to revolutionize the food supplement industry

The supplement industry has seen increasing demand in recent years as consumers increasingly focus on health and wellness.

Along with this, wearable patches have become more common, with brands like The What Supp Co and The Good Patch marketing products that they claim provide the same results as oral vitamins without having to swallow pills.

One company, Barrière, claims to bring something new to the table. It currently has an offering of patches that offer consumers help with everything from sleep to increased energy to immune support.

CEO and co-founder Cleo Davis-Urman exclusively told CNBC that the company plans to double its 2025 revenue to $10 million in 2026, with a current valuation of $19 million. Davis-Urman also told CNBC that Barrière is also launching into 1,700 Walmart stores with its two latest offerings, including a motion sickness patch and what the company said is the first-ever lactose intolerance patch on the market.

Barrière grew from a presence in just over 600 stores in the second quarter of 2025 to a presence in more than 6,000 stores in the second quarter of 2026, according to the company. Its products are sold at major retailers, including Target, Ulta And Urban outfitters.

Yet even as wearable patches become more available, the market remains largely unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Barrière products are not approved by the FDA. The agency oversees supplements under the Dietary Supplement, Health, and Education Act of 1994, which classifies the products as foods rather than drugs and largely leaves marketing to companies.

Davis-Urman said Barrière chose to manufacture its products in the United Kingdom, where the agency equivalent to the FDA follows the “strictest possible regulations.”

“Transparency is key, education is key and in some ways being made in the UK signals to a wellness savvy customer that more measures are being put in place to protect their health and wellbeing,” Davis-Urman said.

The CEO said she founded the company after her doctor recommended she start wearing patches to address serious vitamin deficiencies because her oral supplements weren’t working — but she soon realized the patches her doctor prescribed were bulky, medical and uncomfortable.

“People know they need supplements. They have good intentions of starting a routine, but the drop-off is so significant,” Davis-Urman said. “So we’re trying to solve the biological problems and solve these efficacy and absorption problems, but we’re also trying to make it more fun, more enjoyable, more convenient and more comfortable, so people actually stick to their routines.”

The transdermal stickers, created with very small vitamin particles, use body heat to deliver ingredients directly into the bloodstream, working for up to 12 hours at a time, Davis-Urman said.

Barrier stickers sell for about $13 to $18 for monthly packs. By 2025, monthly wholesale dollar volume will jump more than 3,000%, according to the company.

The supplement market is a highly saturated market, estimated at $60 billion and with more than 100,000 products, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The vitamins and supplements segment is expected to grow 11% by 2027, according to data from consulting firm AlixPartners.

The vitamin category as a whole saw dollar sales increase from about $14 billion in 2021 to more than $17 billion in 2025, according to Chicago-based market research firm Circana. Between 2024 and 2025, unit sales of vitamins increased by almost 5%.

This expansion is accompanied by a generally growing interest in health and well-being, driven by younger generations. Supplement company Thorne said Generation Z is one of its biggest customers, as the population focuses not only on preventative care, but restorative care as well.

That’s largely because this generation is attracted to the marketing and convenience of supplements and, by extension, patches, according to Mahtab Jafari, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California, Irvine.

“I always say marketing is usually way ahead of science, so marketing is a key factor,” Jafari told CNBC. “And when it comes to patches, when you see or hear that you can just wear your vitamins, you don’t even have to take them, … it’s all about convenience.”

Still, Davis-Urman said Barriere’s key audience was ages 25 to 65, and demand and interest spanned generations, which she said initially surprised her because she expected Gen Z to be its biggest customers.

Barrière’s distinguishing factor is its marketing, according to Davis-Urman, who has a background in the fashion world.

She said she wanted to create a simple, stylish and easy-to-wear product for people looking for extra vitamin support. Each pack is personalized based on the type of vitamin, with designs like flowers or jewels.

In a way, Davis-Urman said Barriere’s customers have become part of its own sales strategy, because the patches spark conversations simply by being visible, reaching consumers the company might not have targeted otherwise.

“It doesn’t just sort of disappear into the ocean of sameness like so many clinical science lab solutions in the supplement space,” she said.

The market has traditionally seen patches to help with nicotine addiction and hormone control, but Davis-Urman said its stickers go even further with their style and ingredients.

Barrière’s first lactose intolerance patch is launched at Walmart and promises the same results as Lactaid products. Consumers can decide to use it on the go, Davis-Urman said, and it has additional effects such as reducing bloating and discomfort.

Davis-Urman said the partnership with Walmart grew out of a cold email. She said she contacted the store because it had the largest and fastest growing digestive health department in the country, which meant it would be an attractive place to launch Barriere’s lactose intolerance patch.

It’s a different strategy than its products sold at Target, Davis-Urman said, where the customer focuses more on skin care and beauty.

“What we know works for this customer, what this customer is looking for, is how we differentiate ourselves so that we don’t oversaturate and we don’t dilute our brand,” she said. “Finding the right partner for the right product is truly essential.”

Barrière’s motion sickness patch, while not the first on the market, is also part of Walmart’s launch.

The new patches build on the success of its other products, Davis-Urman said. The company has received positive feedback from its customers, some of whom said Barriere was the first vitamin routine they were able to stick to and see results from.

She adds, however, that “all bodies are different” and Barrière emphasizes that education is key.

“The goal is to have this product define the category and disrupt not only the vitamin aisle, but also the medicine cabinet,” Davis-Urman said.

—CNBC Ryan Boulanger contributed to this report.