A Luxury Men’s Range That Caters From Head To Toe – Vitaman By Rex AC Silver

This is an incredible story of an Australian men’s product company that has gone from strength to strength over the years with very solid success around the Globe and now, has its sights firmly focused on Australia and the Australian Barber Market.

We spoke to Clare Castles, the Founder and Director of the Australian company, VITAMAN Global.

Clare Castles

Can you tell us a little about how VITAMAN Came to be?

Initially and to this day, I have had amazing shareholders that believe in what I do and have been behind me all the way. My incredible lawyer, a former Socceroo; the founder of an international Business Training Company called Business Blueprint; an international Marketing Expert based in Paris; a Senior Graphic Designer from the Hair & Beauty Industry and a few FF’s (family & friends). One of my shareholders (Dale Beaumont of Business Blueprint) introduced me to a good friend of his in the USA, an Influencer called Antonio Centeno of Real Men Real Style. Antonio has 3million YouTube followers that he speaks to daily on men’s style, fashion, grooming and everything else that men want to know. Antonio and I formed another Australian company VITAMAN USA focussing on the USA (www.vitaman.com). We started the month before COVID and have fortunately grown steadily every month. Our team managing this company are based in USA, Budapest, Croatia, and Ukraine. Plus, a team of talented copywriters in Australia, USA, and UK.

Can you tell us the history of when you launched the range, and the importance of using Australian botanicals?

I was previously a part owner and colourist, in a salon in Newtown called “A Bit on the Side”, which was an extremely successful salon. After a divorce, I became a registered training organisation (RTO) teaching Photographic, Special Effects Makeup and Beauty Therapy. I was also contracted to do a lot of Corporate Grooming Lecturing for companies like Qantas, Major Banks, and Hotels. While I was training the new recruits at Qantas in hair and make-up presentation, I literally had nothing to recommend for the men. I realised there was a huge gap in the market for men, there was only After Shave cologne/fragrances. As a Beauty Therapist, I realised that men’s skin concerns were not being addressed properly, so I started thinking of my ideal business model and a basic product range. I wanted to create a product that I could export. I wanted to create “Australia” in a bottle, I wanted a global business and initially, I wanted it to be online. Most importantly, the range had to be natural, and antioxidant based (Vitamins A, C & E).

So, I launched VITAMAN, the first e-commerce grooming site for men in Australia in 1999. We launched with 9 skincare products, all natural, using unique Indigenous ingredients from Australia. In fact, it was the first men’s brand to use Kakadu Plum, Grass Lilly, Lemon Myrtle, Quandong and Aniseed Myrtle. It’s generally exciting to be FIRST at something, but it was scary being the first e-commerce site for men, and we found out the hard way that no one trusted buying online. And in 1999 men weren’t convinced that they needed skincare, let alone know what an Antioxidant was! Back then, I really believed in Antioxidants being the future of skincare, and they are still regarded as a necessity now, both taken internally for health and used externally in skincare formulations.

My goal here in Australia is to offer a WIN/WIN/WIN. Win for the Salon owner, a Win for the Customer and a Win for VITAMAN.

After 20 years of international success, you are now seriously launching and presenting to Barbers here in Australia following tried and tested results from men’s specialists’ salons and spas from around the globe, can you tell us more?

I know business experts say, make a success in your own country before exporting, but the problem was that I was not only trying to launch a new product/ brand, but also create a new channel, being The Male Market, which was way, too early for Australia. Being based in Sydney, I was fortunate to participate in many events with Austrade, including the 2000 Olympics and received interest from a few international companies. Our first export customer was France, and they are still my European distributor today as well as being the Responsible Person (RP) which is required to export to Europe. Austrade were brilliant helping me in the early days. We launched in the Australian Embassy in Paris, where you could almost touch the Eiffel Tower, it was the perfect location for press and buyers. We entertained press and buyers with Australian Wine and Food and had some famous rugby players. Austrade also helped launch us in Canada and USA including the G’Day USA events, where the Aussie celebrities were given the product and great photo opportunities. We also did the Emmys and Academy Awards. In Paris, we started at the famous ‘Galeries LaFayette’ Department Store where we were the leading brand for 6 years starting with 9 products. If you were in Galleries, salons and spas wanted you too. It was different to the typical retail v’s professional attitude. The opportunity arose to cater to hotels spas for male business travellers, so we extended the range with comprehensive Body & Sports categories, as well as professional massage and body treatments.

We became members of various Spa organisations and whilst we never advertised, we were contacted by Spa Directors around the world to develop exclusive treatments and products for this fast-growing area. Our spa growth has always been by referral. We’ve been so grateful to win many ASIA Spa Magazine awards for Best Products and Best Treatments, voted by industry peers, not based on advertising dollars spent! Some of our Spa stockists past and present include W Hotel Taiwan, Grand Hyatt Singapore, Park Hyatt Doha, The Savoy Portugal, Four Seasons Philadelphia, Conrad Bali and then in 2009 we won a global contract with Hilton Hotels worldwide to be the exclusive men’s brand in their eforea spa concept. In fact, the Global Spa Director for Hilton first sampled our ‘Shave Oil’ and fell in love with the natural aroma and texture, then contacted me. Our entry into the Middle East came about when an extremely smart businesswomen saw VITAMAN at Galleries Lafayette and went on to create the most impressive chain of Executive Grooming Lounges for men, exclusively using VITAMAN, called “1847” (the year the safety razor was invented).

We worked closely developing unique treatments and trained their team in Dubai. We’re still present in 1847 today. I’ve travelled a lot attending trade shows in USA, Europe and Asia and trained distributors and major hotel spas around the world. My daughter Lauren who is a Beauty Therapist lived in New York and launched us at Barneys NYC, LA, and Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the iconic department store closed in 2020. It was at Barneys where we developed the quick, “Groom and Zoom” treatments. The express facial treatments always started conversations about the products, which always turned into retail sales. What better way to try a product, experience it then purchase it? The New York men really know how to groom for success, and we were in the top 3 brands sold at Barneys for 9 years. We extended into haircare and attended Cosmoprof, in Las Vegas, where I met our Middle Eastern Distributor who runs a large Distribution Business servicing salons, spas and barbers (from single operators to executive grooming lounges).

You have a massive Star, Tim Cahill, on board as an ambassador and partner, how did that come about?

I was introduced to a potential Chinese Distributor who wanted VITAMAN for China, however he strongly suggested that we engage a sports ambassador preferably soccer, such as Harry Kewell. That night I went to our local Italian Restaurant, Gigino’s and spoke to the owner Atilio who is a mad soccer fan and said what do you think of Harry Kewel? He said, “I’ve heard he’s about to retire”. As I live with a fanatical sports lover with Foxtel upstairs, Foxtel downstairs, I asked “what about that Timmy Cahill” as I’d heard his name so often. Atilio said one of his mates was friends with the Cahills. Tim was living in New York at the time playing for New York Red Bulls and his parents were leaving in a couple of days to visit him. So, a few emails and a box of product samples later, lead to an amazing business relationship with Tim. My team and I spent time with Tim in China doing a launch with the NSW Business Chamber. Tim would have to be the smartest man in sport, I have so much respect for him as a sportsman, father, and businessman. He’s been incredible with introductions for VITAMAN, there’s not many people he doesn’t know. Tim is currently living and working in Doha and is an ambassador for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He’s working on getting VITAMAN into Qatar!

Tim Cahill

Where do you see VITAMAN positioning itself in the product market here in Australia within Barber Shops?

The Australian Barbering industry has come such a long way from when we launched in 1999, however, many Barbers could really look to improving their business by focusing more on the customer experience. Customers can go anywhere for a great cut, but when they are made to feel important with an exceptional/memorable experience, this is what keeps them coming back to you and happily paying more. It makes much more sense keeping the customer you have happy and returning regularly, rather than trying to find a new customer. Spoil them with great service and extra add ons! My goal here in Australia is to offer a WIN/ WIN/WIN. Win for the Salon owner, a Win for the Customer and a Win for VITAMAN. How? By helping salons and barbers make more money by offering simple, add-on services (at minimal cost) performed at the basin or if they have a treatment room. This creates a loyal, returning customer that loves his experience (and talks about it!) And lastly, being proudly Australian, it would be so good if we could all try to support Australian Made and Australian Businesses. COVID taught us all great lessons with the shortage of overseas packaging, ingredients, and logistic costs going through the roof, it just makes sense to BUY AUSSIE.

@vitamanglobal

www.vitaman.com.au