20 minute read
Industry News
In one of the most refreshing changes in the history of the professional industry, Matrix is repositioning the entire brand with a new look and feel to match! With a rich history spanning beyond 40 years, Matrix is approaching the market in a Brand-new way, with an offering unlike anyone else in professional haircare & colour. This new brand imagery is an explosion of colour and a true representation of the amazing diversity present within our population. This new Matrix comes with a promise of the newest innovation, and 2021 will be the kick-off of technology unseen before across both haircare and colour. This ensures that every hairdresser and stylist has everything they need to THINK, BELIEVE. DREAM and DARE. To their fullest potential.
www.matrixprofessional.com.au
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AMERICAN CREW ANNOUNCES NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE
Touching base with an exciting announcement from American Crew – The brand have just launched their very first publication, a progressive digital and print magazine called ‘Changing Times’. All creatives took a plunge last year, but the grooming industry was one that was hit the hardest. In this magazine, Australia’s leading barbers and other influential voices share inspirational stories of how they navigated 2020 and how we can re-think barbering and masculinity in our new world. A few of the notable names in the magazine are grooming god David Raccuglia, 2020 All-Star winner Luke Munn and Beard Season’s founder Jimmy Niggles. The magazine was launched to celebrate the annual All-Star Challenge. The magazine can be read here;
www.issuu.com/americancrew/docs/american_crew_changing_times_ magazine
THE REFECTOCIL LASH AND BROW BAR IS YOUR NEWEST STYLING COMPANION
Refresh and ramp up your look in 2021 by experimenting with some of the most coveted styles. With the new year comes the perfect excuse to celebrate the return to our hairdressers and test out some trending looks. Clients are more eager than ever for a makeover after such a turbulent year that has left us feeling less like our best selves. Along with a fresh and bold hair colour, bangs or a cut, eyelash and brow tinting is the perfect way to complete a look and make a statement. There’s no faster or more affordable way of dramatizing a makeover than accessorising a new hair style with a lash and brow tint. RefectoCil Blonde Brow is the secret weapon in creating a unique brow style. Use this product to strip back colour, brighten brow tone and soften bristly and unmanageable hair. The RefectoCil Lash and Brow Bar is the easiest, most convenient way to promote lash and brow styling to all your clients. This nifty little portable brow bar includes 8 tint shades designed to be mixed together to customise colour, RefectoCil Blonde Brow, Skin Protection Cream & Eye Mask, Micellar Eye Makeup Remover and Tint Remover. The kit also includes the RefectoCil Style book to guide and inspire your custom blending, as well as a hands-free mixing palette and the newly designed RefectoCil Browista brushes. Styling has never been easier! Clients are so excited to return to a professional salon environment, so it’s the ideal time to incorporate lash and brow tinting into your salon menu.
www.refectocil-australia.com.au
AFFINAGE LAUNCHES THEIR SS20/21 COLOUR COLLECTION – HAUTE COUTURE
Haute couture style and fashion were the essence behind this seasonal shoot. Taking bold vivid reds, rustic copper, electrifying multi-dimensional colours and cobalt blue elevating the Affinage Professional brand and breathing new life to 2021. Guest artistic director, Simon Crawford, assisted by Mark Matthews were the creative masters behind the inventive colouring concept. Each look accented edgy bobs, blunt fringes, flawless waves and soft curtain bangs showcasing the limitless composition of INFINITI’s diverse colour collections. Creative Team: Simon Crawford, Mark Matthews, Julie Dunleavy Photographer: Krysta Atkinson MUA: Jim Jirarnuttaruij Stylist: Leigh McCoy
www.affinage.com.au
PETER BECKETT JOINS HAIRCARE AUSTRALIA AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Haircare Australia is thrilled to welcome new Creative Director Peter Beckett to the Haircare Australia family. Globally celebrated for his styling talents, Peter brings a fresh, artistic approach to our portfolio of brands. “I’m excited to be part of the Haircare Australia family,” states Peter Beckett, of his new role, “The diversity of brands within the Haircare Australia is something I’m really excited about!” A force of nature in the industry, Peter is a powerhouse of styling nuance with his fresh, creative editorial looks taking him to the lights of London, where he styled hair for the pages of Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire and campaigns for Roberto Cavalli, Charlotte Olympia, Levi’s, Selfridges, Dove and Britain’s Next Top Model. Currently in his 22nd year in the hair industry, Peter has been entrusted by some of the world’s top celebrity & fashion talent such as Rita Ora, Ellie Goulding, Poppy Delevingne, Demi Lovato, Monika Radulovic and Behati Prinsloo. Peter is also a fixture at runway shows for fashion houses such as Burberry, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane across London, New York and Australian fashion weeks. “The Haircare Australia is excited to have a stylist of Peter’s immense talent, as our new Creative Director”, says Ward Gauvin. “He will be working with the Haircare Australia team to create inspirational content across all our brands and a multitude of channels, provide expert product knowledge to salons and offer his expert insight into the industry.”
www.hairaust.com
JUST CUTS LAUNCHES APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TAFE NSW
Just Cuts has launched a new apprenticeship scheme in partnership with TAFE NSW to address the national skills shortage in the hairdressing industry, with over 50 apprenticeship positions now available across the company’s NSW salons. Just Cuts CEO, Amber Manning The TAFE NSW scheme provides a pathway to success as a stylist or salon owner with the Australian hairdressing industry’s top employer, targeting school leavers, existing hairdressers looking to learn new skills and individuals searching for career opportunities during COVID-19. Due to the national skills shortage, apprentices will be eligible to receive $1,000 after completing 12 months of the scheme, and a further $1,000 at the completion of the 3 year apprenticeship term Just Cuts CEO, Amber Manning, said COVID-19 provided the perfect opportunity to launch the NSW apprenticeship scheme, as salon owners look to improve the quality and quantity of fully qualified hairdressers.
www.justcuts.com.au
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO THE LORNA EVANS EXCLUSIVE SCHOOL PROGRAM
Would you believe two weeks before COVID hit us with a thump Lorna launched her NEW program. Mapped to the Create Hair Up and Braiding Units, this program is exclusive only to RTO’s and comes with a pack of quality tools for every single student.
Before each student is enrolled into the program they are presented with a bag of amazing styling tools from both Lorna’s own range and from others around the world. “Starting your training with quality tools is not only exciting for the students but also extremely important” said Lorna. “Now that we have the tools in the student’s hands they won’t want to wait to see inside the library of tutorials. The online learning platform is user friendly and interactive and can be watched on any device. It is broken up into bite size pieces to keep learning short, sharp and fun. “We created a full section of the library to cover every way to prep; Fast product blow dry, Volume blow dry, Smooth blow dry, Directional blow dry, working with hot rollers and how to make padding.” said Lorna. Every tutorial comes with detailed step by step instructions and head sheets and after the students finish each section they can send in their work and receive a personalised certificate of participation. This is a perfect way for students to show their teacher that they have been practicing and are now ready to be assessed at school. The program has its very own community where students can share their work and ask questions. And for the life of the school being involved, every student will have access to the program and be able to go back and re cap on any of the looks. Teachers are also invited to join Lorna for a training session to answer any questions. As a BONUS Lorna will be holding two LIVE webinars throughout the year covering ‘World Skills ‘and the ‘Art of avant-garde styling.’ For more information head to the website.
www.lornaevanseducation.com.au
NEW INSTAGRAM COMPETITION FOR APPRENTICES LAUNCHED BY INTERCOIFFURE AUSTRALIA
Apprentices at Intercoiffure Australia salons, now have the chance to show off their skills in a new Instagram competition called GOAT 21. Intercoiffure Australia Artistic Director, Terrina Brown of Zedz in Perth, said that the competition would add some buzz into apprentices’ salon time as well as showcase the great work that they do with client looks, being snapped on smart phones in the salon. She said that prizes would include a trophy, flowers and a L’Oreal Professionnel education class. “We’ve had fun naming the competition GOAT, the acronym for ‘greatest of all time’ for 2021,” Terrina said. “Industry, friends and family will be invited to ‘Like’ their favourite looks with each ‘Like’ earning the entrant one point.” Terrina said that the Instagram ‘Likes’ were one part of the judging system. Major sponsor would be L’Oreal Professionnel Australia, Intercoiffure Guillaume Foundation (Paris) and selected Intercoiffure world members. They will judge according to the criteria of commercial looks, suitability for client and hairdressing skills as well. Instagram voting concludes on 9am AEST, Wednesday 28th April. “Intercoiffure Australia is proud to be supporting Australian apprentices in this way and we hope that the word about their hairdressing filters into the greater community through social media,” Terrina said. “It’s a great way to promote the industry.”
Any salon interested in the competition should email intercoiffure.australia@gmail.com
AUSTRALIAN HAIRDRESSERS TO UNDERGO CUTTING-EDGE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRAINING
Hairdressers and barbers will play an important role in linking victims of domestic and family violence and elder abuse to potentially lifesaving resources through a new program by Hairdressers with Hearts (HwH). The non-profit organisation has launched an Australian-first training program to utilise the sanctity of the client-hairdresser relationship to link victims who have confided in them with relevant professional services. The innovative program has been developed with the assistance and expertise of the Red Rose Foundation, Caxton Legal and the Centre Against Domestic Abuse. HwH Founder Sonia Colvin, who has already helped connect more than 200
victims with appropriate services, said sometimes going to the hairdresser was the only time a domestic violence or elder abuse victim was on their own, and able to speak safely about their situation at home. “Hairdressers and barbers are frontline in the community,” Ms Colvin said, “reaching people on a grassroots level, having intimate conversations with clients on a regular weekly, monthly or six weekly basis. We are not domestic violence or elder abuse workers, we are the link, and with the correct resources and appropriate training, we can do our part.”
www.hairdresserswithhearts.com.au
UROS MIKIC AND KINKY CURLY STRAIGHT JOIN REVLON PROFESSIONAL
Revlon Professional are excited to announce the appointment of multi award winning trailblazer, Uros Mikic, as their New National Artistic Ambassador and salon partnership with Kinky Curly Straight, Adelaide. 20 years’ experience from hair industries globally, including NZ, Australia, Italy, UK and Slovenia sees Uros bring an international flair to his work and the salon and his strong work ethic, commitment to his clients and team as well as his creative flair, has seen Uros’ talent recognised nationally and globally. Led by Uros and his wife Mojca, the salon has already left a mark on the hair industry and local business community, taking home some of the most prestigious awards for both creative and business accolades. “With our product partners we look to contribute to their goals, be it brand recognition, attaining new clients, or working towards a stronger business performance, we view these relationships as true two-way partnerships where we all grow and share in each other’s’ successes,” says Uros. “I’m really excited to be partnering with Revlon Professional, such an iconic brand that I grew up with in Europe. My goal as their new National Artistic Ambassador is to help grow Revlon’s reach and recognition here in Australia and New Zealand to help salons and artists see and experience why I love the brand and their colours. Revlon Professional has been a bit of a well-kept secret and now it’s time for us to re-introduce it to the industry and share our secrets. I’m thrilled to be working with their wonderful team, they bring so much experience and expertise to their work, and embrace you into their family, and I think the best partnerships are exactly that, friends and collaborators in delivering inspirational work. I’m excited for you to see what Revlon Professional has to offer in coming years.” Uros’ goals are to continue his rise in the industry and to cement himself as one of top Australian leaders both creatively and from business point of view. His commitment to sharing and mentoring the industry remains solid, running education classes, contributing to industry events and preparing trend setting collections. In his new Ambassador role, Uros will be strongly focussed on exploring and working with the full Revlon Professional range in Colour, Care and Styling at Kinky Curly Straight, not to mention his Creative input into forecasting hair fashion trends and creativity across the brand. Look out for upcoming events and a new exciting journey for Uros Mikic and Revlon Professional.
CONCEPTUAL BRANDS WINS BEST PERFORMING GLOBAL DISTRIBUTOR
Conceptual Brands were selected as the milk_shake distributor for Queensland + NSW 5 years ago and have experienced phenomenal growth in their territories with the brand ever since, seeing an average 55% growth year on year. In 2020 they were rewarded for their hard efforts, being crowned z.one concept’s (global owner of milk_shake) Best Performing Distributor of the year Globally. 2021 is set to see CB continue their success, expanding brands, new products and team. Congratulations to a winning team!
THE NEW STAR PROCESS
The SA Hair & Beauty Assoc. (SAHBA) has been the peak body for the hair and beauty industry in South Australia since 1934 and in 2018 commenced a twopart project the SA Qualified Hairdressers Register (Register) and the Skills Training Assessment and Recognition Process (STAR) to address the problem of unqualified hairdressers and barbers. The Register is a searchable list of hairdressers and barbers who have opted to have their qualifications promoted and publicly verified. The STAR Process is a trade recognition arrangement recently approved by the South Australian government that acknowledges employment-based outcomes. • SAHBA has developed the STAR to assist eligible hairdressing workers, who may not have the qualifications or recognition as prescribed in the Act. • Eligible, skilled, and experienced workers can now apply to the STAR to become recognised (become legal) or progress through further training and experience to become qualified as per the Act. • The STAR is unique and an Australian first. It is a very important structural development that will raise the benchmark and professionalism in the hairdressing industry. The STAR is designed tom meet increased demand from industry for experienced, skilled, and legally qualified tradespeople; Cater for migrants requiring recognition of overseas trade qualifications or experience to enable them to gain positions within the hairdressing industry; Grow the pool of correctly qualified and experienced hairdressers to oversee the training of apprentices; Access trade level remuneration under awards or other industrial agreements The STAR aims to target skills shortages in the SA hairdressing industry, help boost morale and confidence within the industry and create a more skilled and stable workforce and staff retention. The STAR Process is guided by current South Australia Training and Skills Commission Guidelines set out for this purpose and certification is under Part 3 of the South Australia Training and Skills Development Act 2008
SAHBA hope to have the STAR Process operational by the middle of 2021. Workers in the SA hairdressing and barbering industry wishing to apply for their Certificate of Recognition can contact SAHBA by email at: info@sahba. com.au or by calling on (08) 8271 1355 for more information. The Register is now operational, and eligible hairdressers and barbers can apply to be listed in an easy online process https://sahairdressersregister.com.au
LEE COHEN
LEADING THE WAY IN BRAND DEVELOPMENT
District brands is an independent owner and distributor that connects global, reputable, high quality prestige brands with the salon industry. The company is a jointly-owned sister company to Rogue Beauty, known for such brands as Oribe, R&Co, Pulp Riot and Sachajuan.
Joining the team, in a newly created position, as Head of Brand Strategy, is none other than Lee Cohen, well known to the Australian Hair industry as an exceptional hair stylist, business owner, technical educator, award winner and more recently business development manager for one of the top luxury chain of salons, Oscar Oscar.
“I have done so many wonderful things in this industry’” says Lee, “and been granted so many opportunities, from being part of an education and product development team many years ago in London, to winning Australian Hairdresser of the Year, to working backstage at NYFW with Australia’s Hair Queen Renya Xydis. Now to be in a position to not only represent the best in brands this industry has to offer, but to also be part of a global brand development team, who are solely focused on expanding and developing the world’s best hair products is a dream come true!”
“These developments are firmly built upon the principals of Innovation, authenticity, collaboration and most of all transparency. This is not only bringing me a feeling of coming full circle but is exciting me, like I am right back at the beginning of my career; the first blow dry, the first colour, the first cut; every hairdresser can surely remember that exciting feeling and I have it!” Beauty is twofold; One, to guarantee that each brand has their own team who remain solely focussed on a specific message for each market and corresponding sales channel. And Two. the wealth of knowledge shared between these two companies over the past 12 years, has garnered competitive insights around the Australian beauty landscape. The value, therefore, within the structure, lies in a robust infrastructure with a large amount of resources, established relationships with key retailers, salons, media, influencers and proven go-tomarket strategies that deliver success for all brands.
“More than a distributor, our goal is to work with the brands we represent and act as their local partner to help them grow to their full potential in the Australian and New Zealand market,” says Lee. “We achieve this by nurturing and embodying the brand’s philosophy, business goals, tone and personality while providing relevant and timely local market insights that are in synergy with our tailored marketing strategies. Quite simply; We know how to BUILD BRANDS.”
District brands is also part of the Gateway group of companies, where each company within the group operates individually though an all access, state of the art, back end logistical facility in Prestons, NSW. This 26000sqm metre facility, has some 12000 orders leaving per week, that’s 24 trucks leaving daily, and with 7 million cartons stored, all salon needs are well and truly covered.
“Personally what excites me the most about this incredible new opportunity,” says Lee, “is the ability to work with the Industries best, Jared Fisher and Chris Hammond from Rogue, as well as Erwin Santos, an incredibly respected Industry figure with over 20 years of experience in this professional hair industry and a mentor to myself. And last but not least, Alan Meskin from District Brands, a logistics and numbers super brain!”
This super team has a very clear vision, and that is to represent the best artists and high end brands, standing only behind the best.
And so, what does Lee Cohen hope to bring to this innovative group?
“Well, that’s a question I ask myself every day as there really is so much scope. It’s going to be a rewarding journey; of that I am certain! I have little or no interest in anything remaining where it is. Those that know me, will know that I can’t sit still, so this position for me is all about moving forward with the ability and capabilities of the brands I am blessed to work with. Some four years ago, with my great mate Oscar Cullinan, who has, without doubt, one of the most successful hair salon brands in Australian History, we set out, under his guidance, to make Oscar Oscar achieve what most would see as un reachable goals in relation to performance, quality and profit. At the time the brand had no major concerns due to Oscar’s ongoing and astute business acumen, but his core belief has always been, that if you are not moving forward in terms of double digit growth, in his words ‘be very careful the market doesn’t catch you.’”
Lee attributes his second most valuable learning also to Oscar, which he hopes to bring to his new role, and that is ‘you are either first or best to market…if you are neither, don’t bother,” seeing his transition into his new role about being confident in being the best, and in many cases first to market with the brands he will represent. With a bright and exciting future ahead, Lee looks forward to District Brands representing only the best in class for all sections within the market, including Hot tools, Wet Lines, Colour, Keratin and Hair Extensions. “Think big, because we are!” he says!
Lee has certainly been involved in most aspects within the hair and beauty industry and understands the challenges faced in salon as well as anyone including staffing, pricing, rentals and more. As an industry, Lee believes a lot of this can be resolved by simply being better paid for what we do.
“During COVID-19 time, guests have been more appreciative of what we do and in turn have been spending more money. I think we have to understand that there may be tougher financial times ahead, although it’s my belief that guests are asking a lot more questions and certainly becoming more discerning in their spending. Added to this, the global market trend of what they call, “the disappearing middle” (exceptionally interesting), it only makes sense to me, that we should be paying particular attention to what I call specialty services, Hair Extensions, Keratin Treatments or even extensive colour corrections. This sector of the market will allow us the capability of charging the dollars per minute we deserve.”
And in summary Lee concludes, “We will never lose sight of the most important aspect of our business - Our Customers, because it is truly their needs that will determine the path we, as a super brand will take and I am so looking forward to the ride!”
Congratulations on the new role Lee, here at HAIRBIZ, we await to see what you will be pulling out of the hat, with great interest and anticipation!
