The Contour of Luxury Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 101
Q A
&
Your knowledge of men’s hair is extensive, and in 2005 you opened a men’s hair salon
and took on the big guys by formulating the most high-performing, luxurious range of
men’s hair products. Now your company, Patricks, produces an array of award winning
supreme men’s hair products. In what way do you
think your previous k
nowledge
helped propel you to such an impressive level of success in the men’s hair product
market?
I
’m not a hairdresser but my extensive knowledge of men’s hair developed in 2005 when I
opened a men’s hair salon. Through a lot of hard work I built it up into a really successful
business, even winning Australian hair salon of the year. I couldn’t find any standout men’s
haircare brands so I decided to develop my own. I think having the combination of being an
industry outsider combined with running a hair salon for many years, enabled me to develop a
product range that was completely new but also performed best in class. I take the p
erformance
of each product very seriously, it has to do what is says it’s going to do. I did not ant to be
confined by what had been created before or what I was told was possible, I wanted to push
boundaries. So we re-engineered the formulations for maximum performance, re-designed
the packaging to combine luxury and efficiency, and set a new standard in active ingredients
and haircare fragrance.
The research and development stage took a really long time as I am a perfectionist. I think I
was a pain in the ass with my constant tweaks and need for perfection. I pushed our chemists,
engineers and designers to their limits, but I believed in my vision and didn’t want to settle. I
am sometimes torn between being the nice guy and being a business guy. Negotiating hard
on margins or asking for a design revision for the hundredth time but still remaining friends is
always challenging!