Aveda, "the high-performance hair care brand with a mission of care", has announced a multifaceted program designed to directly benefit independent salons that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Salons and spas that carry Aveda products are independently owned; this includes more than 6,000 small businesses in the United States alone.

April Anslinger, Aveda SVP and North America General Manager said, “We’ve watched small businesses take a major hit over the last several weeks, and that includes our thousands of independently owned salon partners across the United States which have closed their doors to protect their staff and their guests. Now, as a result of this, they face future financial uncertainty. They have done their part to protect their communities, and now we want to do our part to help them reopen as soon as they are able."

She explained that Aveda Cares is being launched to help Aveda salons recover via six initiatives:

●    A $1.5M+ fundraising effort that begins today in celebration of Hairstylist Appreciation Day, which falls on April 30th
●    Providing monetary contributions via Aveda’s loyalty program
●    An increased online commission program
●    Extended terms for applicable salons
●    1000+ hours of free virtual education
●    A weekly virtual owners forum

"These salons and stylists are caring and creative people who have helped us all feel great about ourselves and our hair. Now it’s our turn to take care of them,” Anslinger adds.

A $1.5M+ Financial Relief Goal

To provide support for its partner salons, today Aveda will kick off a fundraising program to help provide financial support to salons who have been affected by recent voluntary and state-mandated closures. Aveda will contribute $600,000 to The Salon and Spa Relief Fund, a non-profit organization established to help salon and spa owners and their employees rebuild their lives and businesses.

Consumers can join this effort with Aveda by:

• Making a donation when checking out on Aveda.com, which will then be donated to The Salon & Spa Relief Fund

• Redeeming their Pure Privilege Points (Aveda Loyalty Members only), turning the Points into dollars which will be directly donated to the fund

• Making a direct donation at salonandsparelieffund.org

Through these efforts, Aveda hopes to raise at least $1.5 million to enable the provision of grants through The Salon and Spa Relief Fund in denominations of $2,500 and $5,000 to salons and spas in need.

Salon A-Commerce

Aveda’s Salon A-Commerce program, which launched in 2018, allows salon owners to easily set up a webpage that seamlessly integrates e-commerce with their existing website. As part of the Aveda Cares program, Aveda has increased salon commissions to 40% from April 1 through June 30th. Commissions have been increased for all incoming sales via salons’ or artists’ direct URLs. All Aveda Concept and Lifestyle locations are eligible for the A-Commerce program.

Extended Terms

Aveda is working with its salon partners to offer deferred payment on outstanding balances. Additionally, Aveda is giving qualified salons the opportunity to pay for replenishment orders over the course of twelve weeks, rather than pay upfront.

Free Virtual Education

Beginning March 30th, Aveda kicked off a robust 8-week, $2.6 million in value education program, available for free to Aveda stylists and salons and taught by lead stylists and experts in hair cutting and coloring, styling, skin care and makeup. “The goal of our virtual education programming is to give our partner salons and Artists the opportunity to hone their craft and learn new techniques during their downtime,” said Kevin Molin, Aveda’s VP of Global Education. “We also want to help our network stay connected: we recognize that this time can be challenging, especially for Artists who are accustomed to working one-on-one with their clients every day. Since launching the program at the end of March, we have seen record attendance for our classes and many new relationships form virtually.”

Aveda’s exclusive education program offers 1000+ hours worth of programming with access to dozens of different virtual classes each week, led by the Global Artistic Team: Ian Michael Black (color), Bea Watson (styling), Janell Geason (makeup), Ricardo Dinis (cutting) and Helga Hefner (skincare) and the North America Artistic Team: Lupe Voss (color), Britt Dion (styling), Anne Skubis (makeup), Brad Van Dyke (skincare), and Tatum Neill (social media).

Weekly Virtual Salon Owners Forums

For the last four weeks, Aveda has been, and will continue to provide weekly forums for salon owners to stay connected and offer suggestions on how to move from business interruption to relaunching their salon when state-mandated closures are lifted. For example, to date, Aveda has provided toolkits with recommendations on how salons can stay engaged with their clients via social media, tips on how to amplify Google My Business, and hosted discussions around how to re-onboard staff and whether to consider expanding their hours.

Additionally, through Aveda Business College, Aveda will be offering a new virtual webinar series to support salons with strategies to create and implement a new business plan designed to rebuild and maximize profit and growth opportunities. Salon owners have the option of deferring payment for this class until July.

Aveda was established in 1978 on a foundation of care for the community and, as part of the Aveda Cares program, has also initiated over 125,000 product donations to community hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes and food banks in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information or to learn how you can give back with Aveda, please visit Aveda.com.

ABOUT AVEDA

Founded in 1978 in Minneapolis, MN, Aveda creates plant-based hair, skin and body products for beauty professionals and consumers. Aveda innovates in botanical technologies, combining the principles of modern science and Ayurveda, the ancient healing art of India, to develop performance-driven hair, skin and body products—made with pure flower and plant essences—that are created with respect for the Earth, and a comprehensive menu of ritual-based treatments for holistic beauty.

Throughout the years, Aveda has pioneered new benchmarks of environmental responsibility in beauty. It was the first company to sign the Ceres Principles in 1989—a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change, water scarcity and other sustainability challenges—and the first beauty company to manufacture with 100 percent wind power in its primary facility1. Aveda was also the first beauty company to receive a Cradle to Cradle charter for its commitment to sustainable products, packaging and production. In 2013, Aveda was honored with the first Legacy Leaders Award from Cradle to Cradle for its pioneering role in environmental leadership. Aveda received the Sustainability Leadership Award in 2017 during the Sustainable Beauty Awards organized by Ecovia Intelligence for its leadership in packaging, green formulations and sustainable ingredients. Since 1999, Aveda’s annual Earth Month campaign, held each April, has raised $65 million to support environmental projects around the world.Aveda products are available in Aveda Experience Centers and more than 9,000 professional hair salons and spas in more than 40 countries and at www.aveda.com.