Goldwell, the stylist-centric brand known for innovation, inspiration and partnership, is celebrating a visionary 75 years. The diamond anniversary is the culmination of decades of industry-breaking innovation, with leading-edge technology, relentless research and development and true, deep relationships between Goldwell and its stylists.

75 YEARS OF BEAUTY LEADERSHIP

Beloved for over half a century by stylists and their clients, Goldwell approaches product formulations and services like a stylist – creating solutions to the common needs that they see in their chairs every day. Constantly striving to take color, condition and texture of hair to a new level – and always on a mission to create perfectly beautiful hair for every consumer – has resulted in a long-lasting Goldwell legacy of science-led, results-driven innovation that never compromises on beauty or sustainability.

Over 75 years, Goldwell has proven time and time again that it is the brand of choice for stylists, while stylists have worked side by side with Goldwell inspiring creativity and long-lasting relationships, trusting Goldwell to get the results they need. With the incredible support of salon stylists and their clients, Goldwell has flourished for decades and the future is bright.

Looking into the future, with the professionals’ needs and a more sustainable industry at the heart of their efforts, Goldwell is ushering in a new era for socially responsible salons. With the new “Climate Neutral Salon” program in partnership with ClimatePartner, a globally acclaimed enthusiast of the carbon neutral world, Goldwell is building on the continuous success of Kao Salon Division to improve the sustainability of its production.

Dominic Pratt, Global President of Kao Salon Division said, “Improving the environmental footprint of our products and services at the salon level is part of our mission to make life beautiful for salon owners, stylists and their clients. We see this as a continuous journey towards what the salon of the future could and should look like. At Kao we believe that strong alliances make all the difference in protecting our planet. So, we see Kao Salon Division as not only a key active player in sustainable operations, but also as a reliable business partner and facilitator of knowledge transfer between thousands of hair salons and key global climate protecting organizations.”

The program is an effortless turnkey solution immediately making a difference within the salon, plus salons are given a set of easy to implement tips that step-by-step improve the salon’s sustainability. The program, piloted in Germany in October 2022, will be rolled out globally in October 2023 and will include consultations on decarbonization for all Goldwell salon partners and beyond, building a new climate-neutral future of the hair salon business.

A FEW WORDS WTIH DOMINIC PRATT

During the KAO Global Experience (October 2022), which brings together brand partners and partner salons from around the world, MODERN SALON spent a few minutes with Dominic Pratt, Global President, Kao Salon Division, to talk about the company's focus on sustainability, and how they have continued to put stylists and salons at the center of everything they do. 

MODERN SALON: At the KAO Global Experience, you recognized three salons for their sustainability efforts. (In the US, Gene Juarez Salons were recognized.) Is this something you’ve done before? 

DOMINIC PRATT: We have recognized salons that are more advanced leaders in sustainability, but this is the first time we have we have brought them onstage and presented an official award.  They have been presented by their country manager, and then they are interviewed on their philosophy on sustainability, what actions they are taking, and we selected these three for this recognition.

MS: Because you have this global view, what do you see in different countries regarding their commitment to sustainability?

DP: Well, it's interesting, I think different regions have a different focus for sustainability. And a lot of it is shaped by their culture or the economy. For example, in, in Japan, it was always about minimizing things because they don't have much space, so they tried to make everything small, and their sustainability is focused on that.

 If you look at Europe, the focus tends to be on more recycling and very focused on the environment itself. And in between the two is the US; we have have been a little behind the rest of the world on sustainability but we’re catching up.

MS: What is something people don’t think about when it comes to manufacturing a product and sustainability?

DP: Typically, when people think of the logistics of production, they think immediately about the what it took to create the formula inside it, they think about the creation of the packaging, the plastic components, they think about the energy used to make that product, they think about the energy used to travel it around the world. But if you look at the full lifecycle analysis, the most energy is used for the hot water when you're using that product. That's by far the biggest consumption of energy. So while this concern about water usage and the emphasis on saving actually sounds a little bit sort of off on the side, it's actually the biggest contributor to the full lifecycle analysis of a product like a shampoo or conditioner.

We'll be educating people on how you really make the biggest impact. And going beyond the sort of greenwashing of tiny things that don’t make a big difference in the end; it’s something we take to heart, we really want to be honest about it and try to make the biggest impact.

MS: How are you moving forward in your relationship with the salon?

DP: We make sure to put the customer at the center of everything we do. Because we had two years of being pretty disconnected from our customer, so we needed to get back and make sure because it's so important for us. That's our point of difference in relationships, always looking through the eyes and the lens of a customer, always thinking about the customer value that we're offering them or that they're offering their clients.

We’re also really focusing on our strengths. I think the worst thing we can do is try to dabble in all sorts of things and then you lose focus. And our strength, to my mind, is our color. That's also I think for many salons, the economic engine, and their point of difference versus the mass market. Of course, it doesn't mean that our care and styling is not important, but it all fits together. We will continue to concentrate on color because that is where we feel we can really contribute to salon success.