If the aughts are remembered for any single runway trend, it will arguably be long, stick-straight hair. Locks that look as if they’ve been pressed at the laundry and shaped by a razor’s edge adorn magazine covers year after year, and the style shows few signs of slowing down in 2017.
ghd, a high-end hair tools retailer, isn’t the brand solely responsible for iconic hair styles. It is, however, one of the most notable names in hair care — specifically, high-end straighteners and hair tools — and a market leader in the UK. Though the company is primarily renowned for its straightening irons, it also makes dryers, curlers, brushes and combs, and styling products.
Hair tool tech
One of the reasons ghd tools tend to be on the pricier side is because of their patented technology. The Eclipse straightener, for instance, uses "tri-zone technology" and a series of six sensors to maintain constant temperature, minimising damage to hair while taming even the unruliest of tresses with a single stroke.
"When GHD was launched back in 2001, it revolutionised the way hair was styled – from the way in which hairdressers could work, to giving women the power to easily achieve a professional-looking style at home," GHD CEO Paul Stoneham told Marketing Week in a 2013 case study. "Our ongoing quest is to launch products with groundbreaking technology of professional stylist salon quality that make life easier for our clients."
Strength of brand
Since the company’s inception in 2001 in Leeds (by three entrepreneurs and just £15,000, mind you), the brand has seen great success. It’s estimated that ghd hair tools are used and sold in more than 50,000 salons worldwide. In 2016, the company was acquired by the U.S.-based company Coty, the world’s third-largest beauty firm, for £420 million.
ghd’s products have also been endorsed by a litany of A-list celebrities and fashion icons; the company partnered with the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2013, and has been called "The Rolls-Royce of irons." The comparison to a luxury automobile is accurate, down to the price point —ghd hair tools cost enough for fashion-focused social media influencers to refer to them as "investments."
As with any brand that has an eye to the future, ghd is well equipped for the fashion world of tomorrow: Its ecommerce business is booming; its state-of-the-art technology promises to stay on the cutting-edge of hair care, no matter what fashion trends may come and go.
Another reason why ghd is relatively future-proof lies in the company’s strength of brand: On top of exquisite branding and edgy, effective advertising campaigns, ghd’s network of big-name brand ambassadors keeps ghd front and centre in beauty blogs and fashionista circles around the globe.
Even the businesses’ name evokes power and emotion: After all, who hasn’t experienced the confidence-boosting power of a truly good hair day?
