British Haircare Brand Umberto Giannini Expands To The US At Target

There’s a British beauty invasion beginning today at Target as Umberto Giannini, the haircare brand based in Birmingham, England, launches its at-home hair color exclusively at the retailer.

Eight products from Umberto Giannini’s Flowerology color range will be available on Target’s website. The brand’s Temporary Colour Masks are entering 486 doors at the chain, and its Naturally Kinder boxed hair color are hitting shelves at 266 locations. The products are priced at $9.99 each.

Umberto Giannini’s Target rollout was initially scheduled for July last year with the aim of capitalizing on the summer festival season, but the global pandemic caused delays. Umberto Giannini co-founder Claire Shread believes the surge in at-home hair experimentation over lockdown renders the brand well-positioned despite the delay. Its 95% natural and 75% organic formulas could also attract to eco-conscious consumers, a group that continues to increase amid the pandemic.

“Home hair color is a tough market as people except results. If a hair dye doesn’t deliver, you won’t repurchase,” says Shread adding, “Natural products deliver on natural claims, but rarely on professional quality. Our product is as good as salon color.”

Founded in 1998, Umberto Giannini’s haircare line has been vegan and cruelty-free from day one, putting it squarely at the center of the burgeoning vegan beauty trend. According to Prophecy Market Insights, the category is forecast to advance at a compound annual growth rate of almost 6% to reach $25.3 billion by 2029, up from $14.3 billion in 2019.

“I’m a lifelong vegetarian, so it was really important for me to have an ethical standpoint. We didn’t even promote the fact we were vegan or put it on the packaging at the start because nobody was interested,” says Shread. “Vegan beauty is huge now, but it’s still a lot of just pretty bubbles. You can get away with subpar results in bath and body, but not in haircare and, most definitely, not with hair color.”

“Natural products deliver on natural claims, but rarely on professional quality. Our product is as good as salon color.”

The leap across the pond has its share of challenges, admits Shread. “There is a lot of red tape when bringing a brand into the U.S., and it amazes me that there isn’t more help,” she says. “As a British brand, we’ve also dealt with the overlay of Brexit, so it wasn’t ideal timing.” Despite the challenges, Shread is hopeful the launch will spark conversations with Target to carry additional Umberto Giannini products.

The brand has introduced digital platforms for U.S. shoppers. “We’ve set up U.S. social channels to replicate our content, but make it U.S.-friendly and will be optimizing digital marketing to grow our presence in America,” says Shread. However, the brand has kept the British spelling of “colours” on its packaging. Shread explains, “We see being made in the U.K. as a big plus.”

In total, Umberto Giannini’s assortment spans 84 stockkeeping units priced from 3.15 to 10.25 pounds or roughly $4.30 to $14.05 at the current exchange rate. The brand is sold on its own e-commerce website and exclusively in the United Kingdom at Boots. With its pricing, Shread says Umberto Giannini has emphasized how many women it can reach over financials. She asserts, “It was democratic beauty, and I have a personal dislike of making something more expensive than it needs to be.”

The brand’s strategy is working. Its Curl Jelly priced at 7.25 pounds or nearly $10 is Boots’ bestselling curl product and the bestselling product on the retailer’s site in the professional haircare segment. “We sell one every 23 seconds, and it’s on their protected list for stock as it’s such a big seller for them,” says Shread. During the pandemic, the brand has weathered the storm and produced single-digit revenue growth. Shread says, “Bricks-and-mortar sales obviously stopped instantly in March, but we picked up most of those online.”

Umberto Giannini’s curly hair range accounts for more than half of its business. Curly-haired Shread is committed to developing efficient products for the hair type that has been historically underserved. She says, “I always put product first, and we start all new product development by looking at our consumer pain points rather than looking at market or ingredient trends.”

Whenever the brand is reformulating or repackaging, its items are diligently tested by its community members to achieve their seal of approval. Shread shares, “We’re currently switching over to PCR tubes, so we’re seeing how our existing formulas perform in new packaging.”

“We start all new product development by looking at our consumer pain points rather than looking at market or ingredient trends.”

Umberto Giannini, an award-winning hairstylist who died in 2001 at 33 years old due to complications from dermatomyositis, began opening hair salons in 1990 before teaming up with his professional and life partner Shread on products. “I went to art school and met Umberto in the early 90s,” says Shread. “He was opening a flagship salon and wanted to do something really different as salons at the time were very monochrome and clinical, but he wanted something softer,”

The creative lead for Umberto Giannini’s salons, Shread continues, “It was the period when John Frieda and Charles Worthington had not long launched their brands, and it was Umberto’s dream to launch his own product range. We fundamentally had a great team of people that wanted to do something a bit different.” She notes notable figures such as Robin Derek, formerly art director at British Vogue, designed Umberto Giannini’s bright haircare packaging.

The brand’s products are manufactured in the U.K., but the vision is to establish production in local markets around the world as the brand expands globally. “From a carbon-footprint element, it’s really important to me not to ship things from the other side of the world,” says Shread. “We even closed our offices a few years ago and moved to remote working.”

Umberto Giannini recently applied to become certified as a B Corp, and Shread mentions the certification process has highlighted where the brand can further improve its sustainability efforts. “We say that our products are ‘mindfully made,’ but that ethos extends to our team, too,” she says. “I’m a big believer that business can be done with kindness. We have very strong relationships with our partners, and that’s been crucial to our success.”