Helene Curtis Industries, Inc. is a cosmetics and beauty salon company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company acquired the hair coloring line through the acquisition of a competing business. Then retailers diversify into the areas of personal care products, manufacturing titles, and other items.
Video Helene Curtis Industries, Inc.
Company history
Helene Curtis was founded in Chicago in 1927 as National Mineral Company by partners Gerald Gidwitz and Louis Stein. The company started manufacturing facial mudpack products, sold to a national beauty salon. The partners immediately shifted the company's emphasis on hair care products (also sold to beauty salons), starting with the "machineless" brace pads, simplifying the process of permanent waves drastically.
The company developed Lanolin Creme Shampoo, one of the country's first detergent-based shampoos, in the mid-1930s. The popularity of the shampoo, available only in beauty salons, prompted the company to follow up with Suave Hairdressing in 1937. The demand for hair tonic became so large that the company began to produce small retail sizes for salon resale. Suave will eventually become one of the company's flagship product lines.
During World War II, the company's name changed to National Industries, Inc., and factories were converted to produce goods unrelated to hair care for war effort, including aircraft gun towers, electric motors and radar equipment.
After the war, the National Industry shifted back to produce personal care products. The company changed its name to Helene Curtis, after the first names of his wife and son Louis Stein's son. Riave Hairdressing and Lanolin Creme Shampoo were soon introduced to general retail sales, and quickly began to outperform the competition. In March 1948 Kraft Foods purchased property owned by the company to use for its offices and warehouses, and Helene Curtis moved to headquarters and new manufacturing facilities.
In 1950 Helene Curtis developed the general term "hairspray" for her new aerosol product, Spray Net. Other successful and effective products introduced during the 1950s include the Stopette spray-on deformity (obtained in 1958 from its founder, chemist and Chicago inventor based in Jules Montenier) and an unspecified dandruff shampoo called Enden. Both of these products are advertised on television during events like What is My Path? and The Gale Storm Show , helped make the best-selling Stopette deodorant on the market, a position it maintained for several years.
The company expanded its product line with multiple acquisitions, including Kings Men men's gear, Lentheric fragrances, and Studio Girl cosmetics. In the mid-1950s, Helene Curtis products were being produced and sold in 25 countries. In 1956, Helene Curtis became public after 32 years of private ownership (though the Gidwitz family held most of the voting stock until the 1996 acquisition of Unilever).
In the early 1960s the company began building the success of the Suave brand, introducing shampoo, creme biless, and wave sets. In 1961, Helene Curtis's stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and by mid-decade the company has licensed its products in 81 countries. Also in 1961, Helene Curtis Industries began challenging Avon in the field of door-to-door cosmetics sales.
Ronald J. Gidwitz, son of co-founder Gerald Gidwitz, took over as CEO in 1985.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Suave brand was one of the best-selling personal care lines in America and successfully expanded to deodorants and skin creams. The company follows up on that success by introducing the proficiency-caliber (Professional-caliber) Salon brand. In 1989, Suave, Finesse and Salon Selectives were among the top ten national shampoo brands.
In 1990 Helene Curtis introduced the title of antiperspirant, at that time the launch of the company's most successful new product. With a formula that is activated as body heat rises, and aided by a $ 50 million advertising campaign, Degree quickly finds a large market share, reaching its target market share for the first year of the brand in just eight months. By the end of fiscal year 1992 Helene Curtis had reached billions of dollars with total sales of $ 1.02 billion.
As the 1990s grew, in spite of its best efforts, tracking sales, facility expansion and advertising budgets close to $ 80 million and rising, it became clear that Helene Curtis was too small compared to its bigger rivals. The company does not have the resources to compete on an international scale with the likes of Procter & amp; Gambling and Unilever. In February 1996, Helene Curtis agreed to be acquired by Unilever for approximately $ 770 million.
In contract law, the company is known for the 1963 case of Helene Curtis Industries, Inc. v. United States , where the Superior Knowledge doctrine was born.
In 1998, a beauty producer owned a production site in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.
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References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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