The Fekkai brand was founded in 1996 by French celebrity hair stylist, Frédéric Fekkai. In 2008, it was acquired by Procter & Gamble, but Fekkai bought back his namesake brand a decade later.
Today, the company is ready to reintroduce the fabled name to Asian consumers, said Hanson Tian senior manager, sales and development, Fekkai.
“The APAC market has always been an important one. Even though skin care is such as big market, after COVID, we are seeing the growth in hair care. I guess it’s because when people started to stay at home, they brought that personal care into their home lives, even hair care,” Tian told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.
In partnership with beauty retailer Sephora, the Fekkai brand has debuted across Asia this year in markets such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
The business also has its sights set on markets such as China and Indonesia. “We’re on our way to China and we will be launching in Indonesia as well,” said Tian.
The company believes that Asia holds plenty of opportunities for hair care brands in several areas, from treatments to styling products.
“Yes, there’s demand for hair treatments, but there’s a lot of opportunity for hair styling products, especially cleaner hair styling products,” said Tian.
He highlighted the brand’s Clean Stylers range of products such as its Prime Mist, which preps the hair for styling with heat protection and frizz control, while also strengthening, hydrating and repairing hair with ingredients such as hydrolyzed pea protein.
Another area that the brand believes has a lot of potential is in scalp care, which it has tackled with a range of deep cleansing hair care products that feature apple cider vinegar as the hero ingredient.
Evolving with the landscape
After returning to lead the brand in 2018, Fekkai re-established his namesake brand as a clean and sustainable salon-quality hair care range.
Since the brand debuted more than a quarter of a century ago, the hair care landscape had completely changed, Tian noted.
Consumers were now more concerned about ingredient safety as well as the environmental impact of products. At the same time, they are more discerning than ever about performance.
“Fekkai has been in the market for a long time, the salons have been around for more than 30 years. So, we see a lot of things and we know exactly what the consumer needs. [The clean beauty movement] was a really big change, and our products meet these changes,” said Tian.
He highlighted the product formulas feature naturally derived ingredients and are tested intensively by Fekkai and his team of professional stylists. This was to ensure the products can perform at a high-level even with the exclusion of conventional ingredients like silicone.
“Frédéric Fekkai is one of the most famous hairstylists in America and you will find the brand at New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week and the Met Gala. Everything we have is at the salon-level.”
