Wella, the Salon Professional Unit of Procter & Gamble, and Jean-Claude Biguine Group, a leading French premium salon chain, announced a new global partnership at a recent press conference at Biguine’s Paris headquarters.
The deal is a global partnership of professional beauty leaders. Starting in 1982, Jean-Claude Biguine built a network of 280 owned and franchised salons and spas in 10 countries as well as three technical academies that employ more than 1,700 internationally. Wella, a global front-runner in professional hairdressing, operates in more than 100 countries, serving 180,000 salons seeing more than two million clients daily.
The partnership will provide joint technical, creative and educational approaches that will support the expert Biguine professionals while offering unprecedented levels of service to their clients. With the agreement, Wella becomes the key external education provider for both staff and franchise Biguine hairdressers, providing personalized support to each salon in the form of technical education, product knowledge and business support.
Additionally, Wella and Jean-Claude Biguine will co-create hair fashion and beauty content for “Collections Jean-Claude Biguine,” a semi-annual trend release that is also featured in the group’s “Biguine TV” closed-circuit broadcast, and in “Biguine Magazine,” a twice-yearly beauty and fashion publication that reaches more than 500,000 salon clients.
Launching shortly in France will be the joint Wella/Biguine partnership in a new concept, the “Biguine Worldwide Academy,” an innovative membership which allows even the non-franchise salons to benefit from network support such as online technical training, selected Biguine branding, subscriptions to Biguine TV and coverage in the Biguine Magazine while retaining its independent salon identity and branding.
Jean-Claude Biguine salons will adopt the best of Wella client practices, such as customization of color services through Wella’s Couture Color program and ultra-personalized hair care, via System Professional, the company’s new high-care range. The service and product selection is consistent with Biguine’s commitment to excellence in service and beautiful, effortless and personalized looks.
Sylvie Moreau, Executive Vice-President Global Wella, said, “Biguine is an iconic French chain that we are proud to partner with. We share Jean-Claude’s passion for beauty, and look forward to many opportunities to grow our brands and bring the best of our respective expertise to his clients. We welcome Jean-Claude, his employees and his franchise partners with open arms to the Wella Family.”
For Jean-Claude Biguine himself, this partnership is an important step in the development of the group. “We select our partners carefully to provide the finest service for our clients and the best support for our stylists,” he said. “I was convinced by the commitment of Wella, the high quality of their products, their artistic creativity and their willingness to develop a comprehensive partnership to further develop our franchise and the Biguine Worldwide Academy.” Aside from the salons in Paris and other regions in France, Jean-Claude Biguine salons are located in the United States as well as Italy, Belgium, India and Japan among others.
For more information, log onto www.biguine.com. For more on Wella, visit www.wella.com
