Renowned hair salon business expert Lee Cohen has joined District Brands as Head of Strategy, pioneering a dynamic new phase for the company. Building off his well-known role as Business Development Manager at Oscar Oscar Salons, Lee will now lend his expertise to this independent owner and distributor, which connects global, reputable, high quality prestige brands with the salon Industry.
“I have done so many wonderful things in this industry and been granted so many wonderful opportunities, from being part of an education and product development team many year ago in London, to winning Australian Hairdresser of the Year, to working backstage at New York Fashion Week with Australia’s hair Queen Renya Xydis,” Lee said. “I’m now in a position to not only represent the best in brands this industry has to offer, but to also be part of a global brand development team, who are solely focused on expanding and developing the world’s best hair products.”
“These developments are firmly built upon the principals of Innovation, authenticity, collaboration and, most of all, transparency. This is not only bringing me a feeling of coming full circle, but exciting me, like I am right back at the beginning of my career, the first blow dry, the first colour, the first cut. Every hairdresser can surely remember that exciting feeling,” he continued.
District Brands is a jointly owned sister company with the famed Rogue Beauty company, with this arrangement built to ensure all brands under their umbrella have a team for their brand that can remain solely focussed on a specific message for each market and corresponding sales channel. Knowledge is shared between these two important companies over their twelve year partnership, allowing them to offer competitive insights about the Australian beauty landscape, as well as top-tier infrastructure and resources, established relationships with key retailers, salons, media and influencers and proven vital successful market strategies, all within this important structure.
“We achieve this success by nurturing and embodying the brand’s philosophy, business goals, tone and personality while providing relevant and timely local market insights that are in synergy with our tailored marketing strategies,” Lee explained. “Quite simply, we know how to build brands.”
Situated as a state of the art back end facility in Prestons NSW, the 26,000 sqm premises covers logistics, accounts and every facet of the business, with roughly 12,000 orders leaving per week and 7 million cartons stored. Lee’s knowledge will prove imperative to this major operation.
“Personally what excites me the most is the ability to work with the Industry’s best, Jared Fisher and Chris Hammond from Rogue Beauty, in addition to the incredible Alan Meskin from District Brands, who is a logistics numbers super brain, and Mr Erwin Santos, who is such an incredibly respected Industry figure with over twenty years of experience in this professional hair industry and a mentor to myself,” he said. “As a team we have a very clear vision, that vision is to represent the best Artist Driven or simply bet in class brands, that’s it. We will only stand behind the best.”
District Brands hopes to grow over the next five years and represent the best in class across hot tools, wet products, colour, keratin and hair extensions.
“I have little or no interest in anything remaining where it is,” Lee said. “Those that know me will know that I can’t sit still, so this position for me all is all about moving forward with the ability and capabilities of the brands I am blessed to work with, no matter how long they have been around for. Through our development we will never lose sight of the most important aspect, our customers, because it is truly their needs that will determine the path we take.”
“Think big,” he concluded. “Because we are.”
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