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UK & Ireland News

Art.Quarter founder Jordan Patel talks ‘BRANDEMIC.’

Just two weeks after launching the first business in the Art.Quarter complex, Art.Barbers have had to close its doors until December 2nd following the government’s latest lockdown measures.

After putting years of work into creating not only an iconic venue for Birmingham but the whole of the UK, Jordan Patel opens up raw and uncut in his latest video update, sharing his true worries and fears about the impact Lockdown 2.0 is going to have on his brand.

This video captures the true, intense, and raw feelings of Patel as he transparently discusses his next steps to the Art.Quarter build and how his faith and positivity is his coping mechanism during these unpredictable and testing times.

Art.Quarter is set to become a UK tourist destination as well as a true icon for Birmingham. Promising a safe place for all communities and encouraging creatives, Jordan is building this unique venue to create unity and equality in a city that he feels, still very much suffers from segmentation with backgrounds and religions.

The latest vlog can be viewed below.

Set to launch Spring 2021, the Art.Quarter will be first of it’s kind.

Please visit: https://www.artquarteruk.co.uk for more details.

Out Now: Issue 23 UK & Ireland [November/December]

Normally there’s a real sense of excitement and anticipation as we collect (and launch) each new edition of BarberEVO.

It’s the culmination of all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears – not just from our team producing the publication, but more importantly, from the people we feature, those we are inspired by, and those who provide insight and guidance for so many in the industry.

Our November edition was to be no different.

However, with the tragic news of the passing of our friend Sam Wall, we hope that this edition, which features Sam and several of his closest friends and industry peers doing what they do best, can in some small way, provide the kind of fitting tribute that Sam deserves.

This one really and truly is for you Sam.

Love from Andrew, David and the BarberEVO team.

New chief executive for NHBF

The Chief Executive of the National Hair and Beauty Federation, Hilary Hall, has announced her retirement.

In post since 2013, Hilary stayed on during the coronavirus pandemic , as she had originally shared her decision with the NHBF board earlier in 2020.

Hilary commented, “I have loved every minute of my time with the NHBF and working in this wonderful industry. I’d like to thank Ian Egerton, NHBF President, and the rest of the NHBF Board who have helped to steer us in the right direction, making sure that everything we do is in the very best interest of members.”

Richard Lambert is the new CEO, having joined from the National Landlords Association. Upon taking up the new role, Richard said, “I am thrilled to be appointed as Chief Executive for the National Hair & Beauty Federation and look forward to working with such a vibrant, forward-thinking industry,” comments Richard. “I’m committed to understanding our Members and their concerns, shaping the organisation’s services and communications to support them and creating an open, empowered culture from which we will continue to lobby government for change.”

We thank Hilary for her sterling efforts and wish Richard the very best of luck in the new role.

Finalists announced for the Wahl British Barber and Barbershop of the Year

The six finalists have been announced for this year’s prestigious Wahl Professional UK British Barber of the Year. 

In the line-up are: 

Kyle Rowland – @bk_barber_

Kilian Maddison – @ Amigos_barbers

Dale Hince – @dalehince

Guray Kesman – @guraykesman

Shaun Buckingham – @shaun_fgman

Luka Chitty – @lukasbarbers

There will be a live announcement of the winners mid-November, and we wish all the finalists the best of luck. 

The six finalists for this year’s prestigious Wahl British Barbershop of the Year have also been announced.  

The six finalists are:

Ruffians, Shoreditch @ruffians

Andy’s Barbers Bicester, Oxfordshire @andysbarbers_bicester

Avanzato Grooming Lounge, London @avanzato_grooming_lounge

BiberianGray, Cheltenham @BiberianGray

Cutters Yard, London @cuttersyard

R.W. Wolf Barbers, London @rwwolfbarbers

There will be a live announcement of the winners mid-November, and we wish all the finalists the best of luck. 

OSMO providing unique colour courses for professionals of all levels

OSMO®, a leading collection of professional colour, care and styling products, have launched a series of unique training courses in the UK designed to aid stylists and barbers to give them the power and confidence to create.

Full course details are listed below:

Wild About Colour
For all colourists wanting to develop their advanced colouring and vivid colour techniques with OSMO IKON® Color Psycho and Colour Revive.
Date: 12th October 2020
Place: Wilkins & Stroud Hair & Beauty, Unit 1, Newport South Business Park, Middlesborough, TS1 5QN
Price: £25

https://osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/wild-about-colour

Colour Discovery
For beginner colourists wanting to gain greater confidence using OSMO IKON® permanent hair colours.
Date: 13th October 2020
Place: Wilkins & Stroud Hair & Beauty, Unit 1, Newport South Business Park, Middlesborough, TS1 5QN
Price: £25

https://www.osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/colour-techniques

Colour Techniques
For all colourists to continue mastering modern colouring techniques and personalised finishes.
Date: 25th October 2020
Place: Hair & Beauty Supplies, Unit 11, 31 Coatbank St, Coatbridge, ML5 3SP
Price: £25

https://www.osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/colour-techniques

Colour Correction
For experienced colourists to gain understanding of performing corrective hair assessment.
Date: 26th October 2020
Place: Wilkins & Stroud Hair & Beauty, Unit 1, Newport South Business Park, Middlesborough, TS1 5QN
Price: £25 

https://www.osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/colour-correction

Shortcuts UK offering free training to barbers

It’s a new series of free online training classes to provide Shortcuts software users with an in-depth review of Shortcut’s features.

Key topic areas include: Essential reporting, advanced appointments, client management, and employee management.

Attendance is unlimited, and viewers can engage with Shortcut’s representatives to ask questions and interact.

Details on registration can be found here.

Booksy UK Announces Partnership with Innovative New Lifestyle Complex art.quarter and art.barber

A cutting-edge first phase of Digbeth’s new lifestyle complex is to open mid-October, powered by barber appointment booking software, Booksy.

BOOKSY UK is excited to announce the partnership with art.barbers – the first element of an innovative lifestyle complex, art.quarter, to launch – on the 16th of October 2020 in Digbeth, Birmingham. art.barbers will offer the highest quality barbering to men in Birmingham, whilst utilising Booksy’s health and beauty appointment booking system, with a plethora of COVID-conscious features to provide the ultimate barber shop experience.

“Booksy UK is proud to partner with art.quarter for the innovative launch of their first phase opening, art.barbers. Going to the barbers is no longer just popping in for a quick trim – it’s an important, imperative part of the modern man’s lifestyle. The overall client experience from seamless multi-channel booking, right through to post-appointment engagement has to be carefully considered to set a business apart from the rest – every step of the client’s experience counts.

Now when a visit out of the house is a much more considered trip, our end
users are looking for every opportunity to enjoy themselves in the safest
possible way – which is exactly what art.barber will offer. Clients want to immerse themselves in a stylish, unique environment that reflects the high level of skill sets from the team members, as well as being confident that the venue has their safety in mind with plenty of COVID-19 precautions in place, so both clients and barbers will have true peace of mind knowing they have taken every precaution to make safety a priority”, say Megan Mackie, UK Marketing Manager, Booksy UK.

art.quarter’s founder, Jordan Patel, expressed his excitement about the
opening, saying, “It’s great to be able to offer a beacon of hope in these
extremely trying times for the city. Coronavirus has had such a massive impact on the high-street, so to be in a position to open a business in this time and provide both employment and training to this number of people in the process, is a real blessing”.

art.barbers will form just the first part of art.quarter’s wider retail and lifestyle complex; comprising also of a women’s beauty salon, café, bakery, events space and food court. The next stages of the development are due to open later in 2020.

The Bluebeards Revenge Launches New Eco-Friendly Packaging Campaign

To celebrate their 10th birthday, leading men’s grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge is proud to announce a business-wide packaging rebrand, aimed at improving recyclability and reducing waste for a cleaner future.

This exciting movement begins with a promise from the brand to “drastically reduce the amount of virgin plastic and single-use packaging” they use by 2022.

The first product to receive an eco makeover is the brand’s best-selling Pre-Shave Oil, which now features a 100% recycled plastic bottle and a newly designed label.

On the decision to radically redesign the brand’s packaging, Managing Director David Hildrew said: “The world around us is changing. As an established global brand we have a responsibility to ourselves and our customers to do as much as possible to minimise any negative effects on the environment.

“We are very proud of the steps we’ve taken with our newly designed Pre-Shave Oil and its 100% recycled plastic bottle. But this is just the beginning. Our new Pre-Shave Oil will soon be joined by a whole host of other exciting changes that’ll help to move our brand into the future in a responsible way.”

One of those additional changes will see the introduction of a new series of 150ml aluminium tins; to replace the current 100ml plastic tubs that the brand uses for its shaving and styling supplies. “These reinforced tins are infinitely recyclable and larger than our previous versions,” added Mr Hildrew. “We’ll also be encouraging all of our customers to get creative, finding new and exciting ways to repurpose our tins, rather than throwing them away.”

In recent years, plastic consumption has become a major concern for consumers. In fact, a recent survey by YouGov revealed that 46% of Britons feel guilty about their plastic consumption, while 82% are working hard to reduce the amount they throw away.

These statistics were supported by a consumer survey The Bluebeards Revenge carried out in late 2019, when more than 80% of responses confirmed that the environmental impacts of the products they purchased were important to them.

One big development to the brand’s new look is the absence of their iconic cartons. “Removing our products from their cartons was an incredibly difficult decision,” admits Mr Hildrew, “but it’s a decision we’re confident is for the best.”

When asked whether they’d prefer to see the brand’s products in or out of a carton, 56% of those surveyed voted for the latter. “Much of the feedback we received about our cartons in the build up to this rebrand suggested that, once opened, they were simply recycled or binned by end-users,” explained Mr Hildrew. “With this in mind, we’ve made the brave decision to remove this single-use packaging from as much of our brand as possible. We hope that this will help to drastically reduce any wastage our products create, while still maintaining the strong shelf presence our skull and crossbones logo is known for.”

Barberly – Bringing Digital Value to Barbers

Do you wake up in the morning with the pile of messages on various social media and manually cope with your appointments armed with a pencil and notebook? Or you already using one of the digital booking and salon management providers, yet want to come out of the provider’s shadow and grow your brand instead of the aggregator provider’s one? Barberly has stepped up their game to help barbershops grow their client audience through convenient digital tools.

“We are a Swiss software company with a focus on bringing digital value to barbers all over the world. It seemed like a half-baked concept that just might have legs, I thought one day. Now Babrberly onboards 600+ barbershops, 70K bookings for a total value of USD15 Mio. My team and I personally appreciate each barber/ barbershop owner for entrusting Barberly to give a wing to their flight to success.” – Andrew Gubal, Barberly founder and CEO.

  • Reach out to every potential client: User-friendly intuitive tools like a personalized mobile application on App Store and Google Play, that simplifies bookings for your clients, promotes positive brand image and even makes you a trendsetter for the peers – stand out from the crowd with the bright mobile app design and own logo, present your team in creative photos, upload lookbooks of best works, visualise and describe your services with photos, and many more ways to customise your mobile application. To reach and engage new clients for your business through a QR poster so that passers-by can book-in in a few clicks.
  • Cement clients’ loyalty: Show that you care and save time for your clients. Go digital and easily reachable – Mobile app, website, fast booking page on social media, booking Self check-in kiosks, QR posters. Manage the client database with the client LogIn functionality, add notes, client’s favourite services, send confirmations/notifications, newsletters. Launch the loyalty program, further manage bonuses. Enable secured payments. Sell client favourite products online. Propose a waiting list or house/hotel calls (e.g. wedding grooming).
  • Simple and efficient management of your daily business routine. Barberly web portal is the main management tool for setting your barbershop up and running and making changes needed – add and modify services, barbers, working schedules, start your mobile app or redesign it, set the cancellation policies to get a refund for no-show, activate payments and many more. Also, book your clients on the go with the Barberly business mobile app – a handy way for owners and barbers to manage the appointments.

Being there to support you with prompt customer service, building reliable software, praising customer feedback and building on the criticism are the three pillars that Barberly Team leans on.

“Great appointment app. Was really worried about going to appointments! This appointment app makes it so easy to set up and use. The customer service was great and very patient with me! Well done! Just go for it!!” – Dave S., salon owner

“1947 loves Barberly! I absolutely think this is the best platform on the market. The team and the application itself is amazing! I’ve received nothing but great feedback from our mobile app! This platform is extremely user friendly and the team is super responsive, which makes the overall experience exceptional!” – Terrance M., salon owner

Visit Barberly’s website for more product details, and find out how to become a partner. Follow @BarberlyCom on Instagram and stay tuned for more great features to follow.

NHBF Releases State of Industry Survey Results

The National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) has released the results of its recent State of Industry survey, conducted across hair and beauty salons and barbershops throughout the UK. The results are now being used to put pressure on the government to support the hair and barbering industry to avoid a significant loss of jobs and closure of businesses that currently contribute over £7.5bn in turnover for the UK economy.

The survey, which was undertaken between the 20th and 31st August received 2,018 responses. The widely held view of those within the sector is that government is dismissive of the hair and beauty industry, does not understand it or those working within it, and underestimates the sector’s value. One in four responses stated ‘I don’t feel [the government] understand our industry at all’.

Despite re-opening at the beginning of July, three in four salons and barbershops reported that business was down compared to the same period last year. Two thirds expected business to remain slow based on their forthcoming bookings for the next three months, with 35% genuinely worried about how little business they have coming up. Of most concern from the results was that 41% could not say if their business would survive until Christmas. 

Whilst not many had yet made redundancies, almost a third said they expected to cut staff in the next three months and 44% could not guarantee job security. Already staff have seen their hours reduced (55% across hair and beauty but an alarming 74% in the beauty sector alone) with recruiting either new employees or taking on apprentices – despite financial incentives – looking hugely unlikely. 

The beauty sector has been particularly impacted due to the extra time they have been forced to close and the bans on treatments around the face, with some treatments still prohibited in the devolved nations. Based on their current workload and the operational restrictions within the government guidelines, 40% of businesses in the beauty sector were not earning enough to cover outgoings such as rent, overheads, staff costs and stock. One in four businesses across the entire hair and beauty sector also reported they could not cover their costs.

Hilary Hall (pictured above), NHBF chief executive said, “Whilst the survey results paint a bleak picture this does not have to be the case. The recovery of the hair and beauty sector is dependent on additional help from the government.  We continue to campaign hard, calling on the government to provide extra support as they have for hospitality. We expect them to consider additional measures such as hardship grants, VAT reductions, further extensions to business rate reliefs, restraint on proposed wage increases and other measures for sectors like ours that can only offer greatly reduced services, putting the longer-term survival of businesses and thousands of jobs at risk.”

For more information and FAQs, please visit www.nhbf.co.uk/coronavirus and follow the National Hair & Beauty Federation on social at @nhbfsocial.