King of Shaves
Encyclopedia
The King of Shaves Company, Ltd. is a British toiletries company headquartered in Beaconsfield
, Buckinghamshire
, England
, with an office in New York City
, and employing approximately 22 people. The King of Shaves brand was founded in 1993 by Will King. The company was spun off from Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd. in May 2009.
agency Fountainhead Communications. He had always experienced problems with shaving, and in 1992 he created a shaving oil
product that eased the pain, rash and burn he experience during shaving. King approached Harrods
, the London department store
, and secured the personal agreement of owner Mohamed Al-Fayed
to stock the new product. He then hand-filled 9,600 bottles in his kitchen, using a "gunk pump" that dispensed 2 millilitre (7.05479242102239E-05 oz) per stroke, supplied to him by a friend in the yacht building industry.
At first Harrods
in Knightsbridge
sold one bottle of King's Shaving Oil every two weeks, and the company's first year sales (1993-1994) were £300. Will King incorporated KMI (Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd.) on 13 April 1993. Until 1 June 2009, it was this company which owned the King of Shaves brand, along with other "premium mass" toiletries brands. Initially running the company from his home in Chalfont St. Giles, Will King was joined by Herbie Dayal, a founding shareholder, as full-time Chairman in 1995, as well as Andy Hill, their first employee, now Managing Director. Will King described KMI as a "boutique Procter & Gamble
."
In 2009, The King of Shaves Company Ltd. was demerged from KMI, and the company appointed Atul Sharma as CFO and Chris Outram as Non-Executive Chairman of both The King of Shaves Company Ltd. and KMI (now KMI Brands Ltd). The company also won awards including the CBI
/Real Business "Growing Business" Company of the Year, the T-Mobile
/Growing Business Magazine "Overall fast growth company of the year" and King was a winner in the London & South East Region finals of the Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
The King of Shaves brand is now stocked in approximately 30,000 stores worldwide including the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa. The company estimates its annual (group) wholesale turnover to be £25 million in 2008 (up from £13.9 million in 2007).
On 22 June 2009, the company announced a "Shaving Bond" issue of up to five thousand £1,000 non-transferable and non-convertible bonds, which was reported in the press and described by Will King as being an "innovative way to potentially raise money from up to 5,000 brand enthusiasts". The issue was overseen by FSA regulated accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward with legal advice provided by Memery Crystal LLP.
On 15 April 2010, King of Shaves moved its UK headquarters from Chesham to Beaconsfield
in Buckinghamshire
.
(52 weeks to 17 April 2010), the brand is the third largest selling shaving preparations brand by value in the UK (excluding own label) behind Gillette and Nivea.
Before King of Shaves de-merged from KMI, it licensed and promoted other brands in the male and female grooming markets including Ted Baker
fine fragrances & premium toiletries and Fish and AngelFish styling products, it also purchased Floraroma Ltd. from Joanne Sinclair (see below).
The company deliberately took the decision to launch a razor with fewer blades than Gillette's Fusion, which has five blades, as it believes there was no proven shaving benefit with any more than four blades. Founder Will King has been quoted as wanting to "dial down the blade count - we're not in a blade count arms race". He also coined the phrase "ecoptimised" meaning that the way the Azor is made, uses as little energy, material and resource as possible.
The Azor has got generally positive comments from the press and according to IRI
over 500,000 handles were sold in the last year (18 April 2009 to 17 April 2010) in the UK.
The company launched the Azor in Japan with further launches in the US (August 2009), Brazil (July 2009), South Africa (October 2009) and Australia (May 2010).
In 2009 the company offered savings bonds with 6%pa interest rate to consumers. These savings bonds will rely on the company's growth in order to fund the returns. This scheme was not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and at the time of application consumers were unable to get reports on how well the company was performing.
However the bond issue did raise over £500,000 according to Will King's blog.
, England and Chelsea
football (soccer) captain from April 2006 to June 2008, who was featured in a 2006 UK television advertisement for the brand; as well as Shelley Rudman
, Olympic skeleton
silver medalist, Britain's only medalist at the 2006 winter games. Rudman's sponsorship deal ran through the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver
. King of Shaves also sponsored Kristan Bromley
, another British skeleton athlete, for two years in the build-up to the 2006 games.
The Harlequins
rugby union
club announced a sponsorship deal with King of Shaves in September 2009.
King of Shaves also sponsored a P1 Offshore Powerboat
for the 2006-2007 season. Piloted by James Sheppard and Craig Wilson, the King of Shaves powerboat won the World title in that season. Sheppard had also won the Honda F4 Offshore Powerboat Championships partnered by navigator Neil Sinclair in 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004.
The company also sponsored Young Blades, a grass-roots programme for young sports people in the UK, it was a Platinum Sponsor of the Gipsy Moth IV project, between 1998–2000 and 2006-2008 it was the primary sponsor of Cowes Dinghy Week, and also funded local community-based initiatives.
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with an office in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and employing approximately 22 people. The King of Shaves brand was founded in 1993 by Will King. The company was spun off from Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd. in May 2009.
History
Will King, who began King of Shaves, was made redundant in the early 1990s from his job with the marketingMarketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
agency Fountainhead Communications. He had always experienced problems with shaving, and in 1992 he created a shaving oil
Shaving oil
Shaving oil is normally a plant-based oil or blend of vegetable and essential oils used as a stand-alone shave lubricant or in conjunction with shave creme, soap or gel, to facilitate the shave of facial and other body hair. Often these products require activation with water before the razor is...
product that eased the pain, rash and burn he experience during shaving. King approached Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...
, the London department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
, and secured the personal agreement of owner Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed is an Egyptian businessman and billionaire. Amongst his business interests are ownership of the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club, Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge...
to stock the new product. He then hand-filled 9,600 bottles in his kitchen, using a "gunk pump" that dispensed 2 millilitre (7.05479242102239E-05 oz) per stroke, supplied to him by a friend in the yacht building industry.
At first Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...
in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
sold one bottle of King's Shaving Oil every two weeks, and the company's first year sales (1993-1994) were £300. Will King incorporated KMI (Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd.) on 13 April 1993. Until 1 June 2009, it was this company which owned the King of Shaves brand, along with other "premium mass" toiletries brands. Initially running the company from his home in Chalfont St. Giles, Will King was joined by Herbie Dayal, a founding shareholder, as full-time Chairman in 1995, as well as Andy Hill, their first employee, now Managing Director. Will King described KMI as a "boutique Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
."
In 2009, The King of Shaves Company Ltd. was demerged from KMI, and the company appointed Atul Sharma as CFO and Chris Outram as Non-Executive Chairman of both The King of Shaves Company Ltd. and KMI (now KMI Brands Ltd). The company also won awards including the CBI
Confederation of British Industry
The Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...
/Real Business "Growing Business" Company of the Year, the T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
/Growing Business Magazine "Overall fast growth company of the year" and King was a winner in the London & South East Region finals of the Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
The King of Shaves brand is now stocked in approximately 30,000 stores worldwide including the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa. The company estimates its annual (group) wholesale turnover to be £25 million in 2008 (up from £13.9 million in 2007).
On 22 June 2009, the company announced a "Shaving Bond" issue of up to five thousand £1,000 non-transferable and non-convertible bonds, which was reported in the press and described by Will King as being an "innovative way to potentially raise money from up to 5,000 brand enthusiasts". The issue was overseen by FSA regulated accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward with legal advice provided by Memery Crystal LLP.
On 15 April 2010, King of Shaves moved its UK headquarters from Chesham to Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.
Brands
Individual King of Shaves brands have included KOS.PRO, K2, XCD, and KU as well as King of Shaves Woman (now superseded by a range called Queen Of). According to IRIIRI
IRI may refer to:* International Reference Ionosphere a common scientific project of URSI and COSPAR* International Roughness Index, a dimensionless quantity used for measuring road roughness, proposed as a world standard by the World Bank...
(52 weeks to 17 April 2010), the brand is the third largest selling shaving preparations brand by value in the UK (excluding own label) behind Gillette and Nivea.
Before King of Shaves de-merged from KMI, it licensed and promoted other brands in the male and female grooming markets including Ted Baker
Ted Baker
Ted Baker is a British clothing retail company, known for applying twists to its products, and has become a UK designer label through word of mouth rather than advertising.-History:...
fine fragrances & premium toiletries and Fish and AngelFish styling products, it also purchased Floraroma Ltd. from Joanne Sinclair (see below).
Razors and blades
The company launched its first system razor, the Azor, under the King of Shaves brand, in June 2008. Described as a "hybrid synergy" system razor, designed to combine the best of system razors and disposable razors. It features an internationally patented "Bendology Technology" elastomer "living" or "active" hinge to "positively push" the cartridge against the skin for a closer, more comfortable shave. The system's skin pre-tensioner (or "beard bumper") is integrated into the handle, and thus is not thrown away unnecessarily with the cartridge, and the handle comes with three "Endurium" coated four bladed replacement cartridges.The company deliberately took the decision to launch a razor with fewer blades than Gillette's Fusion, which has five blades, as it believes there was no proven shaving benefit with any more than four blades. Founder Will King has been quoted as wanting to "dial down the blade count - we're not in a blade count arms race". He also coined the phrase "ecoptimised" meaning that the way the Azor is made, uses as little energy, material and resource as possible.
The Azor has got generally positive comments from the press and according to IRI
IRI
IRI may refer to:* International Reference Ionosphere a common scientific project of URSI and COSPAR* International Roughness Index, a dimensionless quantity used for measuring road roughness, proposed as a world standard by the World Bank...
over 500,000 handles were sold in the last year (18 April 2009 to 17 April 2010) in the UK.
The company launched the Azor in Japan with further launches in the US (August 2009), Brazil (July 2009), South Africa (October 2009) and Australia (May 2010).
List of brands
- King of Shaves – shaving and skincare for men
- Queen Of... – shaving and skincare for women
- Azor – system razors and blades
- Kings 1965 – body wash, skin care and hair styling for men
Mergers and acquisitions
In March 2008 KMI acquired the entire issued share capital of Floraroma Ltd., which owns a number of primarily women's toiletries brands including Phil Smith, Delicious Beauty, Dead Sea Source, Little Me, Derma-Mum and Floracologie. In October 2009, KMI acquired the Naked skincare brand.Criticism
Financial Investment OfferIn 2009 the company offered savings bonds with 6%pa interest rate to consumers. These savings bonds will rely on the company's growth in order to fund the returns. This scheme was not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and at the time of application consumers were unable to get reports on how well the company was performing.
However the bond issue did raise over £500,000 according to Will King's blog.
Sponsorships
King of Shaves sponsored John TerryJohn Terry
John George Terry is an English professional footballer. Terry plays in a centre back position and is the captain of Chelsea in the Premier League...
, England and Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
football (soccer) captain from April 2006 to June 2008, who was featured in a 2006 UK television advertisement for the brand; as well as Shelley Rudman
Shelley Rudman
Shelley Rudman is a British Olympic athlete. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in skeleton; the only medal for Great Britain at the games...
, Olympic skeleton
Skeleton (sport)
Skeleton is a fast winter sliding sport in which an individual person rides a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down, during which athletes experience forces up to 5g. It originated in St. Moritz, Switzerland as a spin-off from the popular British sport of Cresta Sledding...
silver medalist, Britain's only medalist at the 2006 winter games. Rudman's sponsorship deal ran through the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. King of Shaves also sponsored Kristan Bromley
Kristan Bromley
Kristan Bromley is a British skeleton racer who has competed since 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany...
, another British skeleton athlete, for two years in the build-up to the 2006 games.
The Harlequins
Harlequin F.C.
The Harlequin Football Club is an English rugby union team who play in the top level of English rugby, the Aviva Premiership. Their ground in London is Twickenham Stoop...
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club announced a sponsorship deal with King of Shaves in September 2009.
King of Shaves also sponsored a P1 Offshore Powerboat
Powerboat
A powerboat is another name for a motorboat. Powerboat may also refer to:* Powerboating* F1 Powerboat World Championship* Offshore powerboat racing...
for the 2006-2007 season. Piloted by James Sheppard and Craig Wilson, the King of Shaves powerboat won the World title in that season. Sheppard had also won the Honda F4 Offshore Powerboat Championships partnered by navigator Neil Sinclair in 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004.
The company also sponsored Young Blades, a grass-roots programme for young sports people in the UK, it was a Platinum Sponsor of the Gipsy Moth IV project, between 1998–2000 and 2006-2008 it was the primary sponsor of Cowes Dinghy Week, and also funded local community-based initiatives.
Sources
- http://www.thekingofshavescompany.com/corporate/pages/kos_shaving/KOS_Brand.htm Brief history of King of Shaves from their corporate website
- http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070428090802mbynews.html Article about the King of Shaves powerboat (2007)
- http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=9164 Article about the King of Shaves powerboat (2007)
- http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=65256 Article about John Terry and King of Shaves (2007)
- http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/King_of_Shaves_Alphagel_Shaving_Gel__70875 Independent reviews of King of Shaves AlphaGel Shave Gel
- http://www.shave.com/know-how/top-shaving-tips/ Shaving Tips and FAQs
- http://www.kmibrands.com/ Website for the company behind Ted Baker Fragrances, Fish Styling, Dead Sea Source, Naked and others.