Victoria Lynch, founder of world hair extension model Remi Cachet, had a ardour for styling hair from a younger age. As a 14-year-old within the UK, she braided artificial hair and styled household and buddies; her house salon had a six-month ready checklist at one level. She continued to hone her craft over time, doing hair part-time alongside a morning manufacturing unit job, till an accident at 18 modified the trajectory of her life.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Remi Cachet. Victoria Lynch.
”I had a street visitors accident with a bus,” Lynch tells Entrepreneur, “and that left me with some accidents that affected my decrease backbone. I ended up with degenerative discs in my decrease backbone. I solely had two weeks off work, after which I went again to work on the manufacturing unit.”
Lynch’s accidents made it tough to be on her ft all day on the manufacturing unit and the salon. She started to think about what the subsequent section of her profession would possibly seem like. Individuals typically requested Lynch to show them easy methods to do hair, however she knew that if she was going to make her mark on the business, she wanted {qualifications} on the skilled degree. So she attended faculty for these {qualifications}, then dove into entrepreneurship.
“That model was particularly for that client market.”
Lynch used cash from her financial savings account to start out her first hair extension model, Further Lengths, in 2003.
“ Extensions weren’t common in the identical capability we see them in the present day,” Lynch says, “and I created that model with that end-user in thoughts as a result of I used to be nonetheless working and doing hair. I used to be nonetheless supplying merchandise on to my purchasers. In order that’s how I arrange the enterprise — that model was particularly for that client market.”
In an period earlier than social media helped facilitate enterprise progress on a bigger scale, Lynch centered on word-of-mouth advertising inside her neighborhood.
“I used to be very a lot talking to my area people firstly,” Lynch explains, “and I used to be engaged on boundaries that they dictate and put in place based mostly on their disposable earnings. What’s my area people seeking to pay? How can I join salons in my space for them to cater to their wants? Further Lengths was constructed on a low price, however attempting to realize prime quality.”
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Lynch grew Further Lengths for the subsequent 10 years. However the model wasn’t simply common with shoppers; commerce professionals began to buy the merchandise too, leading to a “very blended message” between the 2 buyer teams, Lynch says. Lynch wished to create a line of high-end extension merchandise that will cater to the skilled market particularly, and felt that constructing a wholly new model identification was the way in which ahead.
“It was a model by an expert, straight for an expert.”
So, in 2013, Lynch launched her subsequent hair extension model: Remi Cachet.
“Being a hair skilled and understanding the viewers, particularly from the business facet in addition to the top person, that was simply the best route for me,” Lynch says. “And it paid off as a result of Remi Cachet grew to become the primary commerce skilled model within the UK. It was a model by an expert, straight for an expert.”
Lynch made Further Lengths the only real approved distributor of her new model to make the most of the logistics and information that had been already in place, she notes. Then it was a matter of utilizing that present infrastructure to develop Remi Cachet’s distinct model identification and tone.
“ I by no means positioned that I owned that model,” Lynch says. “I wished the commerce house to assume, Oh my God, what is that this model?”
Remi Cachet did resonate with business professionals, and as she’d achieved together with her first enterprise, Lynch harnessed the ability of word-of-mouth advertising to develop the model.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Remi Cachet
“I’ve constructed a commerce viewers that now depends on our service and product to function.”
Now, Remi Cachet continues to see success within the UK, and in January 2025, the model launched within the U.S. on the pink carpet, partnering with hairstylists to get its product on celebrities together with Ellie Goulding, Margaret Qualley, Mikey Madison, Kim Kardashian and extra. The model boasts $35 million in gross sales, per the corporate.
“If social media [went] offline tomorrow, the foundations that I’ve constructed and established my enterprise on can be firmly in place it doesn’t matter what occurred,” Lynch says. “I’ve constructed a commerce viewers that now depends on our service and product to function and retain their very own enterprise progress and objectives.”
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What’s extra, after greater than 20 years as an entrepreneur within the haircare business, Lynch solely lately employed her first gross sales crew.
“Not many companies can say they’ve achieved the income numbers and measurement that we’ve with out having a gross sales crew, however I’ve achieved it,” Lynch says. “And I dare say that’s in all probability right down to how I maneuvered the enterprise, the selections I made within the enterprise: Let the product do the speaking. Let the product construct the relationships and belief in what you are doing.”
“I would like it to be the model that is on all people’s lips for the best causes.”
Like many companies, Remi Cachet bumped into problems with U.S. enlargement as a result of current tariffs, inflicting the model to “put a little bit pin” in a few of its plans. Nevertheless, the model nonetheless intends to prioritize world enlargement on the entire. Within the quick time period, meaning focusing outdoors of the U.S. on markets the place it might probably go after “low-hanging fruit and fast wins.”
Lynch seems ahead to Remi Cachet’s progress on a worldwide scale, assured that whilst white-label manufacturers proliferate like by no means earlier than, her firm’s dedication to understanding its product and buyer will proceed to set it aside.
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“Everybody needs a slice of that pie, however that pie is getting smaller and smaller,” Lynch says. “Being established and realizing the market and having the ability to serve individuals [gives us an advantage] whether or not we’re there [on the ground] within the U.S. or not. Long run, I need to place Remi Cachet [for] world domination. I would like it to be the model that is on all people’s lips for the best causes.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Ladies Entrepreneur® sequence highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of operating a enterprise as a girl.
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