![]() I wanted to make sure that Hammer & Nails was a place where all men were welcomed. Lastly, there were all these perceptions of what a man who would get a manicure or a pedicure is like that I felt were wrong. That’s a part of our special sauce as well. We’ve had men who have thanked us because only upon coming to Hammer & Nails did they learn that they’re a diabetic. I wanted Hammer & Nails to be a place where he would meet a manicurist who would ask him if he has any problems with his feet, or identify an issue that he didn’t know he had. Men don’t talk about our feet or problems with them with our friends, so I saw an opportunity to focus on health and wellness. I thought that women would be interested in a unique and thoughtful gift idea for men, and if Hammer & Nails was experiential, we would make that gift. I saw an opportunity to make Hammer & Nails a place that isn’t just about the service of getting a manicure and pedicure, but a place that was experiential. Being a man, we do very little to reward or pamper ourselves. I wanted it to be that place where they felt safe and comfortable. I wanted Hammer and Nails to be a destination for men who wanted or needed a pedicure. What did you intend for Hammer & Nails to accomplish? That told me that when a man is in a spa, when he is away from judgmental guys, he feels safe and is more likely to get a service like a pedicure. There was a statistic from the International Spa Association about how many men at spas get pedicures, and I was surprised at the answer, because it was much larger than the number of men you would think would walk into a typical nail salon every day. That was one of the marketing indicators that helped me to know that if ever there was a time for a men’s grooming concept like Hammer & Nails, this was it. Rappers and NBA players were looking good, being stylish, and taking pride in their appearance in a way they didn’t five years earlier. ![]() Jay-Z wore a 3-piece suit in Vanity Fair and Kanye West wore a tuxedo on the cover of Vogue. Now, there was an entire aisle dedicated to men’s products at Target – there just wasn’t a section. For me, it was as simple as walking into Walgreens or CVS and noticing the number of products in the men’s section versus how many there used to be. All the men that were investing in products and services in a way that they didn’t five years ago. The men’s care market was growing globally. At that moment, I thought “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a space for a man who wanted or needed this type of service to go to and not feel out of place?” As I sat there, I felt like a fish out of water. I was in an environment that had, up until Hammer & Nails, been designed to make women feel comfortable. It wasn’t my first time, but on this particular Sunday, everything that I hated about the experience of going to a traditional salon was heightened and crystallized. I was just a guy who really needed a pedicure and went to a nail salon one day. Today, gender-neutral skincare is on the rise, major cosmetics brands are tapping male spokesmodels, and men now represent 47% of the spa-going population in the US, according to PwC and the International Spa Association.įor a unique take on men’s grooming, we spoke to Michael Elliot, the founder of Hammer & Nails, a “grooming shop for guys.” Men’s grooming products have exploded, with a global market projected to reach $60 billion by 2020. The gender makeup of the personal care industry is changing rapidly.
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