UK salon dynasty HOB Salons is celebrating 40 years, with four decades of global impact honoured with a special event, awards and party for their teams and industry friends. The brand was founded in 1983 by directors Akin Konizi, Clive Collins and Paul Simbler and has continued to reach new salon and editorial heights.
“HOB was born in 1983, and I arrived into the world in 1985,” said General manager Natasha Grossman. “For most my life I saw my dad, Clive, go out to work seven days a week, dedicating everything to HOB and Akin and Paul were no different. Growing up, I sometimes found it hard to understand why my dad worked day and night, living, breathing and eating HOB, but eventually, after joining the company nearly 20 years ago, I realised two things: you don’t get anywhere in life without sacrifice and determination, and you don’t build a legacy within the hairdressing industry by luck or by taking the easy path.”
The event took place at NOBU Hotel in central London and allowed the directors to pay comical and emotional tribute to how far they’ve come.
“We first launched Hair on Broadway in 1983 – David Bowie was number one with Let’s Dance, Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister and a can of Coke was 14p,” Clive said.
“We’ve come a long way in 40 years. The world is a very different place today compared to back then, but there’s one thing that’s still the same – and that’s our vision,” Paul added. “This has always been to create successful people through excellence and integrity, whilst being able to offer everyone the opportunity to reach their potential.”
The event also gave the Creative Team the chance to present inspiring hair looks – Jake Unger, Nestor Sanchez and Dale Herne presented timeless but ever-trending soft feminine curls and precision bobs -, discuss the ‘wow factor’ pertinent to their brand and thank a myriad of employees who had been with the company for more than 20 years for their loyalty.
“The amount of people who have been on our journey with us is incredible. And most of them are still in our lives,” said Akin. “We’re not finished, but we have a whole generation of Akin, Clive and Pauls ahead of us.”
Happy 40th birthday to HOB!
For more information visit www.hobsalons.com
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