Victoria Lynch, founder of worldwide 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 pals; her dwelling salon had a six-month ready listing at one level. She continued to hone her craft through the years, doing hair part-time alongside a morning manufacturing facility job, till an accident at 18 modified the trajectory of her life.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Remi Cachet. Victoria Lynch.
”I had a highway 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 facility.”
Lynch’s accidents made it troublesome to be on her toes all day on the manufacturing facility and the salon. She started to contemplate what the following section of her profession would possibly appear like. Individuals typically requested Lynch to show them do hair, however she knew that if she was going to make her mark on the trade, she wanted {qualifications} on the skilled stage. So she attended school for these {qualifications}, then dove into entrepreneurship.
“That model was particularly for that shopper market.”
Lynch used cash from her financial savings account to start out her first hair extension model, Extra Lengths, in 2003.
“ Extensions weren’t common in the identical capability we see them at this time,” 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 shopper market.”
In an period earlier than social media helped facilitate enterprise progress on a bigger scale, Lynch targeted on word-of-mouth advertising inside her group.
“I used to be very a lot chatting with my area people at first,” 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 trying to pay? How can I join salons in my space for them to cater to their wants? Extra Lengths was constructed on a low price, however attempting to realize prime quality.”
Associated: ‘Instantly Worthwhile’: Former Lululemon Executives Turned Their ‘Aspect Venture’ Into an 8-Determine Model Worn By Olympians — and You will Most likely See It This Summer time
Lynch grew Extra Lengths for the following 10 years. However the model wasn’t simply common with customers; commerce professionals began to buy the merchandise too, leading to a “very blended message” between the 2 buyer teams, Lynch says. Lynch needed to create a line of high-end extension merchandise that will cater to the skilled market particularly, and felt that constructing a completely new model identification was the best way ahead.
“It was a model by knowledgeable, instantly for knowledgeable.”
So, in 2013, Lynch launched her subsequent hair extension model: Remi Cachet.
“Being a hair skilled and understanding the viewers, particularly from the trade facet in addition to the tip consumer, that was simply the proper course for me,” Lynch says. “And it paid off as a result of Remi Cachet turned the primary commerce skilled model within the UK. It was a model by knowledgeable, instantly for knowledgeable.”
Lynch made Extra Lengths the only licensed distributor of her new model to make the most of the logistics and information that have 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 needed the commerce house to assume, Oh my God, what is that this model?“
Remi Cachet did resonate with trade professionals, and as she’d executed together with her first enterprise, Lynch harnessed the facility 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 purple 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 could 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 targets.”
Associated: After This LGBTQ Couple Misplaced Their Jobs Inside 30 Days of Every Different, They Began a Enterprise — With Goats. It Led to Extra Than $150 Million.
What’s extra, after greater than 20 years as an entrepreneur within the haircare trade, Lynch solely not too long ago employed her first gross sales workforce.
“Not many companies can say they’ve achieved the income numbers and dimension that we’ve got with out having a gross sales workforce, however I’ve executed it,” Lynch says. “And I dare say that’s in all probability right down to how I maneuvered the enterprise, the choices 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 proper causes.”
Like many companies, Remi Cachet bumped into issues with U.S. enlargement resulting from latest tariffs, inflicting the model to “put somewhat pin” in a few of its plans. Nevertheless, the model nonetheless intends to prioritize world enlargement on the entire. Within the brief time period, which means focusing exterior of the U.S. on markets the place it will probably go after “low-hanging fruit and fast wins.”
Lynch appears ahead to Remi Cachet’s progress on a world 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.
Associated: ‘You Can Go Viral In a single day’: This School Scholar and His Brother Spent $5,000 to Begin a Aspect Hustle — Now Their Model’s Making Over $175 Million
“Everybody desires 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 folks [gives us an advantage] whether or not we’re there [on the ground] within the U.S. or not. Long run, I wish to place Remi Cachet [for] world domination. I would like it to be the model that is on all people’s lips for the proper causes.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Girls Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of working a enterprise as a lady.
Be part of prime CEOs, founders and operators on the Stage Up convention to unlock methods for scaling what you are promoting, boosting income and constructing sustainable success.
