King of Shaves Information & King of Shaves Links at HealthHaven.com

Founder Will King was made redundant in the early 1990s from his marketing job with marketing agency Fountainhead Communications (previously Hedges Wright Creative). He had always experienced problems with shaving, and in 1992, whilst at home, created a Shaving oil product that eased the pain, rash and burn he suffered whilst shaving. Following a visit to a Henley-on-Thames based chemist which sold essential oils he experimented with them until he arrived at the formulation for his first Shaving oil, finding that using an oil to shave gave him a smooth shave but without aggravating his skin. King had graduated with a 2:2 Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Portsmouth Polytechnic, having initially wanted to study Ship Science & Yacht Design at Southampton University.

King then approached London department store Harrods and after faxing owner Al-Fayed direct, secured his personal agreement to stock the new product. He then hand-filled 9,600 bottles in his kitchen. The process, which took two weeks, coincided with the annual Wimbledon tennis championships in London. King recalls watching the tournament as he filled the bottles using a 'gunk pump' that dispensed 2ml per stroke, supplied to him by a friend in the yacht building industry.

At first Harrods (Knightsbridge, London) sold one shaving oil every two weeks and the company's first year sales (1993-4) were £300. Now, in 2008, the King of Shaves brand is stocked in approximately 30,000 stores worldwide including the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South America. It is estimated that one King of Shaves product is sold every 3.5 seconds. The company states that annual (group) wholesale turnover is forecast to be £25 million in 2008 (£13.9 million in 2007).

In recent press articles, King describes KMI as a 'boutique P&G" (P&G, or Procter & Gamble, is the huge US FMCG firm that owns brands like Gillette, Duracell and Braun). His motto is 'Enthuse, Exceed, Enjoy').

King incorporated KMI (Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd.) on April 13, 1993. Until June 1st 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, he was joined by Herbie Dayal (also a founding shareholder, previously with Booz.Allen & Hamilton and Matrix Management Consulting) as full-time Chairman in 1995, as well as Andy Hill, their first employee (now Managing Director). Hill met King when he rented him a snowboard in December 1993 in Val d'Isere.

Brands: The company now owns, licenses and promotes other brands in the male and female grooming markets including [Ted Baker]] (fine fragrances & premium toiletries), Fish & AngelFish (cult hairstyling lines for men & women), Patently Obvious (a green 'clean without compromise') toiletries & skincare and in 2007 licensed Hed Kandi beauty from Ministry of Sound. In 2008, it also purchased Floraroma Ltd. from Joanne Sinclair (see below). Individual King of Shaves brands include KOS.PRO (Salon Professional), K2 (Technical Shave & Skincare), XCD (Skin Enhancing Skincare) & KU (Young Men's Skincare) as well as King of Shaves Woman. According to IRI, the brand was the second largest selling shaving preparations brand by value in the UK to the end of May 2008.

Razors & 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, and designed to bring together the best of system razors & disposable razors, King claims the Azor "shaves closer, longer, for less". 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 skin pre-tensioner (or 'beard bumper') is integrated into the handle, and not thus thrown away unnecessarily with the cartridge, and the handle comes with three 'Endurium' coated four bladed replacement cartridge.

The company deliberately took the decision to launch a razor with fewer blades than Gillette's Fusion (5 blades) as it believes there was no proven shaving benefit with any more than 4 blades. Founder 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. Using a car analogy, he describes the Azor as a "Toyota Prius" or "Tesla" and Gillette's Fusion as a "GM Hummer". Launching the Azor into the UK market during the UK's so called 'credit crunch' or economic slowdown he believes will position the brand as one which delivers "more to you, not to them." The UK razor & blades market is worth cUK£320m (IRI April 2008), King of Shaves are targeting a 25% market share of this market within 5 years, committing £35m on marketing between 2008-12. Apart from Gillette (P&G) and Wilkinson Sword (Energizer Holdings), other branded razor competitors are Bic, Supermax and American Safety Razor (ASR - a private label manufacturer owned by UK private equity firm, Lion Capital).

M&A: 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.

In 2009, The King of Shaves Company Ltd. was demerged from parent company KMI (Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Ltd.) as part of a £4m deal, and the company appointed Atul Sharma as CFO and Chris Outram as Non-Executive Chairman of both The King of Shaves Company Ltd. & 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.

On June 22nd 2009, the company announced a 'Shaving Bond' issue of up to 5,000 x £1,000 bonds, which was widely reported in the press as being a unique and innovative way to potentially raise money from 'up to 5,000 brand enthusiasts. The bonds, which are non-transferable and non-convertible, are available from http://www.shavingbond.com. The issue was overseen by FSA regulated accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward with legal advice provided by Memery Crystal LLP.

Sales of the King of Shaves Azor system razor handle were expected to have achieved 10% market share by end of June 2009, the company launched the Azor in Japan with further launches in the USA, Brazil (July 2009) and South Africa (October 2009).

KMI Brands Ltd. completed the acquisition of the Naked skincare brand in October 2009 adding to its brand portfolio.

Other: King of Shaves'headquarters are in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. There is an office in New York, USA. KMI Brands is headquartered in Teddington, Middlesex. Each company directly employs approximately 22 people.

[edit] Competition

Main competitors include Global Gillette, Wilkinson Sword, Nivea, L'Oréal and Brylcreem.

[edit] Stores in the UK and USA

King of Shaves is sold internationally at the company's web site and through retailers worldwide. The brand's principle markets are the UK, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

[edit] Brands

King of Shaves (shaving and skincare for men)

King of Shaves Woman (shaving)

King of Deos (deodorant for men and women)

KOS.PRO (professional range of styling, shave and skin care products for men only available from salons / barbers)

KOS K2 (shaving and skincare for men)

KOS XCD (shaving and skincare for men)

Patently Obvious (antibacterial, biodegradable personal cleaning products)

Ted Baker Fine Fragrances (fragrances and skincare for men and women)

Ted Baker Bodywear (hair, skin and body care for men and women)

Fish Hair Styling (hair care for men)

Angelfish (hair care and styling for women)

Hed Styling (hair care for men)

KU (shaving and skincare for teenagers and young men)

[edit] Sponsorships

King of Shaves sponsored John Terry, England and Chelsea football (soccer) captain between April 2006 - June 2008. (Terry 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 runs through the Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010. King of Shaves also sponsored Kristan Bromley, another British skeleton athlete, for two years in the build-up to the 2006 games.

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 sponsors a 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 funds local community-based initiatives.

In a somewhat ironic twist, the Harlequins rugby union club announced a sponsorship deal with King of Shaves in September 2009.^[1] The irony stemmed from Quins' recent involvement in the "Bloodgate" scandal, in which Quins personnel deliberately faked an injury to one of their players and went so far as to cut open the player's mouth immediately after the match in a coverup effort.^[2]