Individualism and diversity inspired the brand—from the product itself to the name Amika, meaning friend, which is derived from Esperanto (a constructed language created at the turn of the century to unite the world). Amika was created by industry outsiders more than a decade ago when the haircare industry was rooted in serious professionalism but lacked brands that embodied inclusion, fun, and accessibility. While the beauty industry has made many advances since, we continue to fill the void for a brand that approaches haircare with all hair types, textures, and styles in mind while bringing high-quality, responsible formulations at an affordable luxury price point.
You can think of Amika as a really cool and good friend—we aim to be your BFF and trusted advisor for all things hair, providing not only safe, efficacious products, but also a top-notch experience leading to exceptional brand satisfaction of Amika customers across our professional, prestige, and direct-to-consumer channels. We believe responsibility and diversity are intertwined, which is why we are a leader in the professional haircare industry on core topics of sustainability, responsibility, and safety.
Co-Founder: Vita Raykhman
Founded: 2007
Leadership:
2023 Full Year Expected Revenue Range: $175-$200MM (gross) (estimated by industry experts)
Category: Haircare
Distribution Channels: Professional, Prestige
Funding Rounds: Private Equity
In May 2022 Bansk Group acquired a majority stake in Amika and Eva NYC, marking the business's first outside investment.
Notable Investors: Bansk Group
What are some of your key business initiatives for 2023?
Our annual key priorities are built around our vision to be the most loved, industry-leading brand while delivering upon our purpose of being a friend to hair, hairstylists, the planet, and our community. For 2023, this means amplifying our core pillars around sustainability, responsibility, and safety—while also increasing brand perception around high-quality and effectiveness. Frankly, our colorful packaging is our most beloved asset by our customers but isn’t as overtly “scientific” or “sustainable” as some brands. We have an ambitious goal of receiving our B-Corp Certification this spring (many years in the making) and moving from clean to Clean+ Planet Positive certification at Sephora. Additionally, we have only become a Top 10 Prestige Haircare Brand according to new product development (NPD) because of the support from our stylist and salon network. After what has felt like a few years of IRL pause, we are going big with new experiences to engage with our most important customer: the stylist.
What are you most proud of having accomplished?
The list is long, but the top accomplishment that comes to mind is having massive support and approval from professional hairstylists. When we dreamt of Amika’s future, it was always with this most discerning customer. To top it off, we accomplished this without any sort of “exclusivity” around the brand as is typical in the industry and supported independent artists before the industry even fully embraced the indie stylist movement. We’ve taken share from those big, legacy brands that dominated the scene a decade ago by being our most authentic self and not wavering to pressures to shift our brand DNA.
What has been the biggest surprise since the brand was founded?
There have been many surprises since the brand was founded. The pivot from launching as a hair tools brand to primarily haircare, the shift from retailers as your only distribution option, to having direct-to-consumer, the creator economy, etc. It all tells the same story—how agile you must always be to survive in this industry and as an entrepreneur. Hiring incredible people around you that will challenge your thinking and not being afraid to test and learn, can help you keep an edge.
What aspect of your brand DNA fuels your competitive advantage?
It’s difficult to pinpoint just one aspect of our brand DNA, but our value around fearless experimentation comes to mind as a key driver of our competitive advantage. Having launched the brand as industry outsiders, we’ve always done things differently here at Amika and pride ourselves on bending the rules—from our distinctive packaging, to being “kind and clean” before it was a thing, to our innovative products, and more. We believe our test-and-learn mindset has led to some pretty radical thinking and feel confident that our ability to disrupt the status quo will allow us to stay relevant with our customers long-term and achieve our vision of being the most loved industry-leading hair brand. Beyond our core value of fearless experimentation, it comes down to the quality and effectiveness of our formulas. Amika users continue to state in our biannual market studies that we are their favorite haircare brand among our competitive set because our products deliver. Therefore, we have the highest Net Promoter Score as well. We will continue to always put high-quality, effective, yet affordable products at the center of our strategy.
Please share your insight on the future of the beauty industry.
Innovation comes in times of crisis, and the beauty industry has had to reckon with the major negative impact the industry has historically had on the climate. I’ve seen such imaginative solutions to solving the very issues we have, but many of them have yet to gain real traction. Given where consumer demand is heading on these issues, this type of innovation and prioritization of sustainability is table stakes for the current guard.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
The adage “culture eats strategy for breakfast” is absolutely my experience. This obviously speaks to building a great team but touches on the importance of considering the people and psychology of your customer as well. People who understand and buy into the strategy will work towards achieving it and realizing it through the customer journey and internally. Nurturing and engaging your team around strategy is important, but getting the people piece right from the start with a team who believes in the vision, is paramount.
Paying it forward, what advice would you give to someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
Launching a beauty brand has never been easier. For better and for worse, this means you need to cut through the noise more quickly to survive. Articulating who your customer is (and isn’t), why they need your brand/product, and your overall reason for being (purpose/vision/values) will pay dividends in the long run. This is something that took us at least five to six years to clearly convey internally and externally, because when you are a founding team, everyone just innately “gets it.” But as you grow, you need to be able to sharply communicate it. This is because you will attract employees, customers, content creators, suppliers, retailers etc. who believe and align with your brand values.
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
If there was one thing to change about the industry, it would be the reliance on consumerism, which can lead to hindering true innovation. We see so many product launches that are utilizing the same formulas with a different marketing spin, leading to too many identical products being created.
