DISTRIBUTE GROW EDUCATE

With Classic Barber Products

IS FOCUSED ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF AUTHENTIC BARBER BRANDS WITH A PASSION FOR HELPING BARBERS THROUGH EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND PERFECTING THE SERVICE AND RETAIL EXPERIENCE. WE SPEAK TO CEO BRIAN MURAKAMI TO FIND OUT MORE.

CLASSIC BARBER PRODUCTS (CBP)

Brian stumbled into the men’s grooming industry in 2011. He was transitioning from an executive sales role into a totally different industry, courted by a childhood friend who started a ‘cult’ pomade company. Although reluctant to go from selling high-ticket items to ‘hair gel’, he quickly fell in love with the culture, hustle, and colorful personalities of the entrepreneurs and barbers. He had an immediate connection with the industry, relating to the people with the street-smarts who were evolving their skills and building businesses from the ground up.

Brian talks us through the inspiration to start CBP and the ethos behind the brand. He said: “What I learned through my journey with servicing the men's grooming industry was that the industry had a foundation of creativity.

“A lot of the barbers were beginning to create their own brands because they knew product performance, understood the creative side of building a brand, ie, packaging, the misuse of different products in barbershops, which was not standard at that time, to use any product for that matter.

“All of that was happening and they did not have the conduit to get their brands beyond that creative stage, so packaging, working with labs for fill, understanding how to build the business and model, distribution, inside sales, and all of those business processes were not readily available through resources to barbers. I thought there was a huge opportunity to provide that service to smaller brands that had great products and packaging but weren't able to get their products out there in the market.”

Don’t mistake CBP as just another distributor, they are so much more. Think business consultants for barbershops and the brands they represent.

Brian continued: “We always want to have relationships built in a consultative sales environment; we exude that as a business.

From the shops that we work with, all the way through distribution tiers, and the brands that we partner with, understand that is the model of business that we have. We’re not built for every brand and every type of distribution. We’re built to work with businesses that want to engage the retail aspect of their business and understand how to use it to increase and generate good sustainable revenue.

“Today’s men’s grooming distribution landscape is typically either an online catalog or passive type distributor with a ton of SKUs and a wide variety of services, or you have a level of distribution that is hands-on which visits shops, like a local supply business, regional rep group or supply group in a geographical territory.

“Ours is quite different. We’re a national distribution company, unique because the vast majority of the brands that we work with, we have exclusive national distribution rights, and because the brands are a certain size, we’re able to work more like the brand themselves in the doors that we approach.

“Classic fosters an intimate relationship with the brand and the shops… we are a conduit to that. We do it by making phone calls and follow-ups, by talking to shops not just about placing an order, but also about selling through inventory, how to incentivize their staff through the many experiences we’ve had with thousands of shops, both rental and commission, all the way through merchandising and promotional support to help them sell through properly as well as providing the education behind the brands. These things make Classic different.

“We’re the wizard behind the curtain… our brands are what is driving the business. We’re pioneering a very unselfish approach to success in the industry. If we don’t have the right brand partner, then we can’t do the right business and grow. Having the right brand partner is everything." 

Education

Providing education on the brands that he supplies is high on Brian’s agenda. He explains: “We focus on education. Not just relying on our branded partners, but we, ourselves, focus. We invest a lot of our marketing dollars on national trade shows. At all of those shows, we have a large education presence. Whether we have an entire stage to support the partners that we work with, or we engage in sponsorships through breakout education with people that we bring in from our brands. That’s very different.

“We try to create an ecosystem of the brands that we work with because many of our shops work with several different lines within our brands and we want to provide education that supports that and doesn’t exclude any particular brand. That’s a very different approach. And so, to do that we have some of our Classic Educators that can come in and educate on not just the brands they work with, but the things that are also important, like understanding how to cut and style, but how to prescribe products and how to sell through them at the shop.”

With such a strong brand ethos, what brands has Classic partnered with and why?

Brian gives it to us straight. “We are in the blessed position to work with who we want to work with. That’s the answer. Our brand partners include Slick Gorilla, Suavecito, Firsthand, STMNT, 3rd Gen Barber Collection, Uplift, Victory Crown, Xotics, Gamma+, and Modern Pirate.

“I laid a foundation when I started Classic that I want to work with brands that have good culture from leadership down. We choose to work with brands that want to truly get behind the barber industry, not just slang products.

“We have vendor-branded partners that are relationship driven and want to build a sustainable stream of revenue from retail. Our partners get behind their product with education, protect brand value, maintain the right price, have the quality and the right ‘pop’, and follow a solid retail philosophy within the barber industry, for which we haven’t even hit the peak of that learning curve. That’s what we strive to provide!”