Where are the Black Owned Supply Stores?
Mark Yudell
Posted on August 18 2014
In an industry dominated by black consumers, why is it that
so few (perhaps as few as about 300 hundred nationwide) hair supply stores are
black owned? This is an issue that
I have inquired about to anyone and everyone who will listen and the answer I
get each and every time is: the
Koreans have cornered the market, and the distribution of the hair; as a result
we can’t get the hair as cheap as our Korean counterparts because the Korean owned
distributors won’t sell to us or as cheap.
I think this highlights the real issue that exists in the
hair extension industry: most of
the worlds manufacturing and sourcing is dominated by a few, leaving everyone
else to fight for a piece of the pie as simple re-sellers of products sourced
and manufactured by someone else.
In reality, any true manufacturer (such as Remy Capillus) that sources
its own hair (not from 3rd party dealers) and performs its own
manufacturing will be able to match any price that the Korean owned
distributors when comparing equal quality levels (obviously beauty supply
stores have never been known to offer the best quality on the market). Problem is there are so few true
manufacturers. Just as diamonds,
oil and other commodities are available in different grades of quality, so is human hair.
In fact, most of the hair in hair supply stores is of such low quality
because the Asian factories can’t source top quality hair and simply get low
grade Remy and non-Remy Indian hair.
To keep the price even lower they will then mix synthetic hair into this
raw material for their lower price products. This is why most reasonable quality “Remy” hair sold by hair
supply stores is actually Chinese hair, because that is the only good quality
hair they can source.
The end result is an industry whose customers dominate one ethnic
background while its suppliers dominate another and we have been trying to do
our part to change that. Remy
Capillus does source its own hair and is willing and able to provide the
products and pricing to the industry to allow more African Americans to own and
operate a successful hair store business that CAN compete with their Asian
owned counterparts. We are here;
all you have to do is ask.
For more information visit
www.remycapillus.com
