Los Angeles (March 26, 2015) LA’s Totally Awesome has announced that it will acquire Vibrance, the popular 90s brand of hair care products, from Unilever/Helene Curtis. With a resurgent interest in 1990s style fueled by Millennials, LA’s Totally Awesome is excited about this addition to their product line.
LA’s Totally Awesome is owned by LD Hardas, who immigrated to the United States from India in 1983 to obtain a Master’s Degree in chemical engineering. In 1986, he launched his dream of manufacturing affordable household and beauty products. His business quickly grew from 600 square feet to a global enterprise of more than 6 million square feet. The company employs over 650 people and manufactures more than 16 million pounds of product to fill 4 million units each day at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arkansas, Florida and California. The acquisition of this product line adds 100 new jobs to existing plants as well as new plants in Pasadena, Texas, Plant City, Florida and Bloomberg PA. The company currently manufactures everything from dish detergent to carpet cleaner to stain remover to multiple types of surface cleaner. This addition will increase the company’s current SKUs from 180 to 200. LA’s Totally Awesome is sold in over 30,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Helene Curtis was established in 1927, and sold primarily facial mudpacks until the 1930s, when it began manufacturing Lanolin Creme Shampoo. In 1937 the company began manufacturing Suave shampoo, which would become one of the company’s most popular brands. The company continued to grow, manufacturing products as varied as deodorant to skin creams, until 1996 when Helene Curtis was acquired by Unilever for $770 million. In 1998, they introduced ThermaSilk under the Vibrance brand, a hair care line designed to work with heat from blow driers and curling irons to make hair healthier. This heat-activated technology was wildly popular, and the projected sales of the brand of $120 million were exceeded.
The strategic addition of this hair care line to LA’s Totally Awesome family of products is anticipated to be a great success. Vibrance was a very established brand of Helene Curtis until 1993. “People trust our brands. We will be able to supply the same premium quality under this brand to all of our customers that shop at the 30,000 retail stores that currently carry our quality products. This will help our customers to do one stop shopping for all their health and beauty aids as well as household cleaning products.” Hardas said.
