Evo Hair is challenging the status quo. They’re transforming the industry with an honest, high-performing product line and an innovative approach to marketing and brand transparency. This is their story.
What is the brand background; how and why was the company founded? The Gauvin family have a strong hairdressing and beauty distribution heritage and passion for the industry. Jan Gauvin is the hairdresser and together with husband Geoff Gauvin, they owned and operated hair salons in the 60s and 70s. As successful business people, they were offered their first professional product agency which was the beginning of Haircare Australia and is now the largest independent distributor for Australia and New Zealand. As a family business, all three sons (Brad, Garth and Ward) were drawn to the business. Evo is the brain child of Garth, and he drives the brand as marketing director.
The original Evo range emulated all the other products on the market until Garth worked with and learnt from an incredible hairdresser/trichologist and they built certified organic brands together in Australia. Garth quickly became frustrated with traditional hair product marketing messages and the willingness of people to accept them. He ‘unplugged from the matrix’ and after this experience knew that he wanted to change the industry and make the best performing yet honest product range that made people think about the marketing gimmicks used to sell to them. Luckily during this period, they were surrounded with the right people (family, team, designers and hairdressers) and Evo was born.
You market yourself as a brand that tells the truth; why is this important in an industry which, as you say, is often “truth-stretching”? How do you work to maintain an honest company? Evo is a product of young, frustrated creatives wanting to challenge the status quo to create change. The concept was to create a unique product range and not go down the well-worn marketing path. To simply be honest. The evo mission is to challenge the status quo and change the hairdressing industry.
We want to make evo the salon brand of choice by delivering innovative, exceptional quality products and empowering people to make informed choices by educating them, inspiring them to think and uncover the truth – hence our tagline evo saving ordinary humans from themselves™.
In the beginning, we were hoping to offer something different—get people thinking about the over-marketed ingredients; imaginary technology, myths, and gimmicks. We make evo for people who share our idea—seeking the truth, beauty, and justice. Innovators who ‘think different.’ A new class of influencers, independent thinkers, and doers that are not afraid to stand out and embrace authenticity.
What are your company ideals; and why does this make for a superior product? Evo was created to inspire and connect with hairdressers globally. It wasn’t built to be the biggest or make the most. It was developed to lead and ultimately change the industry. This means we didn’t really care about limiting our potential clientele, which is why evo is unique.
The basic philosophy behind the brand is to always do things differently to the others and challenge the status quo (innovate), to tell the truth, and fight for what’s right for the common good (have integrity), to make things easier to understand (simplify) and to be serious about our profession without taking ourselves too seriously (be playful).
When choosing products to make, we ask ourselves some basic questions to ensure we are on brand. We must be innovative and do things differently. We must be best in class, we must give value and we can’t follow trends.
What are the various EVO brands? How do they differ from one another? Evo brands comprise evo™, evo™ fabuloso, and evo™ fabuloso pro.
evo™ incorporates hair, face, body and tools. evo™/hair products are luxurious formulations made from the finest globally-sourced ingredients. They are divided into 6 product families (hydrate, repair, volume, curl, smooth and style), catering for different hair needs and distinguished by colour-coded packaging. evo™/face products provides gimmick-free formulas without harsh surfactants, preservatives and fillers, and no unnecessary, over-marketed ingredients put there only to make claims on labels. evo™/body products were created in line with the evo mission to make innovative, gimmick free products that are honest and give great results. They are easy-to-use, bollox-free, effective skin care systems. evo™/tools are professional tools designed to complement evo products.
evo™ fabuloso colour enhancing conditioners provide an instant hair colour boost combined with a nourishing treatment effect. It keeps colour fresh and hair healthy. Available in 7 different shades and is ideal to use between salon visits to revive and brighten coloured hair in only 3 minutes. evo fabuloso allows hairdressers to maintain their clients’ hair colour in between salon visits – a necessary extra for salons.
evo™ fabuloso pro is an in-salon ‘colour refresh and maintenance system’ for reviving and maintaining clients’ hair colour in between colour services and allows colourists to create unlimited permanent, demi and semi-permanent colours by mixing the eight colour intensifiers together to refresh, fill, tone/pastelise, accent and enhance colour. The value-add for businesses and for clients’ wanting to maintain hair colour in between salon visits is a tailored retail product. By mixing the colour intensifiers and back bar conditioner bases to the retail conditioner bases colourists can create customised colour maintenance conditioners.
Where and how are the products stocked and sourced? Evo – found wherever good hairdressers are stocked. Evo brands are salon professional or can be found here.
What is the all-time bestseller, and why?
An all-time favorite of evo devotees is:
evo™ salty dog
A sea-esque mist for all hair types designed to give hair instant salty, beach-based full texture and a matte finish for a fresh from the beach malleability. The spray pump allows for easy, even application into damp or dry hair for a natural, wind-blown creation.
A favorite for blonds is:
evo™ fabuloso PLATINUM BLONDE – COLOUR INTENSIFYING CONDITIONER
It is a colour intensifying conditioner that provides an instant hair colour boost, combined with a nourishing treatment to condition, repair, add shine, instantly tone and intensify hair colour… all within just 3 minutes!
Devotees love it because it transforms their dull, dry, colour-treated blonde to very light blonde hair to achieve a clean blonde tone (remove yellow tone). It is an instant colour boost and a nourishing treatment in one that is ammonia and peroxide free so it is gentle on the hair and scalp while softening, nourishing and detangling without weighing hair down. The smoothing / anti-static effect polishes the cuticle to reduce frizz and give brilliant shine.
What makes people fall in love with EVO products? Along the way we have found that everyone has a sense of humour (well almost everyone) and people from all walks of life relate to the personality of our products. As long as we stay true to our brand values we will speak to people, have die-hard brand advocates, loyal customers and have few competitors that can replicate what we do.
To learn more, visit Evo Hair.
