Giovanni was the first full range salon inspired hair care brand in natural product stores and today is the #1 selling Hair Care line in the United States Natural Products Industry. But before there was a brand there was a pioneer. Arthur Guidotti, had a vision and a love for all things hair. He began developing his passion as a hairstylist in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. He worked for a time with hairstylist icon Gene Shacove and was good friends with “the father of hair color,” Al Lapin. By the 1960s, Arthur was maturing his talents and decided to open his own salon, called On Sunset. The salon was a bustling site, on the famous Sunset Strip, and a hit with many of the Hollywood celebrities, including Lucille Ball.

With time, Arthur’s hands started to react from the products used in the salons and he tried product after product, in search of a hair care line that would not cause a reaction to his skin. He began to explore the possibility of creating his own full line of professional hair care products.

By 1978 Arthur, and his business partner Peter Stathis, had founded Giovanni. His son, G. James Guidotti, was only eight years old, but would soon become the visionary to take Giovanni to new heights. With only three employees and 12 products, the company was off on a wild ride that became the Giovanni brand.

Growing up in salons and the beauty industry had created an impact on the way James saw and felt about hair care. Before Giovanni, natural hair care was generic and lifeless. James wanted to be the one to inject style into natural products. He wanted to be the “Valentino” of natural hair care. Growing up, Sebastian International, founded by John and Geri Sebastian, was one of his favorite hair care brands, because they were cutting-edge and fashion-forward. He knew this was what was missing in the natural world, but he didn’t know why. His vision was to create his own fashion-forward company to meet the needs of the natural consumer. Innovation was the key to his success; taking the company from a handful of employees to dozens, and to a portfolio of more than 120 products.

Today Giovanni is recognized as a natural-product industry leader, but success was not won over night. The early years were filled with risk and sleepless nights wondering if the return would come through to pay off the huge charges made to credit cards to fund various daily operations and marketing activities. Giovanni was pushing the envelope in the natural world. They used edgy models at trade shows that often times generated a mail room full of complaints and criticism. They were setting up photo shoots when the rest of the industry was relying on stock photography. And they were the only natural hair care company willing to take the risk of developing complex, innovative and patented packaging molds.

But what truly garnered the attention of the Natural Products Industry, was their ability to grow the hair care category. To Giovanni innovation was not only creating a chic alternative but offering the natural consumer a world of sophistication never before seen in the natural channel. Giovanni erased the lines between natural and professional hair care and offered the consumer complete hair care solutions. No longer were the natural retail shelves lined only with blasé shampoo and conditioners: Giovanni brought new life to the category by introducing natural styling aids, hair treatments, hair re-constructors, setting lotions and the like. Consumers could now choose from a plethora of gel, mouse, hair spray, leave-in conditioners, vitamin hair treatments and hair re-constructors to achieve their unique look and style without substituting for unnatural alternatives.

In the end, Giovanni came out on top: James had successfully infused chic into natural. Giovanni had gained a reputation as innovators within the industry, and consumers embraced the fact that “Beauty from the elements is chic on the street.” Giovanni was able to become to the natural industry what Sebastian was to the salon industry, and it would take over a decade for the industry to catch up.

Giovanni is committed to creating only the highest performance formulations, wrapped in aesthetically beautiful packaging and marketed with extraordinary visuals and graphics.

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