It has been 35 years since Framar started in the spare room of a small home in Niagara Falls, Canada, but thanks to its creative/innovative products and services, this company is ready to take on the world! Founded by Frank and Maria, (FRA-MAR) comprising each of their names, the couple has seen through every big change and has continually focused on expanding their business.
Currently, Framar has a team of 20 working at developing, producing, and creating products that stylists have come to know and love. When asked about their international business strategy, they stated, "Our headquarters is in Niagara Falls, Canada. We then have one distribution center rolling in Holland with the plan of opening one in Asia and eventually one in Central/South America. This will allow us to service all of our customers with ease".
To enter the professional hairdressing landscape, the knowledge and know-how can be quite challenging, however, the main reason the couple decided to start with products in this space is that Frank was a well-known stylist who had the concepts needed to get this off the ground. "Frank has been doing hair since the 1970s. While upgrading his studies and education in hairstyling/hair coloring, he learned a new technique in Europe using foils to highlight hair. He brought this concept to Canada as he saw there was a need for foils. The system just worked better." Maria stated.
The Framar owners added, "Maria spent her time cutting up grocery foils in specific sizes for the salon, which was time-consuming and would constantly give her foil cuts on her hands. However, we saw a business opportunity here to produce and sell pre-cut foil sheets to the salon industry. After getting the foils manufactured, we went door to door promoting and educating the benefits of using foils as opposed to highlighting caps. This is where it all started."
It is very important to stay connected to your customers as it helps in understanding their demands and needs. It's an industry where change is bound to happen. About dealing with changes and customer equations. Maria stated, "We treat our customers like friends and keep our finger on the pulse through them. We also hire young-minded, talented people that understand the trends and the complexity of the speed things change. They're in touch with everything social. We keep close ties to hairstylist Facebook groups, forums, and communities so that we know before we launch a product if it has the potential of being a hit."
