Till a few years ago, men’s grooming was essentially limited to shaving. But now men are taking better care of themselves and the market has expanded to include products in facial and beard grooming like facewash, beard oil and butter. Innovative startups have started ruling men’s grooming market, offering comprehensive line of products at friendly rates.
Zlade, a one-stop shaving and grooming brand, focuses on providing ‘quality shaving razors and blades at honest prices’. The brainchild of Suraj Chaudhari, Mihir Vaidya, and Harish Amritkar, Zlade was founded in a bid to make premium quality razors and blades affordable and accessible to the common Indian man.
Centred in Pune, Zlade originated from personal experiences that highlighted the universally perturbing issue of overpriced razors and blades for men. At a much deeper level, it also aims to attack the archaic notions of grooming and beauty being treated as emasculating acts or glorifying unkemptness as masculinity.
Talking to Chaudhari, we find out how technology is reshaping this industry. “Gone are the days when the only products a man had were a razor, a shaving cream and a shaving brush! Growing up, Indian men used whatever products were available lying around, a cream, a talc and a coconut hair oil which was present in almost all Indian households,” says the co-founder.
However, this is being disrupted because the modern Indian man wants to not just look good but also feel good and confident. This has fuelled their curiosity to try out more and more products in the market, which in turn has given a rise to an explosive growth in the grooming category. “There has always been a demand but now there is also an awareness and all the credit goes to the new and upcoming brands catering to all these men who want to explore new things,” says Chaudhari.
He further adds that technology is now playing a huge part in the grooming sector as almost all brands in the personal care segment are digital first brands. “Online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart have made it possible to test and launch new products fast and get instant feedback from customers which makes it easy to assess the demands and expectations from a particular product. There has been a rise in demand for electric trimmers and shavers; moreover, with products readily available online, people are spoilt for choice,” says Chaudhari.
There are hundreds of products available in the market today for men, as against a handful of products available 5-10 years ago. Fuelling this immense growth are the brands of today which cater to men. “You can get products for every concern and every purpose like face care, hair care, body care, intimate hygiene etc and products range from hair gels/pomades, face moisturisers, cleansers, beard oils and beard waxes, body washes to intimate washes for men. A lot of the new brands offer sustainable and environment-friendly products, which is happening because there are a lot of startups that have mushroomed in the last few years which have identified that people are opting for clean and green products,” he adds.
Talking about the trends in the grooming industry, Chaudhari says that there definitely will be a lot of new product development and improvement in the existing products because of demand from users. “E-Commerce and DTC (Direct to consumer) will pave the way for personalisation where one could get products specially designed as per one’s needs and get them delivered at home, everybody is fond of a product that is specially designed for them,” he says.
The co-founder adds that new-age brands may also look at a new kind of retail store, where the consumer can also get a unique experience by getting niche grooming services in addition to be able to just shop products. Such trends will multiply the phenomenal emergence of the global male grooming market.
