Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Kline.
Charles, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Working for myself, being an entrepreneur was a lifelong dream for me. After college, I immediately started a marketing firm with a friend of mine (Matrix Publishing Group) with a focus on the Automotive and Real estate industry, designing direct mail campaigns. It was boring, boring, boring! I loved the idea of working for myself but didn’t love what I was doing. I also realized that one day it would die out due to the direction of technology. We sold our firm in 2007 and I went to work as the President of Cortex International based in Midtown Atlanta, GA. Cortex was a very small company when I started, $800,000 a year in sales and they, at the time, only made Flat Irons and curling wands. I had ZERO interest and ZERO knowledge about the industry but I loved the idea of making things from start to finish. Creating the packaging, campaigns, designing the tools… it was fascinating! I ended up creating 4 successful brands at Cortex and after 5 years of hard work I left but the company was now a $16,000,000 a year enterprise!
I didn’t want to make someone rich the rest of my life and I really wanted to make products that people were PROUD to have in their homes. I used my knowledge and efficacy of hair and beauty I learned over the 5 years at Cortex to create my own line of products. Theorie, Sedu, Solia, AbsoluteHeat, Beautylabs, Nth Degree, to name a few. We specialize in styling tools and styling products that actually work. There are so much hype and exaggeration about what products can do for your hair and we didn’t want to be a part of it. We wanted to design products that did EXACTLY what we said they would and never over promise. We also create each fragrance that is used in each product one by one so that it’s unique, special, something that someone might as you pass by “what is that beautiful fragrance you have on”? We are now a $12,000,000 a year company with only 20 employees but growing very quickly as of this year. We are now sold worldwide in stores like Neiman Marcus, Ulta, Sephoria, as well as, many salons and spas.
With such a small staff we all wear many hats here and stay very busy but we like it like that! We are pretty much family at out office and it’s super fun to come to work on the 27th floor of One Atlanta Center. We are about to launch a skin care line in November and our home fragrance line will launch in August to compliment our shampoos/body washes.
Feel free to check us out at sedubeauty.com, www.yourtheorie.com Absoluteheatbrands.com. nthdegreehair.com, would love to talk to you more about us on the phone, I am terrible at writing, especially about myself. 🙂 Instagram is charleskline.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s never a smooth road! If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? Employee’s who have embezzled (one for $26,000), lawsuits that were complete fraud but fortunately easily disproven… getting financed! It took a lot of money to start this company and luckily, I met the right people at the right time. I was able to secure over 4 million dollars in funding within 3 months after I distributed my business plan. On top of that, we had intellectual property right issues (Absolut Vodka sued me for my brand AbsoluteHeat which makes curling irons but they finally settled)… It’s been crazy.
Please tell us about HauteHouse.
I am most proud of our brand Theorie because it’s what I really intended to create when I started hauteHouse. I wanted excellent products, beautifully packaged that were in the reach of most people and did exactly what they said they would do. Our fragrances are intoxicating as well so people are always asking us to make a perfume or room spray which, like I mentioned before, we are doing a candle line of a few of our best selling fragrances in. They are being produced here in Georgia just like our fragrances are.
What really makes us different than most companies is that our products actually work. We don’t hire online bloggers, actors or influencers to try and convince you, our products are shared virally because people are proud of their “find”. This is a very saturated market and really the only way a small company like mine can grow the way it has is to have superior products and beautiful packaging. The reality though with hair care products is packaging, smell, performance…. in that order. That’s what really get people to buy unknown brands. Fortunately we are know for hitting all three considerations but in no specific order. We just rock 🙂
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I would have to say looking back that what pops up the most daily or weekly is that I was working from the time I was 13 years old. I worked for a jewelry company in their warehouse during the week and on the weekends I laid tile with a guy who owned a tile/marble company. I know, doesn’t sound fun but I loved staying busy and I LOVED making money. I learned a lot really quickly and I still think about how much that has shaped my life/personality. I always looked up to the people that hired me, one for being so young and two being so patient. I am not that patient myself. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 1201 west PeachTree Street, #2710 Atlanta GA 30309
- Website: www.yourtheorie.com
- Phone: 4046950439
- Email: charles@yourtheorie.com
- Instagram: yourtheorie
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourTheorie/
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