GHD

Three British hair stylists and an engineer bought the rights to a Korean ceramic hair straight in a design in 2001, rebranded it and built the first mass prestige hair tool company. Cody acquired the brand in 2016 for over £420 million. Robert Powell's Martin Penny and Gary Douglas were three hair industry veterans working in Yorkshire when they spotted a Korean ceramic plate styling iron at a beauty trade show in 2001. They paid a modest fee for the European rights, refined the design with an engineer and launched Good Hair Day, trade name GHD, later that year. The original styling iron retailed at around £100, two to three times the price of conventional styling irons and was distributed exclusively through professional hair salons during its first years on market.