Hey Reader,
Will 2025 will be the year of the collab?
Last week there were 2 big headlines that may foreshadow a trend on the horizon. Today we'll cover the 2 big announcements along with something to keep an eye on.
BabylissPro x Tomb45 Collab
The world now knows about the collab that has been years in the making. 2 industry giants have joined forces and will be revealing the new products (likely a clipper, trimmer and blowdryer collection) on January 21st.
This is more than tools – it’s innovation for barbers, by barbers. A collab built to elevate the barber game like never before.
Whether you use their tools or benefit from their education, Babyliss and Tomb45 have an undeniable portfolio of innovation. Amongst other product releases, Tomb45 was the first to release a wireless charging ecosystem that sparked a charging revolution across the industry.
Babyliss' Skeleton FX was the first trimmer with an exposed blade that has since become the standard trimmer design.
*(For the record, barbers had been modifying Andis T outliners for years in a similar way, but Babyliss was the first to release an out of the box design to the market).
When writing about barber trends in 2024 and my predictions for 2025, I had a feeling Babyliss was working on something big.
Every company has a product roadmap. What is the next product drop? Based on the releases this year, it feels like something big could be coming. Typically, Babyliss has been the company that shakes things with up with a new product unlike anything else on the market. They felt rather quiet this year, only releasing the blowdryer and new colorways. That could mean they have found their holy grail of tools, or it could mean something big is on the horizon.
But I'll be honest, the Babyliss collab with Tomb45 was not on my 2025 bingo card.
If this collab was years in the making, are there other industry collabs we don't know about? Maybe. There was another announcement last week.
Vagaro Acquires Schedulicity
Schedulicity has officially joined the Vagaro umbrella, bringing together two passionate teams dedicated to making life easier for beauty and wellness professionals.
Over the last 10 years, a good majority of barbers manage their appointments with online booking. This past week, Vagaro announced the acquisition of Schedulicity. The last time we saw a big move like this was in 2021 when Booksy acquired Genbook. Remember that?
These acquisitions represent consolidation of the market. In an effort to grow revenue, instead of trying to acquire brand new customers they could explore buying another company and then inheriting their customers. Companies acquire companies all the time and it's happened now for the second time in 4 years.
Read the full press release here.
Future Collabs or Consolidations?
Are these 2 big announcements pointing towards a future trend? Might we see more industry giants come together to innovate like Tomb45 and BabylissPro? Might we see more companies buying their competitors?
It could come in the form of a clipper company collab with another barber brand. Consolidation could be booking apps buying another booking app or it could be a barbershop buying another barbershop. You know how I feel about that topic.
Whatever is on the horizon, there's truly never a dull moment in our industry. Like this Hevie vs The Barber Plug beef. I thought they were gonna throw hands.
Alright, finished with No.83. See you next week!
P.S. If you're new here, you can read all of the past newsletters here.
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Written by: Matthew Mendoza
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