'We wanted to build a brand that was based on a collective perspective': R+Co president Dan Langer on growing a luxury haircare brand

R+Co has established itself as one of the premier players in salon haircare -- and over the years it's been slowly expanding. At the same time, the brand takes great pains to stay true to its roots -- and won't be straying far from its salon partners. For example, the brand, which is owned by Luxury Brand Partners, recently launched a hair color line. According to R+Co president Dan Langer, this latest foray was due to feedback from its community of hair stylists and professionals. "We want to build [the color business] out with the same philosophy of our heritage line, R+Co, which was involving a collective so that every shade of the line could be best in class," Langer said. "We're always in dialogue and conversations with different hairdressers, mainly because they're our friends -- and they're part of our own communities." Langer joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about the brand's journey. It first began 10 years ago; "we wanted to build a brand that was based on a collective perspective," Langer said. So he brought together a group of experts -- the top haircare professionals in the industry -- to form the original line. From there, R+Co has grown mainly via its salon business. That remains the company's primary business model. But over the years, R+Co has expanded into new areas. Beyond the new color brand, it launched a premium haircare line focused on sustainability called R+Co Bleu. Langer described it as the company's "couture collection… really focused on sustainability, performance, and design." With all of these new sub-brands, however, Langer said the core remains the same. R+Co uses its collective of experts to make sure the products are quality -- and then taps them and their networks to get the word out. At the end of the day, it's the salons that remain the biggest evangelists for a brand like R+Co. That business-to-business channel, Langer said, "is a huge part of our marketing."