Member Event with Robert Powls, Cloud Nine

Chairman and owner of Cloud Nine and co-founder of hair-styling phenomenon GHD, Robert Powls has enjoyed a career that has taken him around the world and kept hair straighteners at the top of every girl and stylists wish list.

The first to admit that he got into hair for all the wrong reasons, Robert worked for Vidal Sassoon in London before opening his first salon in 1974. His success soon featured in Vogue, which preceded an expansion across his home county of Yorkshire and the addition of fashion retail to his stores after meeting Paul Smith, who was then trading from a mill in Nottingham.

Constantly innovating, Robert continues to push the boundaries and by tracking international trends he noticed a gap in the market for a successful straightening brand. That brand became GHD, who Robert guided to impressive sales before selling his own shares in 2008, just before the first of two company buy-outs.

Having operated in the industry for 50 years, Robert began work on an independent project after spotting a changing trend in the hair industry. Partnering with engineers in the UK, he set out to revolutionise the hair industry again and, after three years of prototypes and false starts, ‘The O’ was born.

Awards soon followed and with his family helping with the day-to-day management of the new venture, Cloud Nine has grown exponentially to a brand that is already firmly established throughout the UK and around the world.

EXPLORE - how Robert has revolutionised a global industry, changing the way people style their hair, twice!

LEARN - how Robert built GHD into a caché brand that was able to take on global giants like Babyliss.

GAIN - an insight into Cloud Nine’s plans for further global expansion.