Founder of successful hair salon Fowler35, i met with sought after Most Wanted Male Grooming Specialist 2019 Darren Fowler, as he tells me about his views on the sustainability of the fashion industry and his upcoming year.
One of the most successful men in hair, Darren Fowler is a very busy man. As I waited in his Fitztrovia salon it was clear that there was no lack of high end treatment. I sat waiting on the settee, my coat was collected and I was given in return a cloak room tab with a number on it and offered an assortment of drinks. It was clear that this is not just a salon, but a whole experience.
I wanted to get to know Darren. A man still young and so successful, but how did he get there:
‘I was never actually very artistic at school, i was always kind of more maths/science you know, that side of my brain.I had a friend who was actually a barber and i thought it might be a good idea for some reason to do hair. I was always kind of pushed more into, i don’t know what the normal route is because i didn’t want to go to uni, but it was suggested to me that i go into banking.
So I went and worked as an FX dealer/ trainee for about a year. During that time i realised that if i did that job for the rest of my life i would probably kill myself, so i tried it, earnt some money, and then decided that hairdressing was for me.
I remember saying to my parents i was never going to be just a hairdresser’
The question then was how did a man who just decided that going into hairdressing might be a good idea end up opening his own salon in central london.
‘Well, I guess when I got into it, I always knew I was going to have a salon in London.
When I first started I was more management side i would say. I was always involved with stock ordering and stuff like that but i started studying NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). It taught me how to use the creative side of my brain so i started doing a lot more creative stuff, but i still knew that i wanted to open this salon’
One of the things I found most interesting about Darren Fowler is the Fowler35 Academy. The academy is a school set up to help aspiring hairdressers.
‘The hair academy is about contribution. Being able to contribute to people all around the world, and those people who can’t necessarily come and spend time with us physically, they can actually sign up to that and we can give them a little bit of inspiration and aspiration no matter wherever they are in the world. They can get a feeling of creating characters which is what we do’
When he started the academy, it was clear that Darren had a vision for it.
‘Eventually I would really love for it to make enough money where actually it could contribute in a way that I would pay artists and some of my people to actually go and educate for free people who can’t afford education. Our idea really is to do some stuff in the uk but also maybe go do some stuff in India and you know look at some orphanages and things like that. Look at some kids that maybe need a skill and see if we can teach them that skill set. That would be my dream. It’s proving harder than I thought but we’re trying and we will keep trying.’
Ricardo, a stylist at Fowler35 when asked what Darren has taught him said:
“He made me realise a passion i didnt realise i had. Working with Darren has shown me the industry and what it has to offer and i have plans for 5 years time which is great because i have security.”
An upcoming tour is set with the company L’Oréal, where he will travel to America and share his styling tips with creatives.
‘We want to break into the US market a bit more. I can also reach a wider audience, maybe get a better lay of the land and promote the hair academy a bit more in the US.’
But what is actually involved in a tour?
‘Its different things. This tour is mainly education so i will have dates over the US and i’ll be doing everything from ticketed shows, which is where salon owners and creatives will come and pay to see what i have in store for them. I will then go to specific salon groups around the US that have requested that i go and spend some time with them. I’m also going to do a day with some artists from a brand because theres a couple of brands that i am ambassador for globally.
Basically im going to be educating their artists that go out all over the US, i’ll be the international ambassador to go in and teach them some new inspiration and then we’ll have a day of creativity and content creation. So i’m running a content creation day with them which basically looks at the brand and looks what the brand needs to be so that should be a fun day as well. The tours quite varied really.’
The environment is one of the largest topics in the world and is close to many’s heart, but the fashion industry is actually the second largest polluters in the world. Darren has recently re-designed his studio to be more sustainable and helps towards saving the environment.
‘everybody is talking about it but are they actually doing anything about it?
When i re-designed the studio here i used recycled chairs, i used bamboo which is more sustainable. We had somebody in to look at our energy output and see how that works. We now have organic and biodynamic brands in to meet the needs of those clients who want that. I think its about doing whatever that you can. Its about doing a bit. Maybe we cant do everything you know, because its impossible or super expensive, but what we can do is that we can do whatever we can and i think thats the important thing. Look into the amount of waste and recycling, i mean we have a product now that is replacing foil when we do the highlights and things like that.’
With all that behind him, what is coming in the future for Darren Fowler?
‘I’m going to double the size of my team and the studio here and, I mean my word this year is ‘mastering’ so I want to meet every part of my life with the word mastering so every decision I make is ‘will this help me master this part of my life?’ which is for me, interpreted means learning, developing and becoming more successful. I definitely want to expand the academy and look at how we can reach a bigger audience with that. My life goals are to be happy, have peace in my life and also know adventure, because without adventure I feel dead. I always need a little bit of adventure, a little bit of risk. But I would love to get the academy to a point where it could contribute, that would be my ultimate thing.’
When asked to describe Darren in one word, Ricardo used:
‘Passionate.’