Harry’s Razor brand seeks to build a consumer goods empire

Six years ago, the upstart razor company Harry’s looked set for the next growth stage: being sold to Edgewell, the parent company of the Schick and Wilkinson Sword brands, for $1.37 billion.

That deal was eventually blocked on antitrust grounds, leaving the company’s fate unclear. Now Harry’s is laying out new plans for the future.

The company announced Wednesday that it was rebranding as Mammoth Brands, a personal grooming conglomerate, as it sets its sights on deal-making – and, potentially, an initial public offering.

What began as a single line, men’s razors, is now a collection of shaving and moisturizing products, deodorants and more. The company’s founders, Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider, claim to have created one of the fastest-growing businesses in their category. It reported $835 million in revenue and nearly $100 million in pretax earnings last year, and sales growth of more than 20% over the past five years.

To Katz-Mayfield, the idea was to reimagine how to build a modern-day consumer packaged goods giant. “Humbly, we think it would look a lot like what we’re doing at Mammoth Brands now,” he said.

To be sure, Mammoth (named after Harry’s woolly mammoth mascot) remains a minnow compared with its more established rivals. Procter & Gamble, the owner of Gillette, reported $84 billion in sales last year. Edgewell, its former suitor, recorded $2.2 billion in revenue.

But Raider and Katz-Mayfield, who founded Mammoth in 2013, say they have already made great strides. Harry’s has become the second-biggest brand in the $2.8 billion U.S. men’s shaving market, according to Euromonitor, behind Gillette but ahead of both Edgewell’s brands and Dollar Shave Club, the once-booming startup. Harry’s sister brand, Flamingo, is the fourth largest in the women’s razors and blades segment, according to Euromonitor.

That success, Katz-Mayfield and Raider said, arose out of both an ability to sell products directly to consumers via the internet and striking partnerships with major retailers such as Target and Walmart.

The so-called omnichannel approach had its benefits: Selling online allowed the company to scale quickly and figure out what features customers wanted. Selling in physical stores gave consumers another convenient way to buy.

The two founders realized that it was a model they could apply again and again. “All we want to do is continue to build or buy more brands,” Raider said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.