Harry’s Razor Brand aims to grow a consumer goods empire
Harry’s is now laying out new plans for the future. Now Harry’s is laying out new plans for the future.
The company plans to announce on Wednesday that it is 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 razor, is now a collection of shaving and moisturizing products, deodorants and more. The founders of the company, Andy Katz Mayfield and Jeff Raider claim to have built one of fastest-growing companies in their industry. Katz-Mayfield’s idea was to reimagine the way to build a modern consumer packaged goods giant. “Humblely, we believe it would look like what we’re currently doing at Mammoth Brands,” he said. Procter & Gamble reported $84 billion of sales last year. Edgewell, the former suitor of Gillette, reported $2.2 billion in revenue.
But, Mr. Raider and Katz-Mayfield who founded Mammoth, in 2013, claim that they’ve already made great progress. Euromonitor reports that Harry’s is now the second-largest brand in the $2.8billion U.S. men’s shave market, behind Gillette, but ahead of Dollar Shave Club and Edgewell’s brands. Harry’s sister brand, Flamingo, is the fourth-largest in the women’s razors and blades segment, according to Euromonitor.
That success, Mr. Katz-Mayfield and Mr. Raider said that the ability to sell directly to consumers over the internet, as well as forming partnerships with major retailers like Target and Walmart, was the reason for the success. Selling in physical shops gave consumers an additional convenient way to purchase. “All we are interested in is building or buying more brands,” said Mr. Raider said.
(Not all direct-to consumer darlings have done as well. Unilever, who bought Dollar Shave Club in 2016 for $1 billion, sold a majority stake seven years later. Walmart sold Bonobos in 2023, for a fraction the $310 million that it paid. After the Edgewell deal collapsed, Walmart entered a new category in 2021 when it bought Lume, a female deodorant manufacturer that made a full-body product. The Harry’s team provided Lume with lessons learned, resources and staff for expansion, while giving the deodorant startup freedom to make their own decisions, said Mr. Raider said.
Mr. Raider and Mr. Katz Mayfield created Mando as a line of deodorants for men to complement Lume. The approach has worked for Mr. Raider said that Mammoth loves the idea of an ecosystem where founders are building brands. Raider said.
Deals are part of Mammoth’s history: Less than a year into the company’s creation, it bought a German razor-blade factory for more than $100 million, making the business a notable shaving products manufacturer.
But for several years now, the future of Mammoth revolved around its next big deal. In 2019, it looked like a deal with Edgewell that would have put Mr. Raider and Mr. Katz-Mayfield in charge of the conglomerate’s U.S. operations.
That plan was eventually blocked by antitrust officials, who believed it would unfairly consolidate the razor market.
Mammoth has already filed confidentially to go public, according to people briefed on the matter. Mr. Katz-Mayfield acknowledged that an initial public offering was a possibility.
“I think someday that’s the most likely outcome,” he said. “But we are not in a hurry.” He added that Mammoth Brands was profitable and able to finance its growth. Its last fund-raising, which was held in 2021, valued Mammoth Brands $1.7 billion and was intended to help finance the Lume purchase. The stock market volatility following President Trump’s new tariffs makes it unlikely that the company will go public in the near future. Other companies, such as consumer lender Klarna have delayed their plans to list. Katz-Mayfield said that even though Mammoth Brands was dependent on a global supply chain, including its German factory, he did not anticipate a major impact to the company’s business due to trade tensions. “We sell staples,” said he. “The good thing is that people buy this stuff in good times and bad days.”
