Sophia Wojczak, granddaughter of Conair founder Leandro Rizzuto Sr. and former director of new products at the company, has launched professional hair tools brand Arachne with a team of fellow Conair alums.
Specifically, the brand focused on elevating everyday essentials is staffed by eight former Conair employees, including April Molina handling brand and influencer partnerships, Liliya Yaremchek in creative design, Jennifer Fiore in innovation and development, Jennifer Burke leading product management, Melissa Henry tackling operations and product and Kelly Yamasato in editorial, with a history taking a hair products business to scale that they’re drawing upon to jumpstart the new venture. With global ambitions out of the gate, Arachne is sticking to the professional salon channel early on, but retail expansion could be in its future.
“We know how to get there. We’ve done it,” says Wojczak. “There really is no limit. We filed the trademark for…the brand name in 14 different countries out of the gate, not really traditional business maneuvers for a first-year company.” She adds the caveat, “We want to grow slowly this first year. It’s going to be finding the perfect professional spaces without biting off too much that we’re not able to really support our customers the way that we intend to.”
Arachne’s assortment encompasses 32 stockkeeping units priced at $50 and under across hairbrushes and accessories. Scalpology hairbrushes designed to promote scalp health by removing excess oil buildup through patent-pending charcoal bristles are early standouts in the line. Another is L’Uovo, a reusable silicone egg-shaped case housing 36 accessories such as mini claw clips, hair ties, snap clips and bobby pins. Customers can assemble their own accessory cases and purchase refills. Next year, hot styling tools are slated to join the assortment.
“We really do believe in simple yet effective solutions,” says Wojczak. “These are the foundational pieces to any haircare process.”
To develop its network of professional clients, Arachne has tapped Andre Chiavellis Consulting, a salon growth firm that services Schwarzkopf, Essie, Wella, Joico and OPI. Later this year, the brand will introduce a professional portal on its website where hairstylists will be able to buy products at wholesale prices. It’s been seeding products to stylists and haircare influencers to gather buzz online. Wojczak previewed Arachne to select salon professionals at an invite-only event during the Cosmoprof Bologna show in March to start building brand awareness.
Arachne’s brand name refers to the classical Greek tale where the goddess Minerva transformed a mortal woman named Arachne into a spider after she created a more flawless tapestry than hers during a weaving contest. The brand’s tagline, “tools to transform,” is also a nod to the tale. “People leave the salon, and they’re an entirely new version of themselves. It is just this incredibly transformative and restorative experience,” says Wojczak. “It is bigger and deeper than hair.”
Arachne isn’t Wojczak’s first rodeo at steering a brand. She founded hair tools brand Leandro Limited under the Conair umbrella in 2019, when it was projected to generate $1 million in retail sales, according to the publication Women’s Wear Daily. It was discontinued in 2022. Leandro Limited honored Wojczak’s grandfather, who passed away in 2017, and the core principle that guided his product philosophy, delivering great products at value-driven prices. Its assortment was priced from $10 to $50 and featured hairbrushes, combs, metal and silicone-coated clips, polybands, bobby pins, jaw clips, rollers and an adjustable hair parting tool.
Wojczak initially joined Conair in 2016 when her grandfather owned just under 100% of the company and its revenues clocked in at over $2 billion a year. As director of new products at Conair, she helped it rack up 42 patents for hair tools. She resigned from the company in May 2023 about two years after it was purchased by private equity firm American Securities for an undisclosed sum and started working on Arachne. While members of the Rizzuto family still own equity in the company, Wojczak doesn’t.
Wojczak describes her exit from Conair, which Rizzuto founded in Brooklyn in 1959, as cathartic. She says, “It’s a very empowering experience, like you…are setting yourself up and putting yourself in the position to open the next door to start the next chapter.”
Arachne doesn’t aspire to reach a big exit anytime soon, and it’s been completely bootstrapped so far. “Are we bringing something to market that’s actually going to improve or impact your life in a positive way? This is someone’s money they’ve worked hard for,” says Wojczak. “We need to be sure that our products do everything that they say that they do.”
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