Tennille Kopiasz Named CEO of Fekkai and Bastide
LVMH alum Tennille Kopiasz is now chief executive officer of Fekkai and Bastide.
She succeeds founder Frédéric Fekkai in the role, who will maintain his board seat and “work alongside Tennille to reimagine the company’s long-term vision.”
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In her position, Kopiasz will oversee growth and strategy at salon hair care brand Fekkai, and its Provence-inspired sister brand Bastide, which was introduced in 2016. Before joining the company, Kopiasz served as global chief marketing officer at Fresh. Prior to that, she was Dior’s senior vice president, North America marketing.
“Coming from my brand-building background, I couldn’t stop thinking about how [Fekkai] could go to the next level, how it could be revived,” said Kopiasz. “In partnership with Frédéric and the team, I want to go back to the brand’s heritage, to what made Fekkai Fekkai — the high-touch soft sensibility of the salon, the marriage of salon and stylists, all the stylists’ insights — how do we leverage that to take the brand to the next chapter.”
Expanding the brand’s global presence is one means to this end.
“In Q4, we’re going to be expanding throughout Europe and Southeast Asia,” said Kopiasz, adding the brand’s chainwide retail presence at Ulta Beauty is also a “key driver of [the] business.”
This spring, Fekkai entered Southeast Asia with Sephora. Last month, the brand debuted in France at Bleu Libellule’s 200-plus doors and online, and Fekkai products have also entered the travel-retail channel via Dufry, Lagardère Travel Retail and DFS.
“I’m thrilled Tennille has joined the brand; she has an amazing track record in marketing luxury goods in beauty, and that is where I think the brand should be,” said Fekkai, who bought back his namesake company in 2019 after partnering with Cornell Capital to acquire Fekkai Brands, the joint venture created by Designer Parfums and Luxe Brands, which bought the business in 2015.
Fekkai operates two New York salons — one in SoHo and another in the Upper East Side.
“After the pandemic, the world changed for many industries, the salon being one of them. Stylists and technicians began working outside of salons, and so the salon business is no longer the same,” Fekkai said. “That is why I didn’t expand and kept it to two salons, which I’m very happy about — they do very well for us.”
Today, Fekkai’s shampoos and conditioners account for more than half of the business. Kopiasz noted the brand is also seeing momentum in styling stock keeping units such as the Full Blown Volume Dry Texturizing Spray and its Root Lift volume spray.
In terms of personal care brand Bastide, which was unveiled by Fekkai and his wife Shirin von Wulffen in 2016, eau de parfums account for more than 30 percent of sales; bath and body products comprise more than 50 percent.
“Bastide is a little jewel; it’s a brand that has a heart, it has a soul — we’re continuing to grow that business to a much bigger business over time,” Kopiasz said.
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