Beauty Industry Group

In 2022 Beauty Industry Group gave away more than 102 pounds of human hair, which it valued at nearly $100,000. The hair went to Matter of Trust, a charity that turns donated hair into mats for cleaning up oil spills and polluted water. The Salt Lake City company sells hair in packs labeled by the gram, so that was a generous day at the scale.

The oldest name in the group is Donna Bella. Its founder wrote in a letter on the brand's old About page that he started the company in 2003, after his wife's experience with extensions showed him how much could be done better. By 2008 Donna Bella's press releases carried a Park City dateline and named Derrick Porter as president. In 2013 its website listed an address on West 800 South in Salt Lake City.

Beauty Industry Group says it was established in 2004, and Porter went on to run it as chief executive. Its 2021 investment announcement counted 13 brands, among them Halocouture, Donna Bella, Beauty Works, Hairtalk and Luxy, sold to stylists and straight to consumers in 165 countries. Several of those brands came by acquisition. In 2018 BIG bought Hidden Crown, a ready-to-wear brand that kept operating from Tucson, and in 2022 it added Bellami, whose privacy policy still gives a mailing address in Chatsworth, California.

Hair is the rare raw material that has to be grown on somebody else's head, so BIG buys it. Its 2024 supply chain report says most of its extensions come from Tier 1 suppliers in Asia, which buy raw hair from subcontractors and turn it into finished extensions. Many members of its quality team live near those suppliers and inspect them often. Donna Bella says its hair comes from donors in China, India, Myanmar, Vietnam and Mongolia.

The brand also says it keeps each strand's cuticle intact, the scaly outer layer that, by its account, many other brands strip and glaze over. Its coloring is slow on purpose and can take up to 45 days. A 16 inch pack of its Signature Tape-Ins weighs 22 grams and costs $130.

The money behind it is from out of state. L Catterton, a private equity firm, agreed in 2021 to take a majority stake, with HGGC and the management team keeping a significant minority share. Robert Schaeffler succeeded Porter as chief executive in 2024. The company still names Salt Lake City as its global headquarters, and Donna Bella's returns go to a suite on Flyer Way there. Most of the corporate jobs BIG was advertising in October 2026 were based at a Los Angeles hub. The Salt Lake City opening was in the warehouse.

In 2019 BIG partnered with a cosmetology institution on a hair extension curriculum, to fill what it calls a historical gap in standard cosmetology training. Its brands now run certification courses online and in person. Most of the hair the company buys ends up on someone's head. The 102 pounds it gave away went to work on polluted water instead.