Darmstadt, the city where Hans Erich Dotter founded Goldwell in 1948, is Kao´s biggest site in the EMEA region. Today, it is the home of the global Kao Salon Division with its brands Goldwell, KMS, Oribe and Varis, the Salon DACH hub with the Salon Team Germany and the Rhein-Main Academy, one of the biggest training centers for Kao Salon Division’s stylist customers.

Next to the Salon Business, Darmstadt is home to Kao’s German, Swiss and Austrian Consumer Division, distributing iconic brands like John Frieda, Guhl, Bioré, and MegRhythm.

In addition, Darmstadt is also the hub for several regional teams and functions such as the Export team, the EMEA HCD, Communications, Legal as well as Supply Chain teams.

The Europe Research Laboratories are one of the company´s 15 global R&D centers. 150 researchers are specialized on hair care products and develop innovations mainly for the Salon Division.

Located within walking distance of the main office campus is Kao Manufacturing Germany GmbH. This highly specialized site produces nearly 5000 different SKUs and more than 130 million products a year that are delivered to customers around the world.

With two further academies in Berlin and Düsseldorf, the Kao Salon Division is also present outside the Darmstadt area.