AMERICAN CREW® PROMOTES ALL-STAR CHALLENGE WINNERS WITH TRIP TO LONDON

Between 10th – 15th September 2022, American Crew, the number one men’s styling brand in America, set out on a trip to winners of the brand’s annual All Star Challenge: André Luís de Jesus (Brazil), Attila Can (Germany), Ciara the UK to celebrate the Madden (Ireland), Christian Ríos Torres (Spain) and Serena Hussain Hill (UK).

An annual global competition over 20 years in the running, American Crew All-Star Challenge highlights worldclass talent in men’s grooming. Barbers and hair stylists from across the globe are encouraged to showcase their skill and technique by creating their signature looks with American Crew® products to capture the trendsetting, yet timeless, spirit of the brand. Having evolved from a local competition to a global event, the All-Star Challenge has provided countless opportunities and industry inspiration for emerging barbers and groomers alike.

Each year, the brand chooses five Global Champions from 42 participating countries, awarding even more incredible talent and diversity in terms of hair textures, styles and trends. “It’s always incredible to see the level of artisanship get better and better every year. But after a particularly challenging couple of years for the industry, it’s even more special to see how passionate this community remains about their craft,” said David Raccuglia, Founder of American Crew®.

The five Global Champions were flown from their respective home countries to London for a fully branded and immersive experience. The trip included a visit to BarberFest, the annual industry tradeshow that gathers barbers from around the world, followed by the Modern Barber Awards, an event that aims to recognise the best barbers and stylists in the industry. This was, of course, followed by a state-ofthe-art photoshoot with American Crew founder and renowned photographer David Raccuglia.

The photoshoot, held at MC Motors in Dalston, was a part of the winning prize package of the All Star Challenge.

The objective was to give the winners an opportunity to bring their behind-the-chair talent in front of the camera and produce professional, high-quality photographs for their portfolios.

This also gave each champion the chance to experience a real world, best-in-class photoshoot with American Crew’s leading team of professional stylists. “American Crew has always been first and foremost an image-based company for going on 30 years. We were we the first men’s grooming brand to lead with editorial imagery – our strong craft presence is part of our core DNA. No matter how the environment has evolved over the years, especially from the boom of Instagram and other image based social media platforms, we’re still doing the same thing we have been doing for decades,” says Raccuglia. “We have always used imagery to communicate more than any other men’s brand and we will never waiver from this. Shoots like these are very authentic to our brand and our purpose. We want to communicate our brand to our audience through an editorial and photography lens and we continue to be very proud of that.”

“AMERICAN CREW HAS ALWAYS BEEN FIRST AND FOREMOST AN IMAGE-BASED COMPANY FOR GOING ON 30 YEARS”

“OUR FIVE WINNERS SHOWED UNBELIEVABLE CREATIVITY AND SKILL AND BROUGHT FORTH THEIR VISIONS IN A WAY THAT EARNED THEIR SPOT AMONGST THE WORLD’S TOP INDUSTRY LEADERS”

“I LOVE OBSERVING HOW YOUNG STYLISTS FROM DIFFERENT CORNERS OF THE WORLD APPROACH THEIR CRAFT, AND I WAS BLOWN AWAY WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT SOME OF THESE STYLISTS HAD NOT BEEN STYLISTS FOR VERY LONG”