Georgette Klinger Brand Back in Family Ownership

The innovator of the modern day spa, Georgette Klinger, is back in business, and the Klinger family is back in ownership, with Kathryn Klinger, Georgette’s daughter, as CEO. Plenty of people were upset when Georgette Klinger, the beloved beauty brand, shut down its Georgette Klinger spas. The fashion website www.racked.com had a sad story on it. At the time it closed (and with 11 salons across the country), the company Klinger Advanced employed about 300 people.

The chain was founded in New York in 1941 by Georgette Klinger, with a salon on Madison Avenue. It grew into one of those quintessential New York experiences, and for generations, ladies would even take their daughters for facials, and to learn that good skin was not about makeup, but overall health. In the age of Charles of the Ritz glamour, Klinger sold health. The family sold in 1988; at the time the sales were in $20 million range, according to the Klinger release.

Other brands comparable include Elizabeth Arden, Erno Lazlo and Clinique; Klinger’s was unique because she took a medical approach. Her ultimate goal was the health of skin, and beauty was a by product. The brand ultimately saw plastic surgeons and dermatologists go into the spa business, further confirmation that her approach was sound.

In the 1950s, there was a quality of life that was expected for all people. It wasn’t luxury. Today, a spa experience is sold as something for rich people, and it is often tacky and mixed in with ersatz Eastern religion, waterfalls and incense. The genius of Klinger was a democratic and clinical approach:

  • When you checked in in New York, there wasn’t any sizing you up when you walked in the door. It built an elitist reputation, with celebrities, but it was very affordable and patrons could go “a la carte” with services they needed.
  • They were very specific about what you needed and were not aggressive about upselling selling product or treatment.
  • The salons weren’t full of competing products. In recent years, Klinger sold other brands like Yonkers, N.Y.-based DDF, which were not part of the Klinger experience.

The family will first release Georgette Klinger’s skincare products; they will now be available across the country and not just in salons. According to a release, Georgette Klinger’s daughter, Kathryn Klinger, and grandson, Trevor Belton, are re-releasing a line of serious skincare products.

“We are so thrilled to have the Georgette Klinger skincare line back in the family,” said Trevor Belton, President of Georgette Klinger, in a press release. That’s the understatement of the year.

We can’t imagine how it would feel to have your mother and grandmother’s name dragged through bankruptcy, but we know fans of the brand are thrilled that it is back. It takes a long time for a company to ruin a brand, and it will take some time to bring it back. But thank goodness the family got control again.

Ideas? Comments? Add a comment after this post! Or you can email BrandlandUSA Editor Garland Pollard directly. Click Here To Send E-mail

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

46 Comments

  1. Want to order Kathryn perfume

  2. georgetteklinger.com is open and active now.

  3. georgetteklinger.com

    THERE COMING BACK

  4. Where can I purchase the Cologne

  5. I am wondering whether the GK Salons have reopened. I was a faithful client while I lived in New York and have been out of the city for a number of years. I would love to be able to enjoy a GK facial when I return to New York in a few weeks.

  6. Please email me whet you open again.
    We miss you product

  7. Please email me whet you open again.
    We miss You Kathlyn

  8. I m so excited I can t wait for your salon to open again in NYC ….the products were the BEST especially the eye cream , no one can compete your quality in facials /massages & the up scale beauty of the salon !!!!!!

  9. Kathryn perfume reproduction online. Better than nothing I guess. I purchased it for 59.00 – it faintly smells the same but again, better than nothing. After 30 years of being a customer I feel the family’s silence is unfair. Just let us all know know what the story is?!!! Reopening or Not?

  10. So what happened to bringing back her products ? I worked for the company for almost 18 years. The products were great!

  11. The perfume that is now name Kathryn was given to me around 1979 as a christmas gift from my brother who used to work for the Klinger company. I was 20 years old went out on a date wearing that perfume. the perfume i was wearing that day was the topic of our date. I think that is the reason why i am now married to him for 36 years. Where can i purchase this perfume. Good luck to Kathryn in wanting to keep her mother’s dream alive.

  12. Please let us know when and where to find the spas and products in both US and Europe

  13. Please let me know if you will ever open in Miami or Miami Beach again. Please send the adress of you new Location even if is not here in Miami. WELCOME BACK!!!

  14. I’ll never forget my visits to the GK day spa on Amsterdam Ave in N.Y. For the first time ever my acne riddled skin found perfection. My skin care “doctor” was Russian and didn’t play! I even took my daughter for a GK spa experience in D.C. many years later. Honestly, even though they say they’re back, I don’t see any evidence. I’m sad.

    1. Nhat..they sent out a press release in 2008 but nothing happened. Would love an update from the family….

  15. I recently found a gift card that was never used. Would love to be able to redeeem!!

  16. Wishing I had a jar of her Camomile Tea among other wonderful products of Georgette Klinger, I too have wonderful memories of mother/daughter visits and hope so much Kathryn will happily re-open and answer our requests.

  17. where o where has my Kathryn gone o where o where can she be. I hope I can smell it before I die

  18. where oh where oh where has my Kathryn gone oh where oh where can she be. Her fragrance was the greatest. I don’t have many more years to live. I hope to smell it again.

  19. I was really lucky! Found a bottle of Kathryn Perfume at the Goodwill Store. It is a great fragrance. I hadn’t heard of it before. Now I’m like others, where can I find it now?

  20. I think we need to give up on the Klinger product line…sadly

  21. WHERE?? HOW?? I always got facials there in N.Y. Nothing cleared my skin like GK products. Please, please, please tell me where, how can these products be obtained.

  22. My grandmother loved Klinger products. I even have some of her makeup and a small bottle of fragrance she had given me, probably 15-20 years ago (I am 31 now). I would love the opportunity to purchase these products for myself, these products which my grandmother loved. Please send info when they will be available! Thank you!

  23. please offer “Kathyrn” and Flower” perfume mists again, we sorely miss both unique wonderful fragrances.

  24. I have been desperately searching for “Kathyrn” perfume for about 10 years to no avail. It’s the only perfume that people comment on when I wear it, and I’m now an senior citizen. If Kathyrn is really taking this company over, please please please offer this product again.!! Nothing compares to the unique wonderful smell of this one : second up is the one called “Flower”. Loved both of them !

  25. Help…I have been searching all over.. I need the hand creme and wash-off make up remover!! My skin has never been the same .. I miss Yana at the Galleria!!!

  26. I am just now finishing my last jar of make-up remover and am lost! Where do I turn after using this Klinger product for over 3o years???

  27. To Garland Pollard: Could you ask Kathryn or Trevor where they are in the process? Did they give up? Someone can buy the formalas and start — as Georgette did — in a kitchen mixing up small batches. They would sell months ahead. This would be a gold mine if handled properly. Perfume, face washes and cremes and MY FOUNDATION!!

  28. I too miss the Kathryn perfume.

  29. Klinger facials and products were a part of my life for 30 years! Kathryn ! Please come back. Your perfume was fantastic. I’m sure there are thousands of former customers like me who would immediately buy your products again

  30. I still have my $100 gift card. would like to use it if they ever get back into business. Anyone want to buy it?

  31. Georgette Klinger saved me from the beginning of acne when I was a young woman. I was cured with treatment and then a faithful facial customer till she closed. Where is the new salon going to be in NYC. I will travel from Rockland County in a heartbeat!

    1. It still hasnt happened yet and it has been a few years since I wrote the post. I wish I had more information.

  32. i am seekijg a bottle of georgette Klinger’s perfume or cologne named Kathryn i hqvre tried for several years to find it vam you tell me ahere i might find it

  33. hello !!! ppls if any of you found new address of Georgette Klinger let me know
    tthanks

  34. When and where are these products going to be available? I am running out of the Cod Liver Oil mask and who else would possibly make such a product??

  35. I have missed the Georgette Klinger facials, and massages, but most of all I miss Virtual Perfection Face Cream.

    I’m delighted to hear that Georgette Klinger is back in business. Has the company re-established a New York location or may I order their products on line?

  36. I’ve never had a facial, in or out of NY, that matched ones at Georgette Klinger. I routinely bought 5 facials each August and received one free. It wasn’t about the money, though, it was about the magical hands of the facialists and their East European accents. I was transported to another place and another time.
    Viva Mme Klinger’s daughter.

  37. I want a 30 year supply of Wash Off Cream #1. When is the family going to offer this product again???????!!!!!!!!!
    Mary

  38. So if Georgette Klinger Products are really back
    WHERE CAN I BUY THEM????????????????
    You keep saying they’re back, but don’t say where?
    I repeat
    WHERE CAN ONE BUY THEM if they are truly back???????????????

  39. Please tell me how I can find Klinger products. I have used your products for forty years and am having with drawal from not being able to find them. Thank you.
    orangegrove@embarqmail.com


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