Working On Georgette Klinger

BrandlandUSA reported last year about the demise of the Georgette Klinger brand, and its possible revival by the founder’s family.

They released a form letter as recently as December.

Dear valued patron,

Thank you for writing to the new Georgette Klinger.  Kathryn and Trevor are working hard to restore the company and start producing products in the near future.  We will let you know as soon as we are back up and running.  We will try our best to respond personally to the emails we receive within 7-10 days.  If you do not hear back, please know that we truly appreciate our clients and look forward to serving you again in the near future.

Best wishes,

Kathryn and Trevor
The new Georgette Klinger
www.georgetteklinger.com

When the company shut down in 2007, it had 11 salons and employed about 300 people. It had long been separated from the family, and was in the midst of a grand expansion plan that failed

The chain was founded in New York in 1941 by Georgette Klinger, who died in January of 2004. Their Madison Avenue salon was one of those quintessential New York experiences. In the age of glamour, Klinger sold health. The family sold out in 1988; at the time the sales were in $20 million range, according to the Klinger release.

It would seem a likely candidate for revival as opening a salon has very low barriers to entry, as they say in economics land. Getting the formula back into production seems to be more of a daunting an expensive thing, but that too can be done modestly.

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.

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18 Comments

  1. I’m so excited! I just visited georgetteklinger.com, and it’s coming April 2017! There is an option to sign up to receive special offers and news!

  2. What happened to the new line?

  3. Yes there was tap water at the Klinger Salons! It was in a pitcher with ice and there were clean glasses. Along with the ice water there often were, in the Chicago salon, chilled celery and carrot sticks. Right when you came in the door the lessons on how to have healthy skin started! I was lectured! On an early visit I was told “Too much sun! Too much sun! No more sun”. I have fair skin. I took the advice to heart and now at 72 look much younger. Thank you Georgette and thank you Vera of the Chicago Salon.

  4. I went to Georgette Klinger with a face as red as a beet. We had driven cross country from California and I stopped in Chicago for help! I have acne rosacea. The gentle products they recommended returned my skin to a normal color! I purchased product by mail and returned to Chicago when I could. I had tried one rosacea medication when my face was red and it had burned. After my skin calmed down the facialist gently suggested that I try it again. Klinger products and medication worked well. I mourn the loss of the company! Shame on the doctors that purchased it and ran it into the ground!

  5. There is very little medical evidence that facials do anything for one’s skin. In fact if you have sensitive skin or rosacea, a facial can make your skin look worse. One of the choicest sights in the New York salon was of Ms. Klinger hob nobbing with clients and offering them a free glass of tap water. How magnanimous.
    The best thing about Ms. Klinger was the Eastern European gestalt that she created. That and the very agressive selling by her Eastern European workers. A friend of mine still does an hilarious impersonation of a typical Russian born cosmetician in an accusing voice, scolding customers about not using (and buying enough) of the expensive, and completely dubious potions on sale at the salons. Its illegal to retail a skin cream that does much to one’s skin because if it did change the structure of the skin, then it would be classified as a drug and you would need a prescription to buy it. But millions of women do not get it, and they fritter away billions at department store beauty counters.
    Georgette Klinger represents a bygone era. It’s not going to return. New advances in dermatology actually work and they have supplanted the Klinger “mystique”. However, it was pretty amusing and camp while it existed.

  6. I’d love to be able to buy Georgette Klinger products on line. While getting the wonderful facials there once in awhile in Beverly Hills, CA, I used their products for years. They are wonderful, and my skin never looked better.
    I hope they get this product up into production again, and on line soon!

  7. Do you have an update on Georgette Klinger reopening salons? One is listed in Dallas, but the phone has been disconnected fairly recently? The website is also “temporarily” down. Any news?

    1. Sadly, I don’t have any more info. Georgette Klinger is one of the brands that our readers miss most! I hope they get it back online soon.

  8. Years ago, while living in Miami, I discovered Georgette Klinger in Bal Harbor. What an amazing experience my friend and I had when we decided to treat ourselves to one of Georgette’s amazing facial treatments. It was truly a one of a kind experience I would never forget. I sincerely hope that the company is able to bring this fine organization back to it’s original splendor as I would be very interested in purchasing products again. I have tried many, many skin care products over the years including all natural and none have ever surpassed the quality and effectiveness of those, from Georgette Klinger, I used those many years ago.

  9. Has the original Georgette Klinger family been able to create a plan for a revival?

    Thanks.

  10. i have shopped at carsons for over 30 years. i really enjoy the products and quality of the merchandise. but i have to admit that i am very frustrated with the coupons that have so many stipulations and limits on it. what is the use in sending these coupons out when you are limited and find sometimes very little to use them on. please reconsider the limits on these coupons. i think that it is bad store policy and should be reconsidered in the uses of these coupons. i know that on the back it states these exclusions but come on now it leaves very little to even come to the store to use these on.

  11. Last night, with great pomp and circumstance, I used the last drop of my Alpha Hydroxy Skin Refining Surface Exfoliator! This has been the best exfoliator I’ve ever seen and DIDN’T irritate my somewhat sensitive skin. After its use I always felt like my 50+ skin was like a baby. Last night my 60-year old skin felt just as renewed. I’m thinking of getting a black armband to demonstrate my grief. Long live Georgette Klinger and their wonderful products!

  12. I was a life-long devotee of Georgette Klinger products. Since it doesn’t look like they’re going to be restarting the brand anytime soon, I’m wondering what products other women have been using as a substitute. Everything I try is so substandard, compared with the Georgette Klinger line. Anyone’s suggestions???

  13. I need my GK products BAD!! I have had terrible experience with Mario Badescu – their products don’t agree w. my skin at all and irritate it… I am ready to give testimonial after testimonial for GK products – way better than anything else I have found! So hurry back please!!

  14. The creams and cleansing lotions are the first steps for cleansing the face of all types, especially very sensitive. SP15 and sea extracts eye and face creams are great also, along with the masks. Start with the basics and get the product line started.


  15. Big item is cheese grits with garlic. Kraft had a tube that was garlic cheese but this was discontinued by Kraft. I found a substitute for this item in Publix in Hermitage in the meat dept/cheese section. Owl’s Nest has a similar item which is a garlic cheese spread. It is in a container, refrigerated.

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