20 Dec DERT Reaches out to Barbershops
In 2020 DERT begins a new campaign to promote the cause of children’s literacy by providing books to barbershops in at-risk communities nationwide. DERT is launching a new program that activates the professional barber industry to join in DERT’s mission to ensure that all children identify as readers by having access to books and being read to on a regular basis.
Inspired by looks and styles from classic literature, men’s grooming pioneer David Raccuglia has created a fresh new barbering trend release called High Texture. Joining forces with Paul Wilson and the team from Art + Science Salon, David’s new trend release celebrates old school techniques. The campaign was commissioned by DERT, a new socially conscious book brand, calling on the barber industry to join in promoting the cause of children’s literacy. DERT is launching a new initiative that provides storybooks to barbershops in under-resourced black communities.
HIGH TEXTURE is inspired by the great 19th century dandy authors like Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman with their existential outlook and witty quips. A grand sense of Victorian adventure and Gothic horror is in the spirit of High Texture’s styling, reflecting writings of classic 19th-century literature greats like Robert Louis Stevenson, author of many classics including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Treasure Island. These influences collide with the great African American writing tradition of black writers like James Baldwin and Paul Laurence Dunbar with their call-to-arms for social change bywielding the power of the written prose and poetry. These eccentric literary inspirations are infused with a musical jolt, fueled by the soulful energy of Funk musicians like James Brown, and the impeccable glamour of Little Richard — where pure raw substance and emotion is expressed with a flashy layered personal style. High Texture compresses and fast-forwards it all to the 21st-century man.
DERT commissioned David Raccuglia to photograph 10 top American models in a range of hair expressions, and fashion looks as part of a social campaign for the barber industry. High Texture promotes the cause of children’s literacy by debuting the social enterprising DERT to the barber industry. DERT is on a mission to encourage reading and learning by inspiring barbers to be literacy advocates and activating barbershops into reading friendly spaces.
DERT’s mission is to cultivate better lives and a stronger community through reading, stories, and the transformative power of books. DERT seeks to bring books to barbershops and salons worldwide, inspiring industry professionals to be literacy advocates, that encourage their customers to best transform themselves on the inside and out. DERT seeks to spread literacy to men and boys and inspires individual transformation through innovative programs in barbershops and salons worldwide.
