Photo by Andrew Tomasino
Devon B. Katzev has come a long way since he was assigned to “cap detail” in his family’s living room in central New Jersey. It was the 1970s, and their up-and-coming equine shampoo and conditioner line was beginning to take off; young Devon was assigned to put caps on all of the bottles. “My dad showed me what to do, and he’d give me money to go to the arcade,” he recalls. Although he didn’t know it at the time, his work assignment was no menial chore: The groundwork was being laid for a unique career that would take him to the top of the chain of command at Straight Arrow Products, Inc., parent company of multiple personal-care brands including Mane ‘n Tail. “I’ve done just about everything in this company, down to sweeping the floors and cleaning up after the horses,” he says. And even after a long, trying day of traveling, he’s eager to talk shop.
The Katzev family never intended to get into the hair care business—human, horse or otherwise; they were simply looking for a way to give their Arabian show horses, with their long, flowing manes and tails, an edge. “We didn’t like a lot of the products that were out there,” Katzev says. Using simple dishwashing liquid was standard for mane and tail maintenance, which left the horses’ hair dull and tangled. Katzev’s parents, Philip and Bonnie, started experimenting with their own recipes. “It was a lot of trial and error,” says Katzev. “We just started making it in the kitchen sink.” The family realized they were on to something when their fellow equestrians took notice. “The horses were just glowing. They said, ‘Hey, can we get some?’”
The Katzev clan converted part of the family home to a makeshift manufacturing facility to meet the increasing demand. Katzev describes the earliest days of the enterprise as a true grassroots operation; he recalls a salesman driving around and hawking the goods from the trunk of his station wagon. But the products really took off when it became apparent that horses weren’t the only possible beneficiaries of the family’s ingenuity. “Women groomers noticed that Hoofmaker [a moisturizer and conditioner for horse hooves] made their own nails soft,” says Katzev. Soon they were lathering up with the shampoo and conditioner and loving what they saw in the mirror. Sales began to skyrocket. Retailers like Walgreens and CVS came calling. “It was a transition for us, because we were an equine company,” Katzev says.
After the business outgrew the family farm, operations shifted to a plant and office space in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Then, in the late 1980s, Mane ‘n Tail was on the move again, this time to Bethlehem. Katzev, the youngest of three children (“I like to say they saved the best for last,” he jokes), took over as president and owner of Straight Arrow in 1996. Every day, he’s called on to wear many hats: chemist, salesman, manufacturer and leader. “My biggest challenge is getting to everybody,” he says. “Believe me, if I could clone myself, I would.”
A typical morning begins with a meeting of the minds among his chemistry team. “We’re always brainstorming.” The Mane ‘n Tail line has expanded well beyond the initial offerings of shampoo and conditioner. Detanglers, root strengtheners, shine serums, leave-in conditioning crèmes and, most recently, a color-protection line, are among the merchandise rolling off the production line, and that’s just on the human side. The company has stayed true to its equine roots with a full slate of products for horses.
Another tradition that hasn’t changed: All Mane ‘n Tail goods are produced in the Lehigh Valley. “We do everything ourselves,” Katzev says. “We don’t farm anything out.” It’s a record that Katzev says sets the company apart from its competitors. “So many places came out of the woodwork. But we’re the original. It’s what we do for a living.” Katzev points to country singer George Strait’s now-defunct “Strait Country” horse hair-care line as one example of a challenger who entrusted someone else to handle the manufacturing end of the business. “You have to know what’s going in the bottle,” Katzev says.
But sometimes controlling what goes into that bottle is easier said than done. Suppliers don’t always have the ingredients the company needs; proteins and chemicals can disappear from the market. “You’re always tweaking [the formula], but you’re tweaking to get back to square one,” Katzev explains. “It’s a living, breathing thing that’s always changing, but it’s still the same stuff that I made as a kid.”
On the operations end of things, Katzev has spent the past six years researching, acquiring and renovating a new manufacturing facility in Forks Township. The building increases the company’s manufacturing space from 35,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet, and beefs up its payroll with the addition of dozens of new jobs. “We’re moving millions of bottles a year,” Katzev says. “We’re one of the biggest shippers from the Lehigh Valley, and we’re only going to get bigger.”
Now that he’s checked the expansion project off his to-do list, Katzev says a top priority moving forward will be focusing on public relations and increasing the visibility of his company. Even though Straight Arrow has been their neighbor for years, many Lehigh Valley residents aren’t aware that a powerhouse in personal hygiene resides right in their backyard. Says Katzev, “We’re supplying the world right here from the Lehigh Valley.”
In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a place where Mane ‘n Tail products aren’t available. In addition to gracing store shelves across the U.S., they’re also available for purchase everywhere from Iraq to Australia to Canada. Mane ‘n Tail also seems to be catching on in Europe in a big way as of late. A Daily Mail article from 2016 calls it the “hottest product on High Street,” right in the heart of London. The company’s film and TV credits are impressive as well; Mane ‘n Tail got a shout-out in the Will Ferrell ice-skating farce Blades of Glory. The familiar blue-and-yellow label also made an appearance in documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and in the 1996 flick The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Jennifer Aniston is said to be among its A-list clientele. As for fans of the four-legged variety, Grey, George Asa and Pharaoh—better known as the equine component of the Bethlehem Police Department’s Mounted Patrol unit—can thank Mane ‘n Tail for their lush locks on and off the job.
While he appreciates the high-profile product placement and celebrity endorsements, Katzev says he’s more concerned with what the average Joe or Jane thinks about his wares. Hearing feedback from customers, he says, is vital in making sure the company is staying true to its vision and humble beginnings. Explains Katzev, “The brand is about helping people find the style they’re looking for.” He says he’ll frequently wear a shirt with the company logo when he’s outside of the office to invite interaction with the public. He shares a story of one recent encounter in which a woman stopped him to gush effusively about the Mane ‘n Tail brand. “That never gets old,” Katzev says.
