Artero

Artero is a Spanish family-owned manufacturer of professional cutting tools, founded in Manresa in 1909 by Pascual Artero [5]. What began as a small workshop selling implements for shearing horses and sheep has, over four generations, grown into an international maker of scissors, clippers, razors and styling appliances for hairdressers, barbers and pet groomers. The company is now run by brothers Alex and Edu Artero, the fourth generation of the family, and operates from a headquarters in Vilassar de Dalt, near Barcelona [4].

Although Artero is best known in the professional beauty trade for its hairdressing and barbering tools, the business is broad: pet grooming accounts for roughly 80 percent of its activity, alongside the hair-tools and equine-care divisions [5]. This article covers the hair-tools side of the company.

Pascual Artero started the firm in 1909 in Manresa, a town inland from Barcelona, where he sold tools for horse shearing. The business stayed in the family as it changed shape. In 1918 the second generation, Daniel Artero, moved operations to Barcelona and added barber supplies and razor sharpening. The third generation, Fernando Artero, relocated the shop to Calle Call in central Barcelona in 1946 and branched into cutlery and dog-grooming equipment.

Accounts of the early years describe a business shaped by hard times. In an interview with the trade publication Estetica Export, Alex Artero recalled that during the period after the Spanish Civil War his grandparents bartered tool-sharpening services for food [5].

The twentieth century saw Artero widen its range and its reach. Branches opened in Madrid and Valencia in the mid-1990s, and around 2000 the company began making cosmetics and appliances such as hair dryers and straighteners, while starting to export across Europe. It marked its centennial in 2009, and the following year founded the International Artero Academy, a training programme for pet groomers that has since run through a network of more than 100 centres in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

International expansion continued with a first overseas branch in Florida in 2014. In 2022 the company moved into a new headquarters of more than 7,000 square metres in Vilassar de Dalt [2]. Today Artero reports a catalogue of over 4,000 products and a presence in more than 75 countries [4].

Artero presents itself around six stated values: tradition, family, innovation, quality, passion and professionalism. The company markets its hair-tools line under the tagline "Prodotti per parrucchieri di altissima qualità" — high-quality products for hairdressers [1]. Its tools are aimed at professionals, and the scissors resource ScissorPedia places the brand in a "budget luxury" mid-range tier.

The hair-tools division covers cutting and thinning scissors, left-handed scissors, clippers and blades, razors, brushes and combs, and dryers and straighteners. Artero blades are generally made from 440C and VG-10 steels.

The company pairs traditional metalworking with newer manufacturing methods. According to Estetica Export, it produces custom "DNA" scissors made by 3D-scanning a stylist's hand and 3D-printing a personalised handle fitted to steel blades, and it has announced a "Gaudí" model designed to cut tool weight by 42 percent [5]. Custom pieces are sold only through the company's own website, while Artero describes online retail — its site and Amazon — as its fastest-growing channel.

Artero has published an ESG programme covering materials, energy and employment. The company says it uses biodegradable, vegan and cruelty-free materials, has introduced FSC-certified bamboo packaging, and recycled more than 11 tonnes of cardboard packaging in 2023 [3]. Its Vilassar de Dalt site runs on a 100-kilowatt array of photovoltaic panels that supplies about half of the facility's energy, according to the company, which also reports lower seasonal energy use since the move [3].

The brand also runs a "Renewal Plan" in which customers return used hair dryers for a discount and the units are reconditioned, and it has been recognised as an inclusive employer for offering permanent contracts to people at risk of social exclusion [3].

In 2025 Estetica Export, an international professional hairdressing publication, ran a feature interview with Alex Artero on the company's history and product development [5].

Artero is active. The fourth-generation family business operates internationally across its pet-care, hair-tools and equine-care divisions, with recent product development and an ongoing sustainability programme. Sources differ slightly on its workforce: the company's site cites a team of more than 90, while the 2025 Estetica Export interview gives a figure of about 115 employees worldwide — a gap most plausibly explained by growth over time [2][5].