UPGRADE

UPGRADE is an Italian professional hairstyling brand that makes salon tools — hairdryers, straighteners, curling irons, clippers, brushes and combs. It is the in-house brand of Labor Pro S.r.l., a Hair & Beauty supplier based in Empoli, in the Tuscan province of Florence [5]. The brand's identity centres on a heat technology it markets under the name Bio-Infrared, and its products are aimed squarely at working salon professionals rather than home users.

The year the UPGRADE brand itself was launched is not documented. Its parent, Labor Pro, is described in the company's own history as a family firm founded by Giuseppe Bruccoleri in 1967, beginning in workwear before moving into hairdressing brushes, combs and accessories [7]. That 1967 date belongs to the parent company, not to the UPGRADE line, whose separate starting point is unclear.

UPGRADE operates as a brand of Labor Pro S.r.l.; the brand's own pages carry the "© Labor Pro Srl" copyright line [2]. Labor Pro presents itself as a supplier to the professional Hair & Beauty trade, and the business is today led by Claudio and Simone Bruccoleri, who are named as its chief executives [5]. According to the parent's account, the second generation entered the company in the 1980s. Labor Pro's wider catalogue extends beyond styling tools into general salon equipment and accessories.

UPGRADE frames itself as more than a supplier of tools. Its manifesto describes the brand as "a real network of competencies" serving hairdressers who, in its words, base their work on strong values as well as numbers — naming human relationships, trust and experience [2]. The company states an ethical-business stance built around protecting stylists' work and their profits, and pitches a "protected community" of hairdressers who choose the brand for that reason. Its stated mission is a "profound change in the hairstyling world," which also serves as the brand's central slogan. The positioning is professional and salon-facing throughout, reinforced by a reseller registration path and free-shipping thresholds for trade buyers.

The current range is organised around Bio-Infrared, an infrared heat technology the brand applies across its styling tools. UPGRADE says the technology lets stylists work at temperatures up to 30°C lower than conventional tools while maintaining shine, softness and hold, including on chemically treated hair [1]. The company describes the effect as red-light heat working within the hair fibre for an even, controlled result, and notes that on some straighteners the heat is also used to help hair absorb treatments.

Named products in the Bio-Infrared line include the Hypersense high-speed hairdryer, the Infracurl 32 mm curling iron, and the Large 2, Slim 2 and Keratine straighteners. The line is supported by a group of Italian salon professionals who appear as brand ambassadors, describing the tools in terms of shine, colour protection and styling that lasts.

UPGRADE is active. It runs its own e-commerce, maintains current Bio-Infrared products, and is present on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook. Its tools are also resold across several European markets through third-party retailers and wholesalers, including online marketplaces and specialist hairdressing suppliers, consistent with the brand's business-to-business, salon-oriented model.