This year during lockdown I became an Avon representative. So I did a little research on the history of Avon the Company.
In 1886, David H. McConnell founded the California Perfume Company, which would become Avon, in New York City
The company started calling itself Avon in 1928, named after the birthplace of McConnell’s favorite playwright, Shakespeare.) The door-to-door formula for perfume sales was ideal for the time period.
In 1886, 34 years before women in the U.S. earned the right to vote, Avon’s founder, David H. McConnell, helped give them the chance to earn an independent income. He didn’t set out to create a beauty company. In fact, McConnell was a traveling book salesperson who offered fragrances samples as an additional perk to his female customers. He saw that these women were more interested in the free perfume than the books. Since women had a passion for his products and loved networking with other women, McConnell was inspired to recruit them as Sales Representatives. From a small New York City office, McConnell himself mixed the company’s first fragrances.This began Avon’s long history of empowering women around the globe.
Avon’s first product was the Little Dot Perfume Set. By the end of the first year of business, the company had a line of nearly 20 different fragrances. In 1902, the company was selling a full range of cosmetics. In 1931, 11 products received the coveted Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
Avon UK opened in 1959 and and it’s estimated there are around 160,000 reps in Britain.
The first Avon lady, Mrs. P.F.E Albee affectionately named the “Mother of the California Perfume Company”, began selling the inaugural scents when she was 50.
Today Avon is still selling perfumes and still empowering women through its support of women’s charities including breast cancer, ending gender based violence and Changing Faces, the charity for people with visible differences.
I’m proud to be an Avon Rep for it’s history, it’s charity work and it’s quality products at affordable prices.
Milly Space 