Success Stories August 8, 2007, 8:12AM EST

The Martha Stewart of Punk Rock?

Tish and Snooky Bellomo helped put the East Village on the map with their punk rock boutique Manic Panic. It's now an international success

Sisters Tish and Snooky Bellomo have turned their lifestyle into the backbone and brand-identity of a 13-employee wholesale business with $5 million in annual revenues -- chiefly through the sale of hair dye.

Tish & Snooky's Manic Panic became central to the New York City punk rock scene. "Everybody came in to hang out," says Tish. Here, the Bellomos with Cyndi Lauper.

Tish and Snooky created their own customized colors, the first of which, Vampire Red, is still the company's best-selling hue.

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Sisters Tish and Snooky Bellomo reveled in the New York City punk rock scene in the '70s. The notorious Bronx-born duo sang with numerous groups, including an early version of Blondie. But it was their retail gambit that made them famous. Responding to audience members who, Tish says, "liked our style and asked us where we got our clothing," they opened a boutique in the Manhattan's East Village in 1977 with $250 from a sympathetic aunt and $250 in savings.

Tish & Snooky's Manic Panic NYC quickly became central to the scene. "Everybody came in to hang out," says Tish, whose cropped bangs and long ponytail vibrate with a combination of fuschia, hot pink, and violet hair dye. "They went to CBGBs and they went to Manic Panic." Tish fondly recalls Tony Garnier (best known as Bob Dylan's bass player) bringing by a pot of gumbo at Christmas. "It wasn't just about business; it was about music, it was a whole lifestyle."

Thirty years later, punk merchandising is big business, and Tish and Snooky have turned their lifestyle into the backbone and brand-identity of a 13-employee wholesale business with $5 million in annual revenues—chiefly through the sale of hair dye in screaming colors with names like Deadly Nightshade and Atomic Turquoise.

Scrambling to Keep Up

Consulting and market research firm Kline & Co. estimates hair dye is a $1.3 billion business in the U.S. For almost two decades, Manic Panic distributed a popular English brand of hair dye in the garish colors favored by punk rockers such as Cyndi Lauper, and Debbie Harry of Blondie. In 1996, when their English supplier became unreliable, Tish and Snooky set out on a mission to create their own customized colors, the first of which, Vampire Red, is still the company's best-selling hue.

After years of being priced out of one retail space after another, Manic Panic moved into a warehouse space on White Street in Manhattan that was big enough to enable them to significantly increase their inventory. They also branched out into new products such as vampy makeup, nail polish, and glittery false eyelashes. Through word of mouth and great press, sales boomed practically overnight, and the sisters found themselves scrambling to hire enough employees to handle the new orders.

Without any background in business, the founders improvised their way to success. "Every day is a challenge, every day we're learning something new, it just never ends, 'cause our job changes constantly—everything is something we've never done before," says Tish. "But it's not rocket science," chimes in Snooky from under her mane of Vampire Red and Electric Lava hair. "You just figure it out."

Getting the Bugs Out

That learning process has included developing cruelty-free products that reflect Tish and Snooky's love of animals. Gradually, they've moved as close to an all-vegan standard as possible. That has required them to substitute ingredients in some products that, unbeknownst to them, contained animal by-products. Others, such as a carmine dye made of red bugs, are harder to eliminate.

"We've learned everything by doing it," says Snooky. "We had never thought that much about animal by-products like beeswax," a common ingredient in hair dye. They figure their line is now 85% to 90% vegan, and the new catalog will indicate which products adhere 100% to vegan standards (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/1/06, "What's That in My Food").

Business noticeably slowed after September 11, 2001. "People stopped going out or dying their hair and wanting to party," admits Snooky. The recovery took a couple of years. In 2003 Manic Panic expanded overseas when they made a licensing deal with a Japanese entrepreneur to open a chain of salons in Japan targeted at a distinctly upmarket crowd.