Probably the most expensive hair dryer in the world

SIR JAMES DYSON spends a great deal of time considering new products which would be beneficial to his customers and then spends a decent amount of money in developing them and bringing them to market.

His latest product, which will initially be launched in Japan, is a £299 (€385) hairdryer, which could be the most expensive consumer hairdryer in the world, and has supposedly cost £50 million (€65 million) to develop.

According to the accompanying ‘spiel’, this is a quieter and more hair friendly dryer, which uses a miniature air pump in the handle, based on the same principles as his desk fans which have no visible blades.

There is no question that Sir James has been extremely successful with his innovative bagless vacuum cleaners, which are both much admired and much copied. It is thanks to them that he has built a massive empire and earned him his knighthood, but he is clearly not a ‘one trick pony’, and supposedly has a large number of other products in development.

Time will tell whether this extremely expensive accessory will become another of his successes or whether the price (which is some cases is more expensive than a vacuum cleaner), will be too high for the average person.

Perhaps in anticipation of some resistance, in an interview with the BBC, he is quoted as saying: “It’s not so much how many you sell that’s important, it’s whether people who buy it like it.”

“I don’t mind if I only sell 100 a year, as long as those 100 people think it’s really good. I wouldn’t make much money but that’s not always the point. That’s not what drives us, that’s not what makes it exciting.”