Silvia Troska: Founded the alessandro company in 1989.

Silvia's Background: Silvia Troska was born in Bavaria where she trained and worked as a beauty therapist. Whilst living in the United States for two years, Silvia became aware of the nail industry. She trained as a nail technician in America before returning to Germany.

Where was the company set up, why and when?: alessandro was founded in 1989 in Lagenfeld near Dussledorf. During Silvia's stay in the states she had thoroughly investigated the nail business and soon realised that there as a gap in the German market. She saw her chance to establish a good business; developing, promoting and supplying better products for nail enhancements.

How many products are there, and under what categories do they fall?: alessandro offers more than 2000 different products for Nail, Hand and Foot Care. Product ranges include those for the artificial nail, the natural nail and accessories, as well as comprehensive nail polish and lipstick collections.

How many countries is alessandro available in, where are the biggest markets and why is this so?: alessandro can be found in 40 countries, rapidly increasing it's presence worldwide. Germany is the biggest market and alessandro is by far the largest nail company there. Switzerland is following hot on the German heels in terms of market size.

How do they come up with colours and how many are there overall?: Every season at least three trend promotions where 12 colours are launched. There are 90 nail polishes and 70 lipsticks in alessandro's standard range, with the best-selling colours available in a mini version. There are 150 colours overall and the new shades are predicted using trend analysis companies along with Silvias' own intuition and collaboration with fashion designers.