The Academy
May 2018
We have had a busy and amazing year so far. With the launch of our new beautiful website, our first barber workshops which started early April, being asked to host a special event for the Auckland Writers Festival in May plus trialling online bookings in the shop, the Bespoke Barbers calendar is full of new and exciting adventures!
With all of these new happenings, and we love new things, I thought it would be relevant to touch on the different cultures in the barbering industry.
Let me paint the picture…
From the footpath, you might see the traditional barber’s pole and signage saying ‘BARBER’ but what you might not be aware of is the treasures lurking inside. A barbershop is not just a service provider to men with hair and beards.
Each barbershop has a culture, two obvious extremes are those with a strong hip-hop theme where they focus mostly on zero fades and lined out haircuts and shops styled towards traditional barbering, where tapered and sharper looks are performed.
In London, I knew heavily sport-oriented shops where sports TV was on, all the colours of the local team were displayed and the conversation was centred on the upcoming game.
In Melbourne CBD there was a shop in the back streets with a big rubbish bin by the front door. You went upstairs and realised it was an old office building. The main office was a cafe, the other rooms were a tailor and the smallest office was a barbers room. It was a 1960’s office space.
All of the original desks and lighting were still there. The furniture was vintage, wooden and had a mass-produced feeling to it. It was pretty cool and crazy for a shop that was almost invisible to the street.
I know of two barbershops in Sydney with the focal point being the bar: one cocktail, one whisky. I liked the whisky one better!
There are barbershops that team up with tattoo artists. Barbershops on cruise ships. Barbershops in high-end, glamorous department stores with a washbasin for every chair, wall-to-wall mirrors, glass walls and marble benchtops to fit in with their designer brands.
In New Zealand, you can find similar examples. There is a barbershop for every man and his dog!
Most provide the same range of services just delivered in different ways. Length of service reflects the pricing menu - as in hairdressing.
The men’s grooming product market is amazing at present, with so many products on offer, shops have the opportunity to choose brands that reflect their brand and culture.
We, as a rule at Bespoke, don’t stock an individual brand. We pick the best from each line of American Crew, Suavecito, Proraso and Killer Groom, to name a few. We also find this covers our client demographics.
Barbers embrace all sorts of different cultures and trends and reflect them in an atmosphere they create within their shops. Barbers are influencers. They are the Kinds (and Queens) of Culture which can be traced back throughout the history of civilisation!
The barbering industry has got a great maverick factor. We just need to iron out a few bumps to push it towards a more professional industry, without losing it’s cool. The thing for meis to keep moving fowards. To focus on popular culture as whole, not just the current popular ‘barber’ culture. Nothing stands still.
Barbering has become an amazing ride for me and I still get the same cool vibe that I did when I was training. If i could give any advice to future barbers, it would be to keep an eye on popular trends but be yourself and have a point of difference.
Create your own culture and you’ll find the barbers industry is accepting of this and like-minded customers will flock to you. We’ve just completed our first barber’s introductory workshop for new barbers, ready to give them a headstart in their careers.
