SALOWIN

Salowin Co., Ltd. (サロウィン株式会社) operates the SALOWIN network of "share salons" in Japan — facilities where every seat is rented to freelance hairstylists rather than employed staff. Members are provided styling stations, shampoo bowls, dryers, irons, lockers and consumables, with semi-private booth layouts, generally 24-hour access (some locations follow building hours), and 80% of technical service revenue returned to the stylist. Supporting services include discounted materials, in-house payment handling, member-only training video content, roughly monthly head-office seminars, tax-accountant referrals, and handling of invoice-system obligations on the stylist's behalf, since the contract is between the company and the individual stylist.

Beyond seat rental, the company sells salon-development products to salon owners. "ALL SHARE" covers property sourcing, interior construction, pre-opening operations setup (POS, Wi-Fi), discounted material purchasing through the company's scale, and sale-leaseback of existing interiors and deposits, in a Primary variant (building a salon from scratch with zero initial cost to the owner) and a Secondary variant (taking over existing fitted-out salon premises). A "SALOWIN Partner" scheme lets third parties become share-salon business owners with no initial cost and no operational work, described by the company as distinct from franchising. The group has also expanded into nail and eyelash categories via subsidiary WBP, operator of the SALON VILLAGE complex beauty share salons.

The company positions its mission around the structural problems of the beauty profession in Japan — low average income relative to skill, long training periods, opaque compensation, limited working-style options, and heavy capital risk on independence — and aims to supply the infrastructure (store development, customer acquisition, accounting, contracts) so beauty professionals can focus on client work.

Founding story

Salowin was established in July 2019 by Tomoya Abe, who had previously worked at Seven-Eleven Japan, Atelier Haruka and Samurai, and who launched the company together with Yasunari Shibata, founder of Samurai and current head of Solaseed Startups. Abe's stated starting point was his time at Atelier Haruka, which runs hair, hair-and-makeup and nail salons, where he observed that hairstylists' skill and client trust were not fairly rewarded, citing long training periods, opaque compensation, restricted working-style choices, and the large capital outlay and management risk required to go independent. The company was framed around building a society where hairstylists are fairly compensated for their skill and time.

Business model

Recurring monthly fees plus revenue share from freelance stylists using SALOWIN locations, alongside B2B salon-development services for salon owners. Membership plans (as listed on the company site): Standard at ¥50,000/month with a 20% revenue share; Boost at ¥80,000/month with 20% and inclusion in customer-acquisition media; Suite from ¥140,000/month with a 10% share and a dedicated station; and a weekday-only plan at ¥20,000/month with 20%. Options include a ¥30,000 media-listing option and seat-occupancy options from ¥20,000. A one-time ¥20,000 (pre-tax) contract administration fee is the only stated initial cost, and stylist payouts are settled month-end with payment the following month-end.

Fixed monthly plan fees combined with a percentage of each stylist's sales (10–20% depending on plan), option fees, and fees from ALL SHARE salon-opening/development services and partner arrangements; ancillary revenue from material supply and referred services.

Traction

Company materials state that more than 50 hairstylists per month go freelance with SALOWIN, and the Series D announcement cited about 150 stores nationwide and 1,500 stylists using the service. The store directory lists roughly 90 locations across Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa. Cumulative disclosed capital raised reached about ¥8.8 billion, and the company is capitalised at ¥100,000,000. Staff count is listed at 50 members with 23 open roles.

Latest developments

In June 2026 Salowin became a 100% subsidiary of Hulic Co., Ltd. and joined the Hulic group, with Tomoya Abe continuing to lead the company. Around the same period the president was profiled in WWDJAPAN Digital (July 2026) and HOT PEPPER Beauty Academy (August 2026), and the company continued to run regional technical and management seminars, including a Sapporo bleach/straightening seminar scheduled for September 2026 and a Tokyo salon-management session with fifth's Kimura. Corporate development in the preceding year included the X.Fund salon M&A joint venture with fifth group and the Reco share-salon business transfer.