Fringe

What Fringe does

Fringe / A Salon Inc. operates a single, founder-owned full-service hair and beauty salon in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 2002 by four original team members (Dawn Bublitz, Michael Mullen, Susan Dechant, and Ludwig). The company offers a comprehensive menu of services across hair (cuts, balayage, foiling, single-process color, extensions, keratin and Brazilian Blowout smoothing treatments), skin (Hydro-Facial, signature and specialty facials, microdermabrasion), brows (waxing, tinting, lamination), lashes (lash lifts), and waxing. Services are priced on a per-unit basis, with premiums for advanced color and smoothing techniques (e.g., balayage full $250, keratin $190–$350), and a 14-day satisfaction guarantee and 50% no-show fee are enforced. The salon is set to relocate from Milwaukee Avenue to the 1600 block of Cortland Avenue (Bucktown) in January 2026.

The underlying technology is a non-proprietary consumer-services stack: appointment booking and CRM run on Phorest, complemented by a native Fringe mobile app on iOS and Android. There is no proprietary platform, no AI/ML component, and no API integrations beyond the booking system. Service delivery depends on professional product partnerships — R+COLOR is the exclusive color system, and R+Co, Moroccanoil, K18, Glo Skin Beauty, and Aluram are curated and retailed both in-salon and through an online storefront. Marketing is primarily organic social (Instagram @fringechicago, Facebook), Yelp-driven word-of-mouth, blog content, and gift card/booking funnels via Phorest.

The business model is direct-to-consumer, appointment-based service revenue complemented by retail product sales. There are 11 stylists and service providers on the team (three of the four original founders remain active). Revenue is not publicly disclosed, there are no funding rounds, no institutional or PE investors, and the entity is independently held (Illinois corporation). The customer base is entirely individual consumers in the Chicago metropolitan area — Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Lakeview, River North, West Loop, and surrounding suburbs. The brand has been recognized as "Best Salon in Chicago" by Allure Magazine, Chicago Reader, and Time Out Chicago, with additional category awards for blondes, short cuts, pedicures, brows, and body waxing.

Name

Fringe

Legal name

Fringe / A Salon Inc.

Website

https://fringechicago.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fringe / A Salon Inc. is a founder-owned, single-location full-service hair and beauty salon in Chicago, founded in 2002, serving individual consumers with hair cutting, coloring, treatments, facials, brows, lashes, and waxing, plus curated retail of premium professional product brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hair Salon Services

NAICS

Beauty Salons (812112), Hair, Nail, and Skin Care Services (81211), Cosmetics, Beauty Supplies, and Perfume Retailers (456120)

akta.pro primary industry

Haircutting & Styling Services (HSALAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Hair Extensions & Weaves Services (HSALAAAG), Texturizers & Chemical Services (Relaxers, Perms, Keratin) (CRABABAF)

Keywords

• Hair salon services
• Professional hair coloring
• Skin care facials
• Brow and waxing
• Beauty product retail

Headquarters

HQ city

Il Chiaro

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Hair Services: One-time service transactions for haircuts, coloring, balayage, highlights, keratin treatments, and hair extensions
2. Skin Care Services: Facial treatments and skin care services including hydrafacials, signature facials, microdermabrasion, and specialized skin treatments
3. Waxing and Brow Services: Body waxing, eyebrow shaping, tinting, brow lamination, and lash lift services
4. Product Sales: Retail sales of professional hair and skin care products including R+Co, Moroccanoil, K18, Aluram, and Glo Skin Beauty through online shop and in-salon

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Fringe is a full-service Chicago salon that sells in-person hair cutting, coloring, keratin smoothing, and hair extension services, alongside facial and skin care treatments, brow shaping, lash lifts, and waxing. The salon also retails curated professional hair and skin care product lines from brands such as R+Co, Moroccanoil, K18, Glo Skin Beauty, and Aluram through its in-salon and online store. Bookings are taken through the Phorest platform and a branded Fringe mobile app.

Product overview

Fringe is a full-service salon offering a comprehensive range of hair, skin, and specialty beauty services. The core offering consists of hair cutting, coloring (using R+COLOR), extensions, and smoothing treatments (Keratin Complex/Brazilian Blowout), complemented by facial services (Hydro-Facial, microdermabrasion, signature facials), brow services, lash lifts, and waxing. The salon retails professional products from curated clean beauty brands including R+Co, Moroccanoil, Glo Skin Beauty, Aluram, and K18. A mobile app enables appointment booking and management. The business operates as a single-location salon in Chicago.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hair Cutting and Styling Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Lash lift results last up to 12 weeks
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• R+CocoreOthersFringe curates and uses R+Co professional hair products. R+Co is 100% vegan, cruelty-free, and Leaping Bunny certified. Products are formulated without sulfates, parabens, petrolatum, or mineral oil. Through R+Eco initiative, packaging is transitioning to 55% post-consumer recycled materials. Fringe sells R+Co products online and in-salon.
• MoroccanoilcoreOthersFringe uses and retails Moroccanoil luxury haircare products. Brand is PETA-certified cruelty-free with many products featuring post-consumer recycled packaging. Manufacturing facility uses solar energy and holds ISO 14001 environmental certification.
• Glo Skin BeautycoreOthersFringe uses Glo Skin Beauty professional skincare and cosmetics. All products are 100% vegan and cruelty-free, certified by PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies program. Products are formulated without parabens, talc, artificial fragrance, sulfates, phthalates, and mineral oil.
• AluramcoreOthersFringe uses Aluram clean haircare line. Products are 100% vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, and sulfate-free with coconut water base. Aluram is independently and family-owned, created by stylists for stylists with over 30 years industry experience.
• K18coreOthersFringe uses and retails K18 biology-first haircare brand. K18PEPTIDE is a patented biomimetic molecule that repairs hair at the molecular level by reconnecting broken bonds. Products are vegan and cruelty-free with concentrated formulas.
• R+COLORcoreTechnology or IntegrationFringe exclusively uses R+COLOR professional color system. R+COLOR is 100% vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, Leaping Bunny certified, and made without PPD, resorcinol, formaldehyde, parabens, silicones, fragrance, mineral oil, or ammonia. Uses 100% recycled aluminum tubes and PCR caps.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Great Clips: Largest US hair salon franchise, operating at the opposite end of the price/value spectrum but competing for the same underlying consumer hair-services spend; useful benchmark for unit economics and franchise scalability.
• Floyd's 99 Barbershop: Regional multi-unit hair services chain with similar full-service styling and color offering at mid-premium price points; comparable business model at greater scale, though historically focused on unisex/alternative styling.
• Aveda Salon: Corporate-affiliated salon network built around the Aveda brand with a comparable full-service, premium-product positioning; broader scale and national brand recognition, with overlapping clean-beauty retail ethos.
• Drybar: Multi-location premium blowout and styling chain operating a similar appointment-based chair-time service model at premium price points; broader footprint but overlapping service category and target customer.

Others

• Sport Clips: National men's and family hair salon franchise; different demographic focus but highly relevant for benchmarking franchise-driven unit economics and capital-light expansion models in the same underlying category.

Direct peers

• Salon Soca: Chicago independent full-service hair salon with comparable premium positioning, color specialization, and styling services, serving a similar urban professional clientele.
• Maxine Salon: Long-standing Chicago independent salon offering comparable premium hair, color, and skin services in a similar urban full-service model; one of Fringe's closest head-to-head competitors for Chicago hair clientele.
• BANG Salon: Chicago-based independent hair salon offering cut, color, and styling services with a comparable boutique-trendy positioning and direct competition for the same urban client base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/FringeChicago
• Instagraminstagram.com/fringechicago
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fringe-a-hair-salon-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fringe