Salon collaboration to create jobs in Leicester

A Leicester-based entrepreneur is set to expand his business portfolio in partnership with internationally renowned barber Sid Sottung.

Barrie Stephen is collaborating with the American-born industry icon to open a new barber’s shop in the city.

The Sid Sottung Barber Shop will open on Hotel Street this December.

It will be staffed by a new team of five barbers from across Leicestershire.

Sottung brings three decades of hairdressing experience to the new men’s salon, including 17 years at Vidal Sassoon in New York and Washington D.C where he became the brand’s assistant creative director.

He has crafted hair for television and was part of the hairstyling team on the 2005 blockbuster Pride & Prejudice.

Sottung also launched two hair academies in Nottingham in 2014 and 2018.

Barrie Stephen has likewise been in the hairdressing industry for thirty years. He launched his Barrie Stephen Hair company 23 years ago in Anstey. It has since grown into a five-strong salon business.

Sid Sottung

As well as the new collaboration, BStyled, a boutique arm of Stephen’s business, will merge with Barrie Stephen Hair.

Stephen said: “Sid Sottung is already an integral part of Barrie Stephen Hair’s professionalism and growth. Over the last four years Sid has trained up all our Barbers Lounge stylists, helping us skill up and provide amazing male grooming. I am so excited to be partnering with such an internationally recognised expert to bring world-class barbering to the heart of Leicester.

“Bringing so many amazing hair stylists under one roof is a response to the demand for more top stylists at our King Street salon. This marker driven merger between our two styling arms, BStyled and Barrie Stephen Hair, will make space for our new concept that also meets market forces for barbering.

“We are consolidating and bringing all our BStyled customers into the King Street salon, so that the new Sottung Barber Shop venture can really fly and have space to flourish.”

Sottung added: “Both Barrie and I have the same energy and drive to make things happen. We share the same goal of outputting high-quality hairdressing. Our new concept will combine all of the excellence of men’s barbering, attention to detail styling, traditional wet shaving and beard design with great attitude. Men can come and feel like a man without all the macho vibes – it’ll be comfortable yet creative.”