Franchise Facts Report → brands → Smartstyle
Smartstyle franchise — is it worth it?
High risk Shrinking network
SMARTSTYLE operates in the Beauty & personal care sector with an initial investment ranging from $184,440 to $336,340.
Everything below is free, read straight off Smartstyle's registered filing, with where the numbers land against beauty & personal care peers. Weighing Smartstyle against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in Smartstyle's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: Minnesota Dept. of Commerce — CARDS franchise registrations · filing 35368-202602-06 — check it yourself. See every other Minnesota-registered franchise.
Considering Smartstyle? See what else fits your budget
Tell us your budget and the industries you're open to. We'll match you with 5–10 franchises whose own FDDs fit — ranked by earnings disclosure, growth and closure rate — and email you the list. Smartstyle will be on it if it fits.
Smartstyle franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: Smartstyle does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for Smartstyle — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (70% of beauty & personal care franchisors in our corpus do disclose); the fees, litigation and outlet churn Smartstyle's FDD does contain are on this page. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Salon, beauty & personal care franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
Smartstyle lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Smartstyle's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025) does disclose 2 legal proceedings in Item 3 . Item 3 is the item where a franchisor must put its material legal history on the record. Two things it is not: it covers the franchisor and its predecessors, parents and affiliates, so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Smartstyle itself; and a disclosure is a fact, not a finding of wrongdoing — most entries are contract disputes with former franchisees, which every large system accumulates. Item 3 of the source FDD describes each case.
Smartstyle closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Smartstyle will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Smartstyle's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a beauty & personal care of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Smartstyle's latest tables show a shrinking franchised network — more units left than opened. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 4.3%, against a beauty & personal care median of 1.7% — worse than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -166 to 911 in the latest reported year.
Who owns Smartstyle?
Smartstyle's franchise is offered by THE BARBERS, HAIRSTYLING FOR MEN & WOMEN, INC. — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at MN CARDS; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it. The same franchisor files separate FDDs for other brands, which is worth knowing — sibling brands share a franchise-support organization but disclose their own numbers:
Compare Smartstyle head-to-head
Beauty & personal care franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing Smartstyle is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
Smartstyle franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Smartstyle — who is the franchisor?
Smartstyle's most recently filed FDD (2025) names THE BARBERS, HAIRSTYLING FOR MEN & WOMEN, INC. as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. The same franchisor also files FDDs for Cost Cutters. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Smartstyle franchise cost?
Smartstyle's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $184,440 – $336,340, with an initial franchise fee of $39,500. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. Against beauty & personal care peers it sits in the top quartile (median $425,565).
How much profit does a Smartstyle franchise make?
Smartstyle makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for Smartstyle at all — and profit would never be disclosed even where earnings are, because it depends on your rent, labor and how you operate. Any profit figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure.
Does Smartstyle disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — Smartstyle's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing: 70% of beauty & personal care franchisors in our corpus do disclose.
Are there lawsuits against Smartstyle?
Smartstyle's most recently filed FDD (2025) discloses 2 legal proceedings in Item 3. Item 3 covers the franchisor, its predecessors, parents and affiliates — so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Smartstyle itself, and a disclosure is not a finding of wrongdoing.
Is Smartstyle a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Smartstyle's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against beauty & personal care peers and against your own budget. Our read on this filing is high risk. Every figure behind that read is on this page for free. If you're comparing options, the free shortlist on this page matches you with 5–10 franchises that fit your budget and industry.
Get a free email when something changes on Smartstyle or beauty & personal care: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same state registries this page is built on.