Basic Policy on Sustainability

The business model of offering services that are dedicated to haircuts, which has remained unchanged since our inception,uses no chemicals and provides no shampooing service, thus having a benefit of eliminating the use of excess water and electricity. For customers, it is beneficial as they can spend their days without damaging their hair. For workers, it relieves them from worrying about rough hands caused by chemicals and from back pain caused by shampooing and performing other tasks in a semi-crouching position. As a result, it creates a workplace where people can work into the long term with peace of mind.We have also developed a unique haircut technique that incorporates trimmer techniques which minimizes the burden on the hands and arms, such as tendonitis, to the greatest extent possible, and we actively pass this expertise on, making it a shared asset for all of our stylists.

Launched in Tokyo in September 2012, our in-house haircutting school, LogiTh Cut, has since expanded to Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka in Japan, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan. The program provides approximately eight hours of intensive training each day in an environment where trainees receive close guidance from experienced trainers and learn haircutting techniques through a logical, structured curriculum. This combination of hands-on support and systematic instruction has made LogiTh Cut highly attractive to aspiring stylists. As a result, in the fiscal year ended June 2025, more than half of all newly hired domestic stylists joined the Company through the LogiTh Cut program. To date, the program has graduated more than 850trainees. By actively recruiting individuals with no prior haircutting experience, we continue to accumulate expertise in talent development while further refining our training methods. Today, LogiTh Cut has become a truly distinctive in-house haircutting school within the industry.

We rank first in the number of outlets in Japan among haircut specialty shops, with 549 stores. This is twice the market share of the second largest brand, which has 261 outlets. In contrast to other companies in the same industry, which have many franchised outlets, QB Group operates mainly through directly-managed salons in order to facilitate the thorough training of talent and ensure uniformity of the services we provide. In addition to new graduates with no haircutting experience at all , LogiTh also supports professional independence for qualified barbers and hairdressers who have been out of the industry due to childbirth or childcare for a while, who are called “dormant barbers and hairdressers,” and people who join us after having worked in other industries. Another advantage of operating many directly-managed salons is that we are able to differentiate ourselves from competitors.

Interpersonal relationships are one of the top three reasons why barbers and hairdressers end up leaving their jobs. To maintain good interpersonal relationships, the QB Group has a company culture characterized by mutual recognition. For example, there is no age-based discrimination. There are people from 20 years to nearly 80 years of age who are actively working. The younger employees learn skills from the veterans, and the veterans realize the beginner’s spirit and gain sources of vitality from the younger employees. Thus, we have established a group where everyone involved are treated to win-win relationships.

For existing stylists, we provide hairstyle-based technical training as well as training specific to job functions, such as manager training, area manager training, training for trainers, and so on. Thus, all employees are fairly and equally given the right to take on challenges. In addition, we have a system in place where raises and promotions are achieved by passing examinations held on the final date of a training program. In our culture, hard workers are rewarded, and raises and promotions are achieved in a self-directed manner. By building such career paths, we have created an environment in which everyone can perform their duties with a high level of awareness, regardless of their position.We also offer the Global Career Program, designed to support employees' long-term career development through overseas work experience.

Since June 2022, the QB Group has partnered with a farm which supports the independence of people with disabilities who wish to work, while encouraging them to find joy and satisfaction in their work. The partnership involves initiatives wherein people with disabilities who are employed by us hydroponically grow vegetables, such as mesclun greens and mini tomatoes, without using agricultural chemicals. Furthermore, harvested vegetables are wholesaled as pesticide-free vegetables to restaurants near the farm. The vegetables are appreciated for their quality, cleanliness, and beauty. We would like to continue to employ those who wish to work and provide them with a place where they can lead stable, independent, vibrant and shining lives.

We believe that reducing employee turnover is essential to maintaining and continuously improving the quality of our services. With this in mind, we transitioned from an independent contractor model to a direct employment model while steadily enhancing our working environment. As a result, our employee turnover rate declined from 30.0% in the fiscal year ended June 2010 to 6.6% in the fiscal year ended June 2020.Although the turnover rate temporarily increased in the fiscal year ended June 2023 due to the suspension of base salary increases and year-end bonuses amid a decline in customer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to improve employee compensation and review our personnel systems. Between August and October 2023, we implemented salary increases averaging 9.8%. As a result of these ongoing efforts, our employee turnover rate improved to 6.8% in the fiscal year ended June 2025.

Most overseas QB outlets are in countries that do not have a national certification system like in Japan. In such countries, Japanese trainers are stationed to provide an environment where employees can thoroughly learn about techniques of the same quality as in Japan and fully support the acquisition of skills by local talent. In Asian countries, we particularly want to contribute to the improvement of the social status and independence of young people and women.

For the barbering and hairdressing industry, which cannot rely on machines for haircuts, securing talent is a top priority. In addition to general applications, QB Group has a dedicated contact point on its recruiting page to lower the hurdles for applicants, such as those with no haircutting experience, former QB Group employees (alumni hiring), and those who apply through employee referrals (referral hiring). The website won the Grand Prix at the Owned Media Recruiting Award 2021 hosted by IndeedJapan. In addition, we are taking every possible measure to secure talent, such as by providing classes at barbering and hairdressing schools and making contacts through various social networking services.

People called dormant barbers and hairdressers who have finished raising their children or who have moved to other industries, would give up applying for jobs in the barbering and hairdressing industry because of their thinking that it will take too much time to regain the feeling of holding scissors or that there is no chance at getting hired as someone who cannot perform a haircut. We see LogiTh as an advantage in recruiting as it caters to such people. On the other hand, there are those who readily apply because they believe the hurdles to hiring are low due to service fees. The overall average hiring rate, including for part-time employees, is about 30%. People are everything in the barbering and hairdressing industry. We hire people with a strong focus on their character and consider people with a strong sense of humanity who also have strong technical and customer service skills to be excellent human resources.

Japan is one of only a few countries in the world that require national certification to work in the barbering and hairdressing industry. Only those who have graduated from a high school with a specialized course in barbering and hairdressing or from a two-year vocational school for barbering and hairdressing after graduating from high school, and who have passed the national examination, are allowed to work in a barbering and hairdressing establishment. In addition, the QB Group does not employ any child labor and hire talent only after confirming the original certificate of qualification of a barber or hairdresser with their date of birth. Furthermore, we do not have a mandatory retirement age because we would like to see our employees to be active for as long as they have the physical strength to do so. In the fiscal year ended June 2025, we hired a record-high 140 trainees through our talent development recruitment program, leveraging the strengths of LogiTh Cut.

For our self-developed unit furniture, we simplify the structures of furniture as much as possible and remake the unit furniture found at closed outlets by polishing or replacing surface veneers. Thus we seek to reuse the furniture. In addition, wigs (human-head mannequins) used for haircut practice are provided free of charge after they have been used in classes at barbering and hairdressing schools. They are used for practice to improve techniques and are utilized effectively by repeatedly reusing them until they get completely shaven. In addition, we have switched to a practice of cleaning and disinfecting combs, which we had previously been giving to our customers, and reusing them starting in May 2021,thereby reducing annual CO₂ emissions by 690 tons.

A volunteer haircut program, which began with us inviting children from children’s homes to an outlet in Tokyo, provides an opportunity not only for children to receive haircuts but also to get hands-on experience with the appeal of haircutting through work experience (trimmer experience), and to encourage them to consider, as one of their career options, becoming a barber or a hairdresser.