Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith is an Australian professional haircare brand based in Melbourne, founded in 2014 by David Justin [5]. The company makes gender-neutral, salon-oriented products built around Australian botanicals, and presents itself as a premium, ethically minded line. It remains independent, with no parent company on record, and is in active distribution across Australia, the United Kingdom and the Nordic markets.

The brand pairs a fashion background with a botanical, "clean" formulation approach. Most sources date its founding to 2014 [5], though one places it a year earlier, in 2013 [6].

Mr. Smith was created by David Justin, who came to the brand from a background in business and in marketing and product development for haircare [4]. He grew up around the hair and beauty industry through his mother, Freda Rossidis, a stylist with more than twenty years of fashion-week experience who serves as the brand's creative director. Sources render David's surname as both "Justin" and "Rossidis" — he is Freda Rossidis's son — with "David Justin" used most often.

The company is Melbourne-based and describes itself as 100% Australian made and owned. Its first product, the Balancing Shampoo, took about 18 months to develop before launch and became the brand's bestseller [5].

After launching in Australia, Mr. Smith expanded internationally in early 2018, debuting in the United Kingdom at Salon64 in London that February with a 22-product range [3]. To coincide with the move, the brand worked with the Paris-based fashion label Aalto on its spring/summer 2018 Paris Fashion Week show. The brand works with the hotel-amenities company Vanity Group on hotel partnerships.

Mr. Smith organises its identity around three words: Style, Substance and Simplicity. Justin frames them as "style above all else, substance of ingredients, simplicity by design," explaining that "you buy with your eyes, so it had to look luxe and chic," while "unless something's simple, it's not going to work" [5]. The company positions the range as fashion-forward, professional, and unisex, and describes its products as premium and luxury "using only the finest quality ingredients."

Trade coverage has characterised it as a gender-neutral haircare brand [3], a framing that aligns with the unisex positioning the founders describe. The brand's stated muses are figures it calls "effortlessly chic," citing Alexa Chung and Kate Moss.

The line centres on salon haircare: shampoos, conditioners, styling products and treatments, priced at the premium end. Alongside the Balancing Shampoo, recurring products include The Foundation, a multi-purpose styling product; the Masque, a treatment containing frankincense, marula oil and mango butter that the brand also describes as usable as a hand balm; a leave-in Serum; and Blond, a pigmented treatment for removing yellow and brassy tones.

According to the company, the formulations draw on Australian botanicals and essential oils, including organic passionflower, Kakadu plum and frankincense combined with rose geranium, macadamia oil and açaí berry [1]. Mr. Smith states that every product is sulfate- and paraben-free and made with naturally derived and organic ingredients, and that the range is PETA-certified against animal testing [2]; trade press reports the products as PETA-approved or PETA-approved vegan [3].

Mr. Smith has been covered in trade and fashion press, including a 2018 Cosmetics Business feature on its UK launch and an interview with the founders in Front Row Edit. The brand lists Sam Smith and Melissa Leong among its celebrity users [5].

The brand is active. As of 2026 it remains in distribution through Australian and UK retailers, and it works with the hotel-amenities partner Vanity Group [5]. It continues to operate independently, with no acquisition or parent company recorded.