THE SOUTHSIDE BARBER

BY LOUISE MAY

At 28, Zak Mollica is the owner of The Southside Barber, a journey that began with a nudge from his father, a seasoned barber with over 55 years of experience. Encouraged to try his hand at cutting hair, Zak’s first steps into his dad’s barbershop felt almost predestined—his father had already bought him brand new tools, as if knowing this would be his lifelong path.

Zak quickly found joy in barbering, particularly in the simple act of making someone smile with a fresh cut. Though he initially enrolled in a hairdressing course, Zak’s passion truly ignited when he switched to one of Victoria’s first barbering programs at Marjorie Milliner College. His dedication paid off as he became the first qualified barber in Victoria in 35 years—a milestone that set the stage for his career.

With his father as both mentor and employer, Zak dove headfirst into the craft, balancing full-time work with his studies. Determined to carve out his own legacy, he set an ambitious goal: to own his own barbershop by the age of 25. Through sheer hard work and a singular focus on becoming the best, Zak made that dream a reality.

Editor of Barbershop Louise May, chats with Zak about The Southside Barbers brand, his industry journey and favourites tools and product.

Tell us about Southside Barbers.

The Southside Barber was my barbering name as I started my career and I had a decent following on it, so when I did decide to start my business, I knew this was the name I was going to call my shop.

It all happened in 2021, 8 days before my 25th Birthday when I was approved for my lease for 32 Como Parade West Mentone. Ecstatic and excited for what was to come, it was time to start putting in long hours to start building my shop. Early mornings and late finishes, it took a long 2 and a half months to renovate Southside. It was an actual blank canvas that has now evolved into something very special.

Southside has been running for almost 4 years now. We started right in the middle of Covid which was a very hard and tricky time for us, but we got through it, and it has led us to where we are today. Southside isn’t just a name it’s a brand, a brand that people can feel proud to wear and love as it’s something I give my all to.

Tell us about your team and your local community?

The Southside team are Jon, Arin, Rae and me. These 3 guys that I work alongside are the most unbelievable people I have come across.

Southside is a community within itself. Not only do we cut hair, but we create relationships with all our clients and our neighbours. Southside is somewhere our clients can come to relax and take all the weight off their shoulders, we give everyone who comes in the opportunity to open up to us and if there’s anything we can do to help them we will.

The team at Southside is handpicked and the reason to this is so we create a safe and happy space within our shop and in our community. Southside is a place where you are comfortable to just come in get a haircut, have a drink and play a game of table tennis without feeling unwanted or judged. We put in 150% with everyone who steps into our doors.

What makes Southside unique?

Take your first step into the doors of Southside to find out yourself.

Southside is a place where you can come and not even feel like you’re in a barbershop. We have a pool table, table tennis table, sports on the tv, a free drinks fridge, awesome music and a space that’s like no other. Southside was created as a space that no one can match, from every detail starting from the logo, to then the atmosphere in the shop right through the week is unmatched.

Southside was created to bring people to a place that they look forward to every week or every two weeks, people come in after a long week of work on their shoulders to then sitting in the chair and not having a single problem. We create a safe space for everyone to just take the time to relax and enjoy the time they have to themselves. Let’s not get it wrong, life’s crazy and even for us barbers when we take that first sit in that chair all our problems stop and we can just relax and have a good genuine honest and fun chat.

Tell us about your merch?

Our Brand Southside is a brand that we created for our customers to be proud to wear and promote. We continuously bring out new merchandise every few months to keep everything exciting and fresh. We put a lot of time and effort into our merchandise so not only can you wear it casually, you can wear it anywhere. I always had a dream to create something I can wear and be proud of, so I created something that not only I love but everyone does, we speak to all our clients about what they’d love to see, and we make that happen. Southside and its merchandise are something that will continue to grow and you’ll see more of.

You are a lover of the AFL can you tell us about this? Do you have the players in for haircuts?

I am a HUGE Collingwood supporter who grew up with a crazy aunty who made my brother, and I live and breathe Collingwood.

It was an absolute honour the day I had one of my favourite players walk into my store JACK CRISP. Jack is one of the most genuine down to earth people I have met, I have been cutting Crispy’s hair for over 3 years now and I can tell you he’s getting more grey every time... Crispy is also someone who I look up to in terms of family, he has 3 beautiful girls and his wife Miki, jack shows me what it is to have something so special in the word family.

Crispy is also someone who loves our Southside merchandise and he always repping it everywhere he goes. Jack has made a MASSIVE impact on Southside and our brand that we get people all over Australia coming to see us because of a simple post he makes to support us.

Mitch Owens from St Kilda also comes to Southside to get his haircut, and he is also another person who I speak highly of as he is someone who will do anything to help bring the Southside brand out to people and bring people in to get a haircut. Mitch is someone who will always try and do his best to help out, even though no one in the shop goes for St Kilda he will always offer to help out in any way he can to give back. It just goes down to respect and for us at Southside, respect goes the longest way.

We love having AFL players come in, it’s all genuine chats and good vibes getting to know their ins and outs about football and the little insights before the rest of Australia knows, we love learning about their lives and how hard they have to work and the immense amount of pressure they are under, to perform for all of their supporters so we take our hats off to them.

Can you tell us about your preferred Pro-One Clippers and why you love them?

Pro-One Clippers are a unique clipper, unlike the rest. It all starts from the power, it’s above everything else we use. Pro-One is a clipper that does it all, from the de-bulking to getting the zero lines out.

It’s an all round clipper which I recommend to all barbers starting out or have been cutting for years. They are very comfortable and light in your hands which makes it super easy to use and hold. They are a must for me.

How about your favourite powder product and what do you love about it?

At Southside we use American Barber, we have always from day one used American Barber. All products from them are very well produced, they all smell amazing, the results are always perfect, and our customers love it.

The American Barber Powder is super strong and lightweight which makes styling easy and effortless. I highly recommend this product and for barbers looking for a great brand for their shops to go with American Barber. You won’t be disappointed!

What do you love most about what you do?

I love my job; I get up out of bed every day knowing I get to do what I love most. Every day the boys and I always have a ball, and it makes my job 100 times better, it’s always something different every day and I couldn’t be happier with my career and my team.

I love a team-orientated work environment and assisting barbers in starting their journey where I can help them grow and succeed as not only a barber but a person. This is why I am so grateful for my team. Without them I don’t think my job would be as good. I get to hear Jons English accent every day and beat him in table tennis and I get to pick up all of Arin's mess that he leaves around.

Most of all, I love the fact that we are all open with each other regarding our work and welcome constructive criticism, this is all what makes us better individually and as a team. I am very lucky to have such a great team, and I can’t wait to continue to kick goals with them and create memories and great times as we grow the business together.

What’s on the agenda for the next 12 months?

That is something we cannot tell. A gentleman never tells. But if I had to say something I could say is… Stay Tuned, we have some cool and exciting stuff coming, with our team, our shop, our merchandise and our community.

@thesouthsidebarber