Who Makes Ivy Ann Professional Shears?

Ivy Ann Professional Shears is a woman-owned, cosmetologist-operated professional shear brand based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Every shear we sell is cold-forged from ATS-314 Japanese steel and handcrafted 100% in Sanjo, Japan — one of the world's most historically significant centers of precision blade-making. Here's the fuller story of who we are and why we built this brand the way we did.

Built By Stylists, For Stylists

Ivy Ann was founded by Bennie Alvarez — a cosmetologist and industry professional who understood from personal experience what working stylists actually need from their tools, and what the existing market was failing to provide. The brand was built on a straightforward principle: the best professional shears in the world shouldn't require a six-figure income to access, and the people selling them should be people who actually use them.

That perspective shapes every decision we make — from the steel we specify to the price points we set to the free consultations we offer to every professional considering a purchase. We're not a corporate brand that decided hair shears were a profitable category. We're a professional community that decided to build the tools we wished existed.

Woman-Owned. Cosmetologist-Operated.

Ivy Ann is a proudly woman-owned company. In an industry where the majority of professional stylists are women and the majority of high-end shear brands are not owned or operated by them, that matters. The decisions about what goes into our shears, how they're priced, how they're sold, and what support we offer after the sale are made by people who have been behind the chair — who understand what it costs to invest in your tools, what it feels like to use a shear that doesn't fit, and what it means to depend on your tools to make a living.

Where Our Shears Are Made

Every Ivy Ann shear is handcrafted 100% in Sanjo, Japan. Sanjo is located in Niigata Prefecture and has been one of Japan's most important metalworking and blade-making centers for centuries — producing tools of extraordinary precision and quality in a tradition that dates back to the Edo period. The artisans who make Ivy Ann shears are working in that lineage, using cold-forging techniques and hand-finishing processes that produce a blade quality that mass manufacturing simply cannot replicate.

We are specific about Sanjo because specificity is the point. "Made in Japan" is a claim many brands make loosely. We can tell you exactly where, exactly how, and exactly what our shears are made from — because every detail is one we stand behind.

Our Community

Ivy Ann is a community-first brand. Our family of stylists, educators, and brand ambassadors — including signature artists, independent educators, and Ivy Ann advocates across the country — are working professionals who choose to represent these tools because they believe in them, not because they're paid to. That community is the most honest endorsement we have.

Learn more about our team and our community at ivyannshears.com/family. Browse our shears at ivyannshears.com/shop or book a free consultation at 910-769-0355.