Adult stem cells maintain tissue homeostasis and regeneration through-out the lifetime of an animal.However, it remains unknown how stem cell fate is established.Here, using hair follicle as a paradigm, we show that putative stem cells emerge at hair peg stage before a visible bulge structure is present.These early-specified hair follicle stem cells are dispensable and can be replaced by cells occupying the same niche location in vivo during development.The stem cell fate inducing niche location is uniquely associated with attenuated Wnt/β-catenin signaling in epithelium cells.The tamed Wnt/β-catenin signal is required for hair follicle stem cell specification.