Best NEW artisans?

[RicoSuave]

I'm familiar with (and own several soaps from) the "big dogs" - the Stirlings, the Barrister and Manns, Proraso, etc.

Just wanted to start a thread to highlight any NEW artisans that fellow members feel are running "UTR."

Again, these should be soaps produced by artisans who are relatively NEW to the scene (as opposed to unheralded products from more established brands).

What NEW artisans have you discovered that you feel are currently UNDER APPRECIATED?

Thanks for participating, gents!

 

[mladenius]

Lothur soaps are superb yet barely anyone is talking about them. Top class in my opinion.
Others equally good but rarely mentioned are Wickham, Phoenix and Beau and Pinnacle Grooming from UK.
There are also more exotic options - TDS from Belarus, Areffa from Ukraine and MOW from Russia (hard to get this last one in times of war)
And last but not least are two artisans from Serbia (where I hail from) which are at the same level as any artisan from USA - Dendi and Vreto.
There are also various top quality artisans from Europe which are rarely talked here because it seems that most people here are from US (Westman from Portugal, Extro Cosmesi from Italy, Meissner Tremonia from Germany, Laguar from Sweden and many many others.

 

[RicoSuave]

Agree about "Lothur."

Just top notch soaps, both in terms of scents and lather/performance (I own "Tears," and it smells and performs GREAT! )

That said, Lothur, Wickham, Phoenix and Beau, and Pinnacle have now been around for a few years, so I wouldn't consider them brand NEW artisans, circa 2024.

 

[Captain Howdy]

Adagio Road

Their kokum tallow goatsmilk pucks happens to be on sale for $4.99 a puck. Although I've no idea how new they are or aren't.

 

[Lane101]

I'm familiar with (and own several soaps from) the "big dogs" - the Stirlings, the Barrister and Manns, Proraso, etc.

Just wanted to start a thread to highlight any NEW artisans that fellow members feel are running "UTR."

Again, these should be soaps produced by artisans who are relatively NEW to the scene (as opposed to unheralded products from more established brands).

What NEW artisans have you discovered that you feel are currently UNDER APPRECIATED?

Thanks for participating, gents!

You may want to peruse the shaving soap posts from the past couple of years to get a better answer to your question. My sense is that with the pandemic there are fewer new entrants into wet shaving for both hardware and software with a trend towards consolidation over the past couple years. When I first started following B&B back in 2019 I recall lots of posts on new Artisan soaps. Now not so much.

P.S. Posted on this perceived trend in my retrospective thread a week or so ago. Link to post #86 below.

Historical Retrospective: B&B Shaving Soap Perspectives from 15 Years Ago

Ahhh ... brushes direct from Lee Sabini. 2002. Those were the days of Charles Roberts, one of the first importers of Simpsons' brushes into my area. Robert's inventory of Trumpers creams were incredible formulas. It was a new world - Simpson brushes of incredible quality, limes, lavenders...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[RicoSuave]

You may want to peruse the shaving soap posts from the past couple of years to get a better answer to your question. My sense is that with the pandemic there are fewer new entrants into wet shaving for both hardware and software with a trend towards consolidation over the past couple years. When I first started following B&B back in 2019 I recall lots of posts on new Artisan soaps. Now not so much.

P.S. Posted on this perceived trend in my retrospective thread a week or so ago. Link to post #86 below.

Historical Retrospective: B&B Shaving Soap Perspectives from 15 Years Ago

Ahhh ... brushes direct from Lee Sabini. 2002. Those were the days of Charles Roberts, one of the first importers of Simpsons' brushes into my area. Robert's inventory of Trumpers creams were incredible formulas. It was a new world - Simpson brushes of incredible quality, limes, lavenders...

www.badgerandblade.com

Interesting...

Although, I gotta believe there's always gotta be a few NEW entrants into the marketplace, especially with the end of the pandemic and a relatively strong economy.

 

[Lane101]

Interesting...

Although, I gotta believe there's always gotta be a few NEW entrants into the marketplace, especially with the end of the pandemic and a relatively strong economy.

Go through the soap acquisition thread. Took a quick glance from late July'23 forward and don't see a lot of new artisan soaps. Possibly HAGS and R. Tantra from July. Kox from Netherlands in November. (not sure if these are new Artisans or just new to B&B members). Very little action since the start of this year with Moon soaps, who is not new having been around about 5 years, mentioned.

Most recent purchases have been of vintage and known brands. Also a fair amount of activity over the past year acquiring discontinued soaps/formulations.

Suspect shaving soaps tend to be slow moving overall. Tabac is a fairly popular brand and Connaught Shaving sells it. Back in the fall of 2022, when I placed orders with them, they had an inventory of 135 Tabac refill pucks (new formula). With Brexit they have had challenges stocking brands from the continent so my guess is they bulked up Tabac inventory. They are now down to 69 refill pucks over about a year and a half. That's 66 pucks sold in 78 weeks or less than one puck per week of a relatively popular soap brand. I look at their inventory level on Tabac every now and then and it never went up, just sold off slowly.

While this is anecdotal evidence I suspect this type of inventory velocity makes it hard for new artisan manufacturers to succeed.

 

[AlphaFrank75]

Areffa Soaps from Ukraine, they're relatively new and can be found at Pasteur Pharmacy. You can also order directly from Areffa too.

These two are from Sweden and both companies have excellent vegan soaps:
Grön Lycka Cosmetics
KaliFlower Organics

Bartigan & Stark from Canada

 

[ZeelandsRoem]

Although, I gotta believe there's always gotta be a few NEW entrants into the marketplace, especially with the end of the pandemic and a relatively strong economy.

Most people in my generation (~30 years old) do not wetshave. In fact, many do not even know what a DE or straight razor is, let alone what are the benefits of using a brush and shaving soap to create lather.

Two weeks ago, we were dining out with another couple. Somehow, the topic of old and vintage stuff came up. Of course, then I threw in wetshaving as well. The guy (in his mid 30's) was approving my messages, claiming that he such an irritated neck because he's using the supermarket stuff. I told him to get a brush, a shaving soap and a DE or a straight razor. He said he doesn't know what to get, so I explained him for like 5-10 minutes. After this, I showed him a picture of a straight razor, to which, when they both saw it, jumped and said "So this is a straight razor, you say? Didn't know it's called a straight razor. But is it not dangerous to cut yourself?". I am sure they didn't know what a DE is either.

I briefly opened the topic at work once as well. Out of 10-12 guys in my team (all 35+), only one knew what a straight razor is. Nobody had a clue what a DE is, they only recognized it in pictures and all they knew was that it was the old thing their grandparents used.

I also offered a shaving set (DE, blades, soap and shaving brush) to my father in law. He installed the blades with the waxed paper on and tried to shave like that. It didn't work so he scuffed the paper on one side of the blade and tried again. It didn't work and he went back to his Mach 3. Brought back the whole set saying the Mach 3 still works better. When I saw the DE with the wrapped blade still in, I was speachless. I gave him a straight razor shave this year and he was impressed, saying it was by far the best shave he's ever had.

I could give more examples, but I think it won't be necessary. So yeah, what I am trying to say here is that not many are into wetshaving. As @Lane101 said, shaving soap sells slowly and there is a reason for it, unfortunately.

 

[bossman]

You should try Grooming Cult's Orion base soaps.
These are top tier soaps and in my top 3 amongst giants.

 

[AndyPanda]

345 Soap Co. I don't know how "new" they are, but definitely seems to be flying under the radar - at least I don't hear them mentioned much and their shaving soap is really good.

 

[sarimento1]

Sir RicoSuave, indeed it's never clear what defines an "artisanal shave soap"!

Over the years, I've fallen prey to dozens and dozens of "new" shave soap/cream makers over the years! They all seem to come and go, to one degree or another!

While I find myself falling back to 'tried and true' brands, I admit it's fun to chase down those rabbit holes!

Enjoy your hunting!!