Vielong closing down

[albsat]

Sad news. I always wanted to try a viet long horse hair brush.

I think the only people who buy brushes are the ones that are part of communities like this forum. It is premium product in small quantity (artisans) versus cheap prices in large quantities (China). I have 10 brushes but if I were away from this forum probably I would have just one.

 

[Raven Koenes]

I think people are just spending less. I have a pile of brushes and don't need more. I would love to buy more but those funds need to be redirected to food that costs so much more these days.

That is really sad news. I got a brown horse brush last year, it was cheap as well, and it's the softest most comfortable brush that I have. But yeah, hard to compete with 10 euro synths on Aliexpress. I think that generally those brushes perform quite well and it's really no longer justified to spend 40 euros on a badger which will not really give you a 4 times better result. I also got an Aliexpress synth and I really can't complain about its performance. The only reason I don't really use it as much is because I don't want Chinese plastics touching my face too much, but many people don't have such objections.

I just hope that Zenith and Omega will survive.

I can't speak for others, but synthetic brushes have supplanted any desire to use traditional fibers. Omega synthetic knots seem to be their own thing. That is good.

 

[Dennis Trigubetz]

I bought a Vie-Long Lea Classic horse hair brush about seven months ago which I will probably start using.

Because I re-lather several times and have fairly sensitive skin the softness of the horsehair is appealing.

 

[amateur]

Sad news. I always wanted to try a viet long horse hair brush.

I think the only people who buy brushes are the ones that are part of communities like this forum. It is premium product in small quantity (artisans) versus cheap prices in large quantities (China). I have 10 brushes but if I were away from this forum probably I would have just one.

I have four Omega boars. And they are certainly not premium. But I like them more than Chinese synthetic brushes. Even the best

 

[JohannSebastianBach]

Sad news. I love my Vie-Long brushes (especially the white badger ones).

 

[SydneyShaver]

Damn! VL was going to be my brush acquisition for next year...had to pick it up now, there are only 2 retailers with any stock left and I'm pretty sure I picked up the last one! Sad to see so many companies close their doors.

 

[ylekot]

My first brush was the red handle horsehair Vie-Long. I should revisit it in light of this sad news.

 

[Tathlum]

Ordered this brush from Fendrihan two days before this thread. If I would have known Vie-long was shutting down I would have ordered the black handled one as well.
Alfil horse hair 26mm x 53mm
I have no idea what Alfil means.

 

[APBinNCA]

I have no idea what Alfil means.

I had to look that one up, it means Bishop. I assume a reference to the chess piece.

 

[Dtownvino]

I think people are just spending less. I have a pile of brushes and don't need more. I would love to buy more but those funds need to be redirected to food that costs so much more these days.

This is the crazy truth. Every time I go to Europe I laugh at how cheap food is compared to the US now (and I’ve been over 10-11 times since 2020 so my references are up to date).

Healthcare as well. So we have 50 dollar jeans, they have 8 EUR wine and dinners for 20 EUR out.

As far as taxes Europeans have never seen US property taxes. All in, we pay as much without the healthcare and @Barbarian80 NJ is easily in the top 5 states… so you definitely know what I mean.

 

[Rudy Vey]

This is the crazy truth. Every time I go to Europe I laugh at how cheap food is compared to the US now (and I’ve been over 10-11 times since 2020 so my references are up to date).

Healthcare as well. So we have 50 dollar jeans, they have 8 EUR wine and dinners for 20 EUR out.

As far as taxes Europeans have never seen US property taxes. All in, we pay as much without the healthcare and @Barbarian80 NJ is easily in the top 5 states… so you definitely know what I mean.

Healthcare is definitely the biggest spending item for us as retirees here in the US. I think for my wife and myself we spend well over $900 for the insurances (Med B, Suppl insurance, a little dental and a drug plan) and then about $600 a month for co-pays for drugs (she is a heart patient with COPD and I am diabetic). The latter cost I had not expected to be so high.
To be honest, after living a big part of my life in Germany and now some 28 years here, the taxes are in principle the same. Over there they are just taken out of your paycheck and here we pay them ourselves. Property taxes are just for the property, and are maybe $400-600. Schools, police etc is paid from the taxes that are taken out of your paycheck. Education is also mostly free or costs very little.

 

[Boti2634]

It’s really a shame. Vie-Long used to make really good brushes at very fair prices and the 16510 red and swirly white was a frequent SotD cover model in its time. It has been very hard to find stock of their more premium brushes for some years now and I wasn’t completely surprised to hear they have closed. They either weren’t making many brushes or retailers weren’t stocking them for some reason.

There’s clearly an issue in the industry, and seemingly with retail altogether. So many brands and stores are disappearing. Restaurants seem to be really struggling too, as I keep reading. I suppose it’s a toxic combination of the covid pandemic, followed by sharply rising interest rates, food and housing costs when customers and businesses could least afford it. And retail wasn’t smooth-sailing before covid either. I also believe we never really came out of the 2008 economic crash and it is still continuing in various ways. It just brings it all home when you see such long-lived brands disappearing when they must have survived through so many previous tough times.

I will cherish the lovely Vie-Long brushes that I am fortunate to have. I’m sad there will be no more.

View attachment 1720045

View attachment 1720047

Beautiful brushes, Mr. Shavington. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Boti2634]

Sad news. I love my Vie-Long brushes (especially the white badger ones).View attachment 1722170

Beautiful brushes, sir. Cheers!

 

[CJB3]

What a shame. Although I was taking a break on buying brushes, this news was enough to push me to buy one of the Epsilon Vie-Long two-bands that you have raved about, @Rudy Vey.

 

[Seer]

The horse shave brush has carried a black eye since the anthrax scare. Recently I purchased a Zenith Horse extra soft and was literally shocked with the luxurious quality. So now it is one of my top brushes.

 

[InkStainedWretch]

The horse shave brush has carried a black eye since the anthrax scare. Recently I purchased a Zenith Horse extra soft and was literally shocked with the luxurious quality. So now it is one of my top brushes.

I too recently acquired a Zenith extra soft horse hair brush. Superb! I also have a Vie-Long that got me into horse hair brushes.

 

[AZBronco]

It feels like there was a long period of people building collections from roughly 2010 - 2018. I think things started to slow just a bit pre-COVID, but now that we're post COVID, people are rethinking how they spend money. When I was really active here a few years ago, lots of people would post massive collections of brushes, razors, soaps, and blades. I was one of those--I have 8 or 9 brushes and 40 or 50 razors. I never got into hoarding blades--I haven't bought any in years now, and still have 200 or so. I realized my brushes will last until I'm dead. I was going to sell off my razors, but I have some kids who are sentimental about them and want them when I die (hopefully at least 30 years away, still!).

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one who stopped hoarding. I've gotten a bit more active here again recently, and I'm sad to see some of the artisan soap makers I used to buy from have either closed shop or only produce their best sellers. I'm not going to lie, though--it's hard for me to justify spending $25 - $30 for an artisan soap when Proraso, Cella, and other old-school barbershop soaps and creams can be found for $10.

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

To be honest, after living a big part of my life in Germany and now some 28 years here, the taxes are in principle the same. Over there they are just taken out of your paycheck and here we pay them ourselves. Property taxes are just for the property, and are maybe $400-600. Schools, police etc is paid from the taxes that are taken out of your paycheck. Education is also mostly free or costs very little.

That pretty well sums it up. Generally, in the EU the state is the provider and so the cost for providing is taken out of paychecks. Here in the US it is not as much the provider and so the citizens pay directly. This has the advantage (my opinion only) of the US being decentralized and the citizens deciding for themselves in a competitive marketplace. The downside is that these expenses are very "real" to US citizens as they pay for them. In the EU it is just part of the fabric of life and so is just how life is. For EU citizens it feels like it has less personal impact because it is covered for them. But not really - they are paying for it but it is not as evident.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Got my Vie-Long synth yesterday and tried it this morning. It's a nice, utilitarian handle, painted wood, it appears. The knot is interesting. I don't have a ton of synths to compare it to, closest might be the Plissoft in my Razorock 400. Compared to that, the Vie-Long is at least equally as soft, slightly finer, and less springy so it splays better. It also holds more water than I expected. Anyway, a nice addition to the stable.

 

[ewk]

Cool. I am afraid USPS may have lost mine. Dropped off the tracking site. Too early to lose hope, but prior experience worries me.