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Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

Hi everyone. Just received a new shipment of 100 STP300 Dorco Prime double edge blades and discovered a stock keeping unit (SKU) change confirmed via a review of their latest product catalog. The ST301 stainless Dorco blade package is no longer listed in the catalog, only the ST300, Primes and Titan blades remain. Also want to clarify what appears to be confusion between the ST301 and ST300 stainless blades, that based on how Dorco lists them together, appear to be the same blade in different packaging.

Prime Blade SKU/Packaging Change: My first shipment of Dorco Prime blades were STP301s that came in plastic tucks of 10 blades with a slot for used blades. Blades were wrapped in a single sheet of waxed paper. Latest shipment of primes came in cardboard tucks of 10 blades double wrapped. SKU number for this order is STP300. Downloaded the latest Dorco product catalog (link: https://www.dorcoglobal.com:6541/bbs/board.php?bo_table=brochure ) and see that on page 6 STP300 Primes are now the only SKU listed. The same is true for the Dorco website listing (link below). A year ago two Prime blade SKUs were listed in the catalog, the STP301's and the STP300's. Implication likely that Dorco may no longer be producing Prime blades in the STP301 plastic tuck packaging. Blades in both of my shipments are the latest HQ product produced in Vietnam. Cardboard tuck is marked with a UPC and bar code for individual sale unlike the plastic tucks in my first shipment. Amazon is confused by the SKU change as they list the STP300 Primes I ordered as STP301s while showing a picture of the STP300 box. Great value at $9.99 for 100 blades.

ST301 Dorco Stainless Steel Blades No Longer In Catalog: Interestingly the 2021 Dorco catalog no longer lists the ST301 Stainless Blades (in plastic tucks) that many of us also like. Only the ST300 stainless blades in the cardboard tucks. This 2021 catalog change implies Dorco may be rationalizing it's double edge packaging around a single cardboard tuck.

ST301/300s Likely the Same Chromium/Ceramic Coated Blade in Different Packaging: Based on how the Dorco website (https://www.dorcoglobal.com:6541/goods/goods.php?go_table=basic&gc_id=8&per=2 ) and the earlier 2020 catalog lists both of these SKUs it appears that the ST300s and ST301s may be the same stainless steel blade in different packaging. Have seen posts from some others indicating the same. Both packaging types are listed under a combined ST 300/301 heading with a single product description. Note that none of the ST300/301 packaging or catalog descriptions now mention any platinum coating. In the latest catalog the ST300s are noted as having a "Chromium Ceramic Coating" only. The latest catalog still lists the Titan STL300 double edge blades. The Titans, ST300s and Primes appear to be presented as "good", "better" and "best" options.

Given that since Dorco moved its double edged production to Vietnam and moved from the platinum to HQ blade the ST300 and 301's may only differ in their packaging it's interesting that many have reported significant differences in blade performance. While YMMV is always in play it shouldn't apply if the blades are identical. Possible explanations could be comparisons between the latest HQ blades and older Platinum stock or production quality variability. Many have posted that the older platinum blades made in Korea did not perform as well as the HQ blades from Vietnam. Also had 100 of the HQ/Vietnamese ST300s delivered with my Prime blades and will compare these to the ST301s from my earlier shipment. At $6.70 per 100 blades ST300s are a great value if they are the same as the ST301s. I get 8 - 10 shaves from both the primes and the 301s. Will update this post once I try at least a couple of the ST300s.

The above SKU rationalization fits with Dorco's overall strategy of driving growth by shifting demand to their growing product line of cartridge shaving systems in a fashion similar to other global manufacturers. If anyone can add clarifications on the above DE blade assortment changes based on direct communications/information from Dorco please do.
 
Interesting. I tried the ST300s and didn't care for them, but someone sent me some ST301s to sample and I really liked them. I wonder if they are truly the same blade, and I just got a bad batch on the ST300?
 
Interesting. I tried the ST300s and didn't care for them, but someone sent me some ST301s to sample and I really liked them. I wonder if they are truly the same blade, and I just got a bad batch on the ST300?
Hi AZBronco, How long ago did you try the ST300s? Were they the made in Korea Platinums or the newer made in Vietnam HQ technology blades? Agree there is always YMMV and the chance of manufacturing variability.

Just started using on of my ST300s and so far have two good shaves on the first blade, no perceived difference from my ST301s. Need to confirm blade longevity and try at least a second blade from the package.

Found the old post (link at bottom) I recalled reading where the B&B member reached out to Dorco back in 2008 and got back the answer that the only difference between the ST300s and 301s was the packaging. Consistent with the recent catalog postings that list three Blades: Prime (STP300 &STP301), Stainless Blade (ST300 & ST301) and Titan (STL300) with a 300 SKU number for all cardboard packaging and a 301 number for plastic tucks (that appear to have been discontinued for both Primes and Dorco in the latest catalog). Titans always with a 300 SKU# only.

Also attached a copy of the Dorco 2020 catalog page that still shows the STP301 and ST301 SKU numbers with the same blade name and features as the STP300 and ST300 versions. 2021 catalog page that no longer lists the 301 plastic tuck SKUs is also attached.

Bottom line is that Dorco has presented the 300/301 SKUs to the market as the same blade in different packaging consistent to what it communicated a number of years ago.

 

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Hi AZBronco, How long ago did you try the ST300s? Were they the made in Korea Platinums or the newer made in Vietnam HQ technology blades? Agree there is always YMMV and the chance of manufacturing variability.

Just started using on of my ST300s and so far have two good shaves on the first blade, no perceived difference from my ST301s. Need to confirm blade longevity and try at least a second blade from the package.

Found the old post (link at bottom) I recalled reading where the B&B member reached out to Dorco back in 2008 and got back the answer that the only difference between the ST300s and 301s was the packaging. Consistent with the recent catalog postings that list three Blades: Prime (STP300 &STP301), Stainless Blade (ST300 & ST301) and Titan (STL300) with a 300 SKU number for all cardboard packaging and a 301 number for plastic tucks (that appear to have been discontinued for both Primes and Dorco in the latest catalog). Titans always with a 300 SKU# only.

Also attached a copy of the Dorco 2020 catalog page that still shows the STP301 and ST301 SKU numbers with the same blade name and features as the STP300 and ST300 versions. 2021 catalog page that no longer lists the 301 plastic tuck SKUs is also attached.

Bottom line is that Dorco has presented the 300/301 SKUs to the market as the same blade in different packaging consistent to what it communicated a number of years ago.

Thank you for this information. Based on what you shared, I first tried the ST300–this was quite a while ago but I remember the box. I didn’t like that blade. The one I tried and liked was the STP Prime blade. I must have gotten the ST in the cardboard and the STP in the plastic and incorrectly thought 300/301 was the blade naming. Next time I get a blade order I think I’ll toss in some ticks of the Prime—it was a good blade for me.
 
The 300's I have from 5 years ago are murderous. The ones that @BaPh96 sent me are literally, top notch blades. I wanna say that they are 301.... Or I'm nuts.
The older Dorcos were awful IIRC. I don’t recall exactly, but I binned a bunch of them so I likely didn't like them. :letterk1:

The Dorco PRIMES I bought a Year or two ago are excellent blades. Also the cheapest 100 pack available in Canada. $8.80CAD/$7USD with free Amazon PRIME shipping.
 
🤔 Well if you're nuts then that makes at least 2 of us :letterk1:View attachment 1362958View attachment 1362959
These are the newer blades identified by both the HQ Technology mark and being made in Vietnam per your package. Same blades a lot of us are fond of. While YMMV always in play the older blades so many have bad memories of likely are labeled as Platinum blades on the front with no HQ technology mark and were made in Korea before Dorco moved production to Vietnam.

Many of these older blades still appear to be what is offered for sale based on some of the listings on Amazon and Ebay. When I purchased my first Prime and Stainless ST301 blades my initial thoughts as to why what became my best performing blades (other brands I use are Astra SP and Derby) were seen as poor performers my many others was YMMV. Later found that Dorco moved production a few years and upgraded its manufacturing technology to produce the HQ blades I was using.

Have a look at the link at the bottom of this post. An engineering & design company involved in the project is bragging about their involvement in the factory design that helped enable the new manufacturing processes. Makes Dorco somewhat unique in that it appears to have heavily invested in new technology for DE blades (as well as it's other products).

 
Shouldn't contribute to going off on a tangent on my own original post :001_smile but Derby is another manufacturer that, per posts from others, changed its blade manufacturing sometime in 2016. Thinner blade (.1mm to .09mm) and sharper hone to the blade. Post-2016 production Derby Extra blades were my first purchase (200 blade blue box) and they are a regular part of my rotation with Astra SPs and Dorcos. Typically get 4-5 good shaves from them versus 8 -10 from the Dorcos.
 
I just bought a box of Dorco Klass blades.

Six tucks of ten blades each in the box. Made by Dorco Vina Co. Ltd. in Vietnam.

They dont seem to be mentioned anywhere. Does anyone have any idea about these blades?
Hi Halfblade,

These are renamed Dorco blades sold in the by its Indian distributor/retailer Indo-National. You can see a picture of the Klass blade package in the attached press release regarding the launch of Dorco razors by Indo-National last year.

Based on the second attachment, that is a photo of the back of a Klass blade package on an Indo-National retailer (JoiMart - Link to listing is below) web site the Klass blades may be Dorco Titan blades per the SKU number shown of #STL300-12P(60SL). In the Dorco catalog STL300 is the SKU number for Titan blades. Looks like the 60SL refers to the blade count of 60. Interesting the 110.6 rupee price on the web site translates into $1.49 in U.S. dollars or 2.5 cents per blade.

The Klass box on the JoiMart site also notes that these are chromium and ceramic coated blades. That is the exact same coating noted for the Dorco ST300s in the latest 2021 catalog. In the 2020 catalog Titan blades are noted as double coated (no details on coating specifics) and a lot of on-line retail sites claim a double teflon coating or a teflon and platinum coating for these blades. Unless these are a special production run for Indo-National a reasonable conclusion from the above is that the Titan blades have the exact same ceramic and platinum coating as do the ST300/301 stainless blades.

Titan tuck copy on the 2021 Dorco catalog notes the blades are based on new cutting edge technology. Guessing this would be the HQ technology. Implication of this could also be that all of the Dorco blades are the same with the exeption of the Prime blades that have the double teflon coating. If true this is not the first time someone renamed a product with no changes to allow for a different market position.

As the Indo-National/Dorco relationship is new as of last year you likely have the newer production blades that we are fond of. How well do these blades work for you? Also where did you buy them. If the same blades and they work well these could be a great value opportunity.


 

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Hi Halfblade,

These are renamed Dorco blades sold in the by its Indian distributor/retailer Indo-National. You can see a picture of the Klass blade package in the attached press release regarding the launch of Dorco razors by Indo-National last year.

Based on the second attachment, that is a photo of the back of a Klass blade package on an Indo-National retailer (JoiMart - Link to listing is below) web site the Klass blades may be Dorco Titan blades per the SKU number shown of #STL300-12P(60SL). In the Dorco catalog STL300 is the SKU number for Titan blades. Looks like the 60SL refers to the blade count of 60. Interesting the 110.6 rupee price on the web site translates into $1.49 in U.S. dollars or 2.5 cents per blade.

The Klass box on the JoiMart site also notes that these are chromium and ceramic coated blades. That is the exact same coating noted for the Dorco ST300s in the latest 2021 catalog. In the 2020 catalog Titan blades are noted as double coated (no details on coating specifics) and a lot of on-line retail sites claim a double teflon coating or a teflon and platinum coating for these blades. Unless these are a special production run for Indo-National a reasonable conclusion from the above is that the Titan blades have the exact same ceramic and platinum coating as do the ST300/301 stainless blades.

Titan tuck copy on the 2021 Dorco catalog notes the blades are based on new cutting edge technology. Guessing this would be the HQ technology. Implication of this could also be that all of the Dorco blades are the same with the exeption of the Prime blades that have the double teflon coating. If true this is not the first time someone renamed a product with no changes to allow for a different market position.

As the Indo-National/Dorco relationship is new as of last year you likely have the newer production blades that we are fond of. How well do these blades work for you? Also where did you buy them. If the same blades and they work well these could be a great value opportunity.


I bought them from JioMart.

I haven't used them yet.

I wanted to know how aggressive they were before using them so that I could use them in the appropriate razor.

I already found out about the Indo-national Dorco connection earlier today, but wasn't able to find out it's aggression level.
 
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The Dollar General ?house brand? blades are made in Vietnam. I wonder if they are Dorcos. I bought some on a whim but haven't tried them.
Hi borwish, Dorco does show Dollar General as a trading partner on its corporate web site (link below) so it is possible, even likely given the made in Vietnam notation on your blade package. To know for sure we would need confirmation from either Dollar General or Dorco itself.

 
I bought them from JioMart.

I haven't used them yet.

I wanted to know how aggressive they were before using them so that I could use them in the appropriate razor.

I already found out about the Indo-national Dorco connection earlier today, but wasn't able to find out it's aggression level.
Hi Halfblade, Thank you for the information. JioMart looks like an interesting eRetailer with a lot of resources behind it enabling rapid growth. Suspect they will give Amazon a run for their money in India. Did you order these from a delivery location in India or does JioMart deliver to international locations such as Europe or North America? If so does their standard free shipping apply or is there an extra charge. They appear to have a lot of products not easily found in the U.S. where I'm located at great prices. Looks like Dorco is going after the Indian market aggressively positioning the Klass blade with "superior Korean technology" at prices that are way below Gillette products and also at or below the indigenous Indian DE brands from Malhotra and Supermax.

Suspect that after their legal troubles with Gillette in the U.S. (Dorco shut down their direct to consumer business here two years ago) they are focusing on driving share in the Asian markets where the shaving market may be less consolidated.

Since these blades are likely the same as Dorco Titans and also possibly similar to the Dorco Stainless Steel ST301s my recommendation would be to try them on that basis. I find the ST301s similar to the Astra SP blades in initial aggressiveness (roughly middle of the road though YMMV applies as some find them less sharp though smooth). No experience with the Titans though there are lots of positive posts on B&B regarding those blades.

Good luck!
 
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