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Can you ever imagine one of the big, old shaver companies manufacturing classic DE shavers again?

With all the companies like Parker, Merkur, etc. making quality razors, there is no real sense for them to remake their razors when so many of these companies are making near copies of them.
 
If tomorrow there were no more DE/SE razors and blades, I'd move back to carts with no drama and keep having great shaves. There's nothing magical about taking stubble with a DE/SE.
 
If tomorrow there were no more DE/SE razors and blades, I'd move back to carts with no drama and keep having great shaves. There's nothing magical about taking stubble with a DE/SE.
Not me. I have GEMs and SEs and shavettes and straight razors. I wouldn't have any reason to go back to carts.
 
Wilkinson Sword does have their new metal safety razor here in Germany at least. Yes, we've discussed that it's not made in-house, but at least they were interested enough to put their name on a new safety razor.
 
I agree with your statement that it's a small market for them. I know all of one person outside of my household who shaves with a double edge razor. Everyone else I know uses carts. And one guy even uses his wife's Venus, yes, on his face, because "it already has all the gel lubricants on the head." Eeeewwww. Nah, no market for double edge razors. It's only for small niche players or the ones we already have like Edwin Jagger, Merkur, Parker, Muhle, etc.

Actually, come to think of it, I too know only one person who uses a DE. Even though I have given a couple as gifts over the years :001_07:.
 
All good points guys. Maybe it is pure fantasy to imagine Gillette making some grand tribute product to their century of work on shaving products. I guess it would be like asking General Motors to remake the 1967 Corvette.
 
All good points guys. Maybe it is pure fantasy to imagine Gillette making some grand tribute product to their century of work on shaving products. I guess it would be like asking General Motors to remake the 1967 Corvette.

With large corporations the only kind of tribute they understand is one where you hand them piles of money.
 
Gillette. Schick. Bic. Wilkinson Sword. And there are a bunch of others.

Could you imagine one of these companies making a classic DE again?

I don't think it could possibly happen. I wouldn't bet on it, but you never know. You see oddities like this in the marketing world now and then. If, say, Gillette decided to make the Fatboy again with a few modern touches, they would probably go to an existing new DE maker for some help. It could be a tribute to Gillette, perhaps for an anniversary. They know there is some small market for these razors and it might be an interesting experiment for them.

Could this happen?

The manufacturing infrastructure literally doesn't exist anymore in the US.

My guess is that a mass market single blade razor would have to be made out of plastic, just to make it affordable and mass producible. Given some of the advanced plastics out there now, that should be doable.

The Gillette Treo is proof enough there are still low-tech niches out there that razor companies have not filled.
 
Nope! We are a niche market.

The Third World is the main market for traditional wet shaving. The large companies are trying to move Third World shavers to carts and disposables.

Most DE's in the developing world are very poor quality. Fragile plastic, stamped metal and uneven blade exposure, for instance, are very common. I've shaved with that type of razor, years ago before the current renaissance in double edge razors (it had a blade exposure almost like a slant, and my first DE shave involved razor burn). Something like the Gillette Guard is a huge improvement for the poor in India or Pakistan, in comparison.

The TTO Gillette Superspeed was really quite a feat and it's taken decades for the Chinese to be able to manufacture anything on par with it.. TTO razors can't even really be manufactured affordably in the US anymore, the metalworking just isn't there.
 
Actually, come to think of it, I too know only one person who uses a DE
Same for me, and I'm the one who got him started! He was a former co-worker, and I used to come in to work with new-to-me vintage razors, and I let him smell the soaps that I used to have delivered to work. He ended up buying a Merkur 34C and trying out a bunch of different soaps, and we'd compare notes everyday. I haven't talked to him in a while, so I assume he still uses his DE.
 
I wish someone would re-produce the pre-war tech in stainless steel! That would be amazing. I have only had my tech for a little over a week, and I can already tell, it is a forever razor! Would love an all stainless version! Please Gillette!!!! Stop with the heated razors, and make me what I want!
 
Wilkinson Sword does have their new metal safety razor here in Germany at least. Yes, we've discussed that it's not made in-house, but at least they were interested enough to put their name on a new safety razor.

Actually, I am in North America and just today I saw a Wilkinson Sword metal DE in Walmart. So... they're doing it! Someone has had the sense to take a gamble here. I don't have any desire to buy this Wilkinson Sword DE as I have all kinds of great DEs, and plus it seemed a bit light when I picked it up. But I still think its great. Maybe some guys will try this and get into it. Prior to today, I cannot recall when I last saw a DE on the shelves of a major US retailer.
 
If -- BIG if - that Wilkinson DE were to be a major success, then maybe Gillette would do the same, and also with something farmed out to another company just with the Gillette name on it. If they see success with it then it might not hurt to try.
 
The fact is that if Gillette (or any other big corporate) feels that there is enough market potential, they will enter. They could feel, for example that the online cart business like Harry's is gaining and bringing down their prized cart sales. It might become worth their while to get more serious about the de market. We shouldn't kid ourselves - they don't need to manufacture in North America. They just need to be sure that they can generate a sales/revenue stream and the question is how do they do that in other than the cart market?

One of the real conundrums in the wet shaving industry is if you make a quality product you defeat the well worn principle of product obsolescence. We have straight razors dating back 200+ years and safety razors more than 100. They are simple devices with few moving parts - they are built to last for hundreds of years. Gillette could build the greatest razor of the 21st century and they might capture the attention of the market for a year or two. But what is their long term strategy? I don't think they can see one.

So.... I don't see any reason that we will see a major competitor in the hardware business. My $0.02.
 
A good DE is something you buy and use for life. There are some exceptions and I have heard of heads falling of good DEs, but most guys report that their DEs have had decades or even generations of use with no problems. Unlike cars, fridges, or cartridge razors, DEs last forever.
 
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