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Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

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.
I didn't know that. I was using Dorco before I started with a DE as did the wife. They weren't trying to rip you off like the other companies. I still get their disposables off of Amazon for my folks. Did Gillette claim they copied their designs or something?
 
I didn't know that. I was using Dorco before I started with a DE as did the wife. They weren't trying to rip you off like the other companies. I still get their disposables off of Amazon for my folks. Did Gillette claim they copied their designs or something?
Yes, Gillette claimed patent infringement on its blades by Dorco (actually its U.S. subsidiary Pace Shave Inc. and Dollar Shave Club, owned by Unilever, who uses Dorco razors). The suit was settled in early 2019 after which, while never announcing the reason, Dorco shut down its U.S. direct to consumer e commerce business at the end of August of the same year moving sales of Dorco branded razors to Amazon. U.S. Dorco focus is now on private label.

Settlement Article:
https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinn...les-lawsuit-with-unilever-s-dollar-shave.html

Lawsuit Broadened to Include Pace Shave Article in 2016:

P.S. borwish, the link below lists the blades by Dorco as private label at Kmart, Dollar General and Family Dollar. Don't see any DE blades listed for Dollar General. At Kmart and Family Dollar the DE SKU is STD301. Based on catalog nomenclature this would be a Stainless Steel blade. See if your package has an STD301 SKU number on it.

 
I just tried some ST-300's that I received in a sample pack. The online reviews are pretty bad overall for these blades, so I wasn't expecting much. I am truly impressed! Way sharper than the Derby blades I have been using. Even better than the Astra Platinum for me. I am seeing the "Dorco Prime" blades for cheap, but am not sure that it would be a significant upgrade over the ST-300. They are currently my second favourite blade after Feather.
 
I tossed the packaging to save space. Just the blade container is huge and has no real information on it. I bought them because I figured they were Dorco and would be good for one of the cheapskate challenges. xswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwza *Added by the new puppy
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Revisited the three 2015 "Nick Shave" videos where he reviews the Dorco Prime (STP301), Stainless Steel(ST301, Nick refers to them as Platinums based on labeling used then) and ST300s. Based on the blade packages these all appear to be older production and for the ST301s and ST300s Nick notes they are made in Korea. None of these, including the Primes, have the Dorco HQ Technology logo on the packaging.

While Nick loved the Primes (per Nick these pre HQ technology blades were a cut above Astra SPs) his experience with the made in Korea ST301s and ST300s was similar to what many have reported. The ST301s were OK and a good value while he was dissatisfied with the ST300 performance. Interestingly the ST300s used by Nick also came in a plastic tuck with a slot for the old blades. Never saw ST300s in anything but all cardboard packaging before. Mentioning these videos as they they illustrate the very real basis for many of the poor blade reviews that don't reflect the improvements made by Dorco when production was moved to Vietnam and adapted their HQ technology that give many of us excellent shaves we are reporting.

Suspect that one reason for this confusion is that, at least here in the States, no one is marketing their double edge blades to us highlighting their newest features. Almost all marketing here is focused on cartridge shaving systems that drive profits for the often large manufacturers who see DE blades as an older and declining technology. As a result it is up to us, through trial, forums like this and social media, to discover and slowly communicate information on any product updates. Additionally the quantities of old inventory still available for sale adds to the confusion. Both old Platinum an new HQ Technology blades are sold on Amazon as ST301s since Dorco didn't change the model number. Derby's 2016 change in blade specs was never noted in any marketing or packaging beyond a broad "New Blade Technology" on the Blue packages of 200 blades. It took B&B members measuring the blades with a micrometer to discover the specifics of the change. Contrast that to every new shaving cartridge release where lots of feature/benefit details are communicated with the product launch. We are fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and active wet shaving community here.

Very different for the DE razors themselves, soaps and cremes where there is a lot of marketing that more clearly communicates the latest marketplace options available to us. Reason for this is an industry structure where these products are significant profit generators and often the focus for what are often artisan or start-up businesses.

P.S. After a hiatus Nick came back with a bunch of new videos in early 2020. YouTube link below.

https://www.youtube.com/c/nickshaves/videos
 
I just tried some ST-300's that I received in a sample pack. The online reviews are pretty bad overall for these blades, so I wasn't expecting much. I am truly impressed! Way sharper than the Derby blades I have been using. Even better than the Astra Platinum for me. I am seeing the "Dorco Prime" blades for cheap, but am not sure that it would be a significant upgrade over the ST-300. They are currently my second favourite blade after Feather.
Hi Morteus61,

So far I'm 5 good shaves into my first ST300 blade from a recent order and as a fellow Derby Extra and Astra SP user also agree with you. Will update once I go through the full lifecycle of at least a couple blades.

I've also been using the ST301 Stainless and STP301 Prime blades as part of my rotation for the past year and have found those blades to be similar getting 8-10 good shaves out of either (versus 4-5 from my Derbys and 5-6 from my Astro SPs). The Primes are a little rougher on the first shave as the extra coatings are worn off the cutting edge. As the ST300s are the same blade as the ST301s, in different packaging, I'm expecting the 300s to be similar to the Prime blades based on my experience with the 301s. Price difference is not significant on Amazon in the States. Just paid $6.70 for the ST300s and $9.99 for a new shipment of Primes (STP300 Primes in cardboard packaging) so either one is a value. Also for all of us YMMV. Just make sure what you are ordering is newer production made in Vietnam with the HQ technology.
 
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!
Thanks for the info.

I already have Dorco 300's, so I'll treat them as I would those.

Jiomart is a retailer that's taken up much space recently. It's owned by India's richest man.

They have physical malls/shops & are one of the main reasons Walmart hasnt been able to make inroads into India. The online eRetail business is new, & is in response to a similar endeavour from their main competitor DMart.

However, Walmart has been amazingly clever. They took a large interest in Flipkart, India's main competitor to Amazon. And then they had the founder & CEO resign due to a trumped up sex scandal. Flipkart has now overtaken Amazon for the control of the Indian market.

Dorco India is not priced below SuperMax, but are higher, though below Gillette.

You can see typical blade prices in India at


Dorco was forced to shut their business in the US due to legal problems - Gillette/P&G sued them for patent infringements, or so I'm told.

Edit: - Just noticed that you've already provided chapter & verse on the lawsuit!
 
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Up to 10 good shaves on my first ST300 Dorco Stainless blade as of today. Sense one or two more shaves possible. Consistent with the typical 8-10 good shaves from my Dorco Primes and ST301s. Will update again once I've gone through a second blade from my 100 pack to confirm this is not likely an outlier.

Shaves are identical to what I experience with the ST301s supporting the Dorco catalog that indicates the ST301s and ST300s are identical except for packaging.
 
Mentioning these videos as they they illustrate the very real basis for many of the poor blade reviews that don't reflect the improvements made by Dorco when production was moved to Vietnam and adapted their HQ technology that give many of us excellent shaves we are reporting.
Thanks for providing all of the useful information in this thread and, especially, the above information regarding the improvements in Dorco's technology. I'm in the camp of having pretty much dismissed Dorco blades based on my experience with a few Dorco blades produced a number of years ago, made in Korea. They did not impress me, to say the least. Recently I had the opportunity to try some new Primes and, to my amazement, I found them excellent. After reading this thread, I took a closer look at the package and, sure enough, the Primes I am using are from Vietnam.

So I'm late to the "new and improved" Dorco party, but I have say I am very impressed with current production Primes. Their performance compares very favorably with some of the top (and pricier) blades in my rotation. Well done, Dorco.
 
Up to 10 good shaves on my first ST300 Dorco Stainless blade as of today. Sense one or two more shaves possible. Consistent with the typical 8-10 good shaves from my Dorco Primes and ST301s. Will update again once I've gone through a second blade from my 100 pack to confirm this is not likely an outlier.

Shaves are identical to what I experience with the ST301s supporting the Dorco catalog that indicates the ST301s and ST300s are identical except for packaging.
Finished with the above ST300 Dorco Stainless blade yesterday after 12 shaves.
 
Now there is a DORCO SUPER SHARP blade.

View attachment 1502252View attachment 1502253
Thank you. Did you see a SKU number on these blades (Dorco number on the box/tuck itself, not retailer web site product number)? If so please post as it will clarify what these are.

Dorco sometimes takes its stainless blades and renames them for different countries. They sell Dorco Klass blades in India that have the same STL300 SKU number as their Titan blades so are likely the same blade. Those are also tagged with the "Advanced Korean Technology" line seen here. Since these are not listed separately in the corporate web site I'm guessing they are renamed Stainless (ST300/301) or Titan (STL300) blades. Would expect mention of additional features/benefits if these were rebranded Dorco Prime blades.

P.S. There is also the possibility that these are not real Dorco blades. Can't tell from available information. The Klass are real as they are in the on-line catalog of reputable Indian retailers such as JoiMart (may even be an exclusive SKU for JoiMart).

P.S.S. Found a listing for these on an arabic retail site (Piramoo Cosmetics Shop) that has the back of the box of 100 blades. Shows the STL300 SKU number so these are likely rebranded Titan blades. Saw a lot of listings for these on African retail sites such as Ghana too.
 
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I'm a total noob DE shaver and blindly bought a 100-pack of Dorco ST300s. I had nothing to compare them too and have been easing my way into the DE world. I bought a sample pack of Astra platinums (after reading countless raving reviews) and the Dorco blades give me far closer shave. Am I missing something? I use a cheapie Weishi butterfly DE razor.
 
I'm a total noob DE shaver and blindly bought a 100-pack of Dorco ST300s. I had nothing to compare them too and have been easing my way into the DE world. I bought a sample pack of Astra platinums (after reading countless raving reviews) and the Dorco blades give me far closer shave. Am I missing something? I use a cheapie Weishi butterfly DE razor.

I have used many different blades over the years, the majority have been ok, some have been terrible but a few have been excellent, one if those few is Dorco, including Prime and Titan. Dorco offer that perfect blend of quality, long lasting and low price, especially if you buy the 100 packs.
 
I'm a total noob DE shaver and blindly bought a 100-pack of Dorco ST300s. I had nothing to compare them too and have been easing my way into the DE world. I bought a sample pack of Astra platinums (after reading countless raving reviews) and the Dorco blades give me far closer shave. Am I missing something? I use a cheapie Weishi butterfly DE razor.
Hi Chabu, my primary razor is also a Weishi long handle. Find it an excellent razor with moderate aggressiveness that works well with all of my blades including Derby, Astra SP and Dorco (both Prime (STP300&STP301) and Stainless (ST300&ST301).

You are not missing anything. While the quality of my Dorco and Astra shaves are similar the Dorco's deliver more shaves for me. For Dorco I typically realize 10-12 shaves per blade versus around 5-8 for the Astra's.

I have all four of the above SKU Dorco blade SKUs. The only difference between these blades is that the Primes have an extra coating. Otherwise the different SKU numbers just denote plastic versus paper tuck packaging. The key to Dorco is to make sure you have newer made in Vietnam production. These are excellent blades. Older made in Korea production garnered a number of mixed reviews. Details on this are in the above posts on this thread.

Enjoy your shaves!
 
The Primes are a little rougher on the first shave as the extra coatings are worn off the cutting edge.

I noticed the same thing. I had the ST300's in the cardboard box. They were about $6/100 on Amazon.

By chance, I happened to run across the plastic box ST301's on sale and I purchased a couple of hundred of them, due to the sale price. Usually the 301's are a dollar more per-hundred ($7), owing to the plastic box. On sale they were $5/100. Couldn't beat that!

I find that they are the same blade, just in different boxes.

I recently acquired the Prime's. I too found the initial shave to be rougher than I expected it would be. I didn't know which blade was in the razor, until after the shave. I thought it might be one of the blades with six or seven shaves on it? Turned out, it was the Prime on shave #1.

As it happened, I shaved with the R41 this morning. It turned out to be shave #2 for the Prime. The shave was completely smooth all the way through the shave! My thoughts were the same as to the extra coatings on the Prime.

My Primes were $9.99 in the plastic box.

As a note: The 300's/301's are marked as stainless on the blade and package. But the cardboard 300 box does indicate NEW PLATINUM ST300 on the back of the box.

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As another note: The ST301's are $11.50 for 200. Making them less than the 300's by a few cents. This is a better deal and better still, if you enjoy the plastic package that handles the used blades. The plastic boxes themselves don't have any writing on them. They are just plain white plastic.

They have a terrific deal on 1,000 of the ST300's, for $38.20. This makes them just under 4-cents per-blade. Likely to be the best deal going on what I consider to be a high quality long lasting blade!
 
I noticed the same thing. I had the ST300's in the cardboard box. They were about $6/100 on Amazon.

By chance, I happened to run across the plastic box ST301's on sale and I purchased a couple of hundred of them, due to the sale price. Usually the 301's are a dollar more per-hundred ($7), owing to the plastic box. On sale they were $5/100. Couldn't beat that!

I find that they are the same blade, just in different boxes.

I recently acquired the Prime's. I too found the initial shave to be rougher than I expected it would be. I didn't know which blade was in the razor, until after the shave. I thought it might be one of the blades with six or seven shaves on it? Turned out, it was the Prime on shave #1.

As it happened, I shaved with the R41 this morning. It turned out to be shave #2 for the Prime. The shave was completely smooth all the way through the shave! My thoughts were the same as to the extra coatings on the Prime.

My Primes were $9.99 in the plastic box.

As a note: The 300's/301's are marked as stainless on the blade and package. But the cardboard 300 box does indicate NEW PLATINUM ST300 on the back of the box.

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As another note: The ST301's are $11.50 for 200. Making them less than the 300's by a few cents. This is a better deal and better still, if you enjoy the plastic package that handles the used blades. The plastic boxes themselves don't have any writing on them. They are just plain white plastic.

They have a terrific deal on 1,000 of the ST300's, for $38.20. This makes them just under 4-cents per-blade. Likely to be the best deal going on what I consider to be a high quality long lasting blade!
Hi, Yes the 300/301s are the same blades in different boxes. Could see that in some of the earlier Dorco product catalogs. Per the latest catelog it appears Dorco is shifting towards just the cardboard tuck 300's.

Note that the Primes smooth out after the first shave and then deliver excellent performance, likely they are the same blade as the Stainless ST 300/301s with an extra coating so no surprise. Typically see 10-12 shaves from both the Stainless and Primes.
Be careful on the box of 1,000, have seen some of those listed that are older made in Korea production that per other B&Bers have mixed performance.

P.S. Just saw the $38 Amazon listing you referred to. While they may be from Vietnam per customer pictures the listing may represent a scam from at least one of the 18 sellers listed as a number of customers were only shipped 100 blades. The shipping information shows dimensions and weight for a pack of 100 blades, not 1,000. Pasted below from the Amazon listing:
  • Product Dimensions ‏ ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 4 inches; 4 Ounces
  • Item model number ‏ ‎ ST300
 
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