NEW GILLETTE DE Razor
- Thread starter DEUK01
- Start date
A new Gillette. I’ll be darn!!
- Thread starter
- #63
Ouch, that looks nice!
I hated the radio knob handle from m RR that came with my GC .84. Over time, it became one of my favorites. If this handle doesn’t grow on me and I want that box, might get another Heritage and use the extra cap for my thread rot challenged EJ.
- Thread starter
- #65
Have you seen the Amazon Exclusive EJ Kelvin? Same size as the Heritage. You may like the Kelvin.
IMO Gillette looks like a confused company. Or at least one that has little heart in DE side of things. I can imagine why a company that has spent billions on marketing the advantages of multi blade cartridge razors with videos, so called scientific studies and articles wants to go the DE route and how they intend to convince their regular Mach 3 or Fusion shavers they need to switch to DE again. I mean as their marketing guy I would be ripping my own hairs right now.
Secondly the reason I feel this is a half hearted attempt is because they have not invested in any manufacturing in the USA. I mean they could have gone the 'Proudly Made in The USA' route and made a difference. Like Merkurs or Muhles take a certain pride in their Made in Germany label. Not sure if even their manufacturing setup in China is owned by them or they are getting these made by an ODM.
Third reason I think is they are going through this Walgreens route. It's like Wilkinsons selling through pharmacy stores. They people buying here are not the enthusiast collector types.
Packaging looks good and decent. But I don't think Gillette is giving up on their multi blade products which form their bread and butter and going in a new direction. This seems more like the 'fill the gap' kind of product placement.
Secondly the reason I feel this is a half hearted attempt is because they have not invested in any manufacturing in the USA. I mean they could have gone the 'Proudly Made in The USA' route and made a difference. Like Merkurs or Muhles take a certain pride in their Made in Germany label. Not sure if even their manufacturing setup in China is owned by them or they are getting these made by an ODM.
Third reason I think is they are going through this Walgreens route. It's like Wilkinsons selling through pharmacy stores. They people buying here are not the enthusiast collector types.
Packaging looks good and decent. But I don't think Gillette is giving up on their multi blade products which form their bread and butter and going in a new direction. This seems more like the 'fill the gap' kind of product placement.
Gillette is getting more and more competition in carts as well; Shaveclub, Harry's, Personna, and diverse store brands etc. It could be that Gillette has determined that the future big bucks in shaving are not in the blades but in the creams, soaps and after shaves. If that is the case, why bother with carts and such BS? Or even making your own razors and blades? They are after all only marketing gimmicks.
Gillette already has a strong position in canned goo and gels. And P&G kind of knows a thing or two about soaps, creams, cosmetics, and fragrances. You could say that they even are the market leader in that field. Apart from Gillette, P&G owns brands like Ivory, Snowberry, Olay, Old Spice, and SK-II. Skincare is what they do. They have the in-house know-how to release some seriously interesting stuff for us wet-shavers.
Note that they have created a new (sub-)brand for this. "King C. Gillette" rather than just Gillette, and that they are harking back to a previous era. With their Heritage packaging they went back to 1948, and now they seem (looking at the logo) to be reaching back to the turn of the last century. It will be interesting to see if they follow through on this. Since they are not making money on this brand yet, I guess that it is a marketing effort. Probably to establish the brand, using a product they already "own", in order to later extend it with something more profitable; or maybe just to repair and prop up what they already have.
If I were running P&G, I would be most interested in leveraging the Gillette brand with some of the firms core competencies in cosmetics and vice versa to extend the competencies of their female oriented skin brands to the male market.
Gillette already has a strong position in canned goo and gels. And P&G kind of knows a thing or two about soaps, creams, cosmetics, and fragrances. You could say that they even are the market leader in that field. Apart from Gillette, P&G owns brands like Ivory, Snowberry, Olay, Old Spice, and SK-II. Skincare is what they do. They have the in-house know-how to release some seriously interesting stuff for us wet-shavers.
Note that they have created a new (sub-)brand for this. "King C. Gillette" rather than just Gillette, and that they are harking back to a previous era. With their Heritage packaging they went back to 1948, and now they seem (looking at the logo) to be reaching back to the turn of the last century. It will be interesting to see if they follow through on this. Since they are not making money on this brand yet, I guess that it is a marketing effort. Probably to establish the brand, using a product they already "own", in order to later extend it with something more profitable; or maybe just to repair and prop up what they already have.
If I were running P&G, I would be most interested in leveraging the Gillette brand with some of the firms core competencies in cosmetics and vice versa to extend the competencies of their female oriented skin brands to the male market.
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Most people buy their razors at grocery stores and drug stores.
They are doing a lot better than filling a gap I think. Can’t keep any of these things in stock. The collector goes to Pasteur Pharmacy in New York. The average guy can now get these razors at the local Walgreens. Been a while.......
- Thread starter
- #69
I totally agree with you Thall. DE wet shaving was lost and forgotten by the late 90's due to mass market multi blades. The DE market was niche. With the DE uprising in resent years with millennials, anti plastic shoppers and the fall out of the Gillette advert, now is a better time then ever for Gillette to dip there toe back into the DE market.
Got mine today.
Picked up one today just because and shaved with it tonight. Achieved my usual 3-pass BBS result. As I expected the handle is, as we say in Texas "slicker'n snot". I dropped it in the sink straight away, doh! In all seriousness, no matter where it's made the finish is beautiful and it seems to be very mild. The only thing I can really ding is the questionable logo on the cap, a classic Gillette diamond logo would have been a much better fit. Just one man's opinion though.
If I switched handles, I figure it would be exactly the same.
The guy is entitled to his opinions. This Chinese types of clones that Gillette keeps pushing is nothing less than embarrassing. No innovation, using other's companies to make them, making people guess and search for where the heck they are produced, makes me doubt the sanity and morality of those who buy their crap.
Innovation in DE razors? LOL! I think that ended about 60+ years ago.
C'mon,man! Rockwell, Mulhe, Edwin Jagger...There are still people out here investing in R&D and advancing the shaving world. Also, lots of companies that maintain their own history and products like Merkur, Fatip, etc.
They are just tweaking the old designs; just varying blade exposure and / or blade gap.
Interesting that the heritage inspired razor and the Walgreens KingC Gillette are actually the same head design {DE89 & Merkur HD}. I can see some inspiration in the common bar handle but the latest handle is an ugly duckling, a variation on the Bevel razor handle.
Designed for edging. I read that as marketed at bearded types.
Probably is. Funny thing, I don't have much luck edging with my DEs. My Gem is a bit better, but I just use my Microtouch Solo beard trimmer without a guard to do my edging.
If I'm growing a goatee I prefer a shavette, but I few times I've grown a short beard and used a R41 for neck and cheek lines. It worked well. Lotsa blade hanging out would be preferable.
I mean a lot of 'bearded' types aren't actually bearded types. A lot just have a few mm of stubble. A milder DE would do the job well enough for that.
