Rumors: Gillette DE blade!?

[KiltedShaver]

Hey Guys,
When we had our meetup this past Saturday the guy giving a straight razor demonstration had just recently come back from Gillette getting his Art of Shaving certification. There were many good tips he gave during the presentation, but one stuck out to me.

He said that the same guy that worked on the Proglide blades is working on developing a new DE blade!! It is supposed to be in developement and on market within the next year (? I think I remember him saying this on the timing) Anyone else know about this??

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[Go West Young Man]

FWIW, my wife met a senior exec from AoS last week and they got to talking about my unhealthy shaving obsessions <grin>. The lady from AoS said that they were getting ready to roll out something big, all she could say was that it's a new razor and it's very different from anything they carry now.

Bated breath!

 

[RandalltheRed]

Of course this could also just be the brand new 22 blade cartridge razor

 

[DFrancis]

Very interesting, curious to see what happens.

 

[SUNA]

Please be an injector!!!!

 

[gearhead]

Let's face it... If Gillette IS coming out with a new DE blade and razor to match, it'll still be overpriced. Gillette's thinking will be that if they roll out (with their usual high dollar ad-saturation fanfare) a new DE razor and blades at half the price of their carts, then we'll be overjoyed to be paying a little less. In the end, I'll still be buying Egyptian, Russian or Isreali DE blades over the internet for 12-15 cents a piece while Gillette's 'new' DE blades sell for many times that. As it is, store-branded DE blades at CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens often cost $5-$8 for a 10 pack.

 

[SUNA]

Let's face it... If Gillette IS coming out with a new DE blade and razor to match, it'll still be overpriced. Gillette's thinking will be that if they roll out (with their usual high dollar ad-saturation fanfare) a new DE razor and blades at half the price of their carts, then we'll be overjoyed to be paying a little less. In the end, I'll still be buying Egyptian, Russian or Isreali DE blades over the internet for 12-15 cents a piece while Gillette's 'new' DE blades sell for many times that. As it is, store-branded DE blades at CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens often cost $5-$8 for a 10 pack.

I saw a 10 pack of Wilkinsons for $14.99!!!

 

[Mike Schutz]

Knowing P&G, they won't let Gillette do anything unless they can make some money. If they can come up with a good product in the DE arena, great. But I'm not going to hold my breath. In the mean time, keep buying some AOS product so they don't have an excuse to reformulate product or shut it down.

 

[Uncle Erik]

If Gillette comes out with a new DE blade, I'll give it a try. They'll probably be overpriced, but I'd like to see what they can turn out.

A new DE razor wouldn't surprise me, either. Gillette must see the sales figures of Merkurs at AoS; if sales are good enough, they might roll out a new DE to take part of that market. They're surely aware of the Feather SS and Pils - maybe we'll get a nice new SS from Gillette. This might be a good thing!

 

[ateace]

Pardon me if I don't hold my breath.

 

[cswann1]

Knowing P&G, they won't let Gillette do anything unless they can make some money. If they can come up with a good product in the DE arena, great. But I'm not going to hold my breath. In the mean time, keep buying some AOS product so they don't have an excuse to reformulate product or shut it down.

Well, as much as I love to bash the greedy corporations of the world, they do need to turn a profit to pay employees with.

I'll certainly give any Gillette blade a spin (after I read a few favorable reviews) but if they start making a DE razor, it'll have to be a) as good and less expensive b) way better for only a little more money than my Edwin Jagger for me to want one.

 

[Kevan]

This is extremely interesting. If this is true and Gillette is about to roll out a new DE razor and blades, what format will it take? I'm inclined to believe it will be a metal head/plastic handle job along the lines of a Treet Starline or G1000. I'd be EXTREMELY surprised if they came out with a Superspeed redux (i.e. nickel plated, brass construction). On the other hand, I agree that it will probably be in line with Gillette's current pricing structure. The blade prices will be exorbitant (like the $12 Merkur blades at AoS).

And even if they do this, won't it run counter to almost 20 years of marketing multi-blade carts as superior? Are they doing this specifically to appeal to us?

 

[Timbit]

Perhaps it'll be a razor witha proprietary blade, and a marketing campaign that rides on the Mad Men nostalgia coattails.

 

[Maineac]

I was in Sam's Club the other day and of course I was looking over the shaving stuff. At that time I happened to observe that the new Schick blades were about half the price of the Fusion blades.

I have tried them both and it is my opinion that the Schick (Hydro) is of equal or better quality as the Gillette Fusion.

The bottom line to this may be that Gillette has lost some market share that they will try to regain. IMHO the big to do over the "new" Fusion was pretty much a marketing ploy.

I have nothing against any company making a profit but charging $3-$4 for a cartridge that costs them well less than $.25 to make seems a bit excessive.

 

[gearhead]

This is extremely interesting. If this is true and Gillette is about to roll out a new DE razor and blades, what format will it take? I'm inclined to believe it will be a metal head/plastic handle job along the lines of a Treet Starline or G1000. I'd be EXTREMELY surprised if they came out with a Superspeed redux (i.e. nickel plated, brass construction). On the other hand, I agree that it will probably be in line with Gillette's current pricing structure. The blade prices will be exorbitant (like the $12 Merkur blades at AoS).

And even if they do this, won't it run counter to almost 20 years of marketing multi-blade carts as superior? Are they doing this specifically to appeal to us?

They'll spin it as a 'retro' or 'green' alternative to their carts, and completely dance around the issue of whether or not it's as good as their multiblades.

 

[Kevan]

Perhaps it'll be a razor witha proprietary blade, and a marketing campaign that rides on the Mad Men nostalgia coattails.

I wouldn't put it past them to try that, actually. Though I just realized....will the razor be a mass-marketed thing ("Gillette") or done through AoS as part of a new line exclusive to them? If it's AoS It'll probably be a 3-piece design with a frou-frou handle that they'll charge $80 for. If it's Gillette and sold in supermarkets, it could be anything from a basic TTO to a copy of the 7 O'Clock 3-piece designs.

 

[DunEdinRanger]

Let's face it... If Gillette IS coming out with a new DE blade and razor to match, it'll still be overpriced. Gillette's thinking will be that if they roll out (with their usual high dollar ad-saturation fanfare) a new DE razor and blades at half the price of their carts, then we'll be overjoyed to be paying a little less. In the end, I'll still be buying Egyptian, Russian or Isreali DE blades over the internet for 12-15 cents a piece while Gillette's 'new' DE blades sell for many times that. As it is, store-branded DE blades at CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens often cost $5-$8 for a 10 pack.

I've seen them at ACME, next to the RRoad Runner traps, for around $9.Meanwhile, Shop Rite has them for $2.29 and Pathmark/A&P for about the same price - but their blades are made in Korea, and probably the Dorco ST 300's.

 

[GLteam]

We at The Groom Room, follow very closely... men's grooming trends. After all, men's grooming is our bread and butter. One of the things we've seen over the last 20 or so years, is that men's grooming is a supply and demand market. There is increasing demand for DE's and supplies associated with such. Follow the logical trend, and where does it take you? We've seen such a huge spike in the use of DE's, that we hold shaving clinics at the Groom Room every-other month, as the numbers don't lie. Manufacturers will produce products that consumers want to use. Don't be surprised if Gillette, or Schick, etc... begin producing DE products, as they will want to capture as much of this market boom as possible (whether it be marketed as 'retro', 'classic shaving', or what have you). Men's grooming is no longer considered a niche market, but is studied to be a driving market now. I am amazed and pleased, by the number of men that are leaving such 'hairsalons' as Great Clips, Sport Clips, etc... and are coming to places like The Groom Room. We've even considered opening a shave store, as this seems to be what our 'market' is seeking. Men are demanding better for themselves, and if people in the men's grooming business don't answer their demand, they'll go the way of the dodo.

Therefore, this is why the Groom Room holds our shave clinics... to instruct and teach men how to shave with DE's, and how to use wet shaving supplies. Yes, we are slightly ahead of the market, but at least our clinic attendees will be ready when DE shaving hits on the larger market share. Proraso is opening barbershops in Florence, then plan to expand to the European market, and finally expand here in the U.S. What is this telling us?

I think you see what's coming!

 

[DE Shaver]

I thought I would be above it but I'm interested in what Gillette has to offer. I guess I'm a bit of a sucker.

 

[mdunn]

tbh, i cant see them coming out with a single blade razor.

all their adds etc are about the benefits of lots of blades, so they cant really contradict that with a new DE and still sell their cartridges (which are their bread and butter).

I suspect it is probably some kind of transitional razor from DE to cartridge made for OS markets to wean people (in china, india etc where DE is the norm) to their existing product set of cartridges that they will also sell in AOS.