The state of the industry in 2020

[IMightBeWrong]

Just curious if anyone else shares my concern for this hobby. Seems like the surge of great, new artisan products that started around 2013 has subsided. Not as many new products popping up the past few years. Many great products have actually disappeared. A couple years back a ton of new GEM razors launched. The Sabre, the Rocnel SE-G, ATT G1, and Colonial even was teasing a lather catcher. The Sabre can still be bought, but the others are gone from the market and the lather catcher was forgotten.

It also seems like there are less new wet shavers. Less wet shaving YouTube Channels. Less discussion in general. Was this hobby a fad for many people? I’m hoping I don’t see more great products dropping from the market.

 

[Macduff]

I wasn’t DE shaving in 2013 so i have no idea. But i would hazard a guess that it’s probably a bit “fad-ish” for a lot of people. Perhaps there has been a bit of a drop off. But at least from my perspective there seems to be a good number of new razors, soaps, brushes and even blades being introduced so i think the industry itself is still pretty healthy. Perhaps no like it was 7 years ago but i don’t view it as something that’s going away. It doesn’t really take much for someone to start up a new softgoods shaving company so i think if anything you’ll see those companies either flourish or go under since there are so many. And there are still new razors coming out all the time so that tells me there is still a decent demand as it’s substantially harder to bring a razor to manufacture than say a soap.

 

[iamryan25]

Mens grooming has always been somewhat trendy.

I think coming out of the disposable generation of expensive cartridges has paved the way for a future of vintage inspired tech becoming more available in larger markets.

I would imagine the desire to save and conserve are driving many to "the old ways"

Best way to keep this momentum going is to get all the men (and women) you know into wet shaving and stop supporting mass produced products being pumped out of factories in China, instead focusing your hard earned money to the reputable makers in the industry.

 

[147_Grain]

The relatively low barriers to entry for hobbyists to start making some of these products (soaps and aftershaves especially) led to market saturation, which reduced revenues for some of these new firms. As folks who started wetshaving as part of the couple of waves associated with the Bond movie and the Art of Manliness article progressed through the forum-driven multi-acquisition-disorder stage, they also probably stopped buying so much, which couldn't have helped the new artisans either.

I wonder whether it will be a single rise/fall or a cyclical thing.

 

[BigJ]

My guess is that your observations reflect a cyclical interest in men’s grooming. However, I would love to see some real data.

 

[Galaktus]

I would venture that the shave clubs may have had an impact on wet shaving, at least from the overpriced Gillette cartridges.

But as for us, the hobbyists, I would venture that the hobby is as strong as ever, judging solely by the number of pricey artisan/ small batch DE razors that are selling like hotcakes.

 

[juno]

I think there is more going on now more than ever, especially since 2013.

Although some artisans have closed up shop, there seems to be a lot more going on today than then in terms of the hobby.

 

[IMightBeWrong]

There are definitely still a lot of artisan products on the market but most are established from a few years back. To my memory, I recall 2015 - 2017 being great years full of new artisans and products popping up everywhere. In 2018 I think this began to slow. We saw some great new razors like the Vector in 2018. From the start of 2019 to now it seems like nothing new and exciting really came out. The creativity seems to have tapered off and the razors that continue to sell like hot cakes are the same ones that were selling like hotcakes in 2017 and 2018. Timeless, Charcoal Goods, Karve, Blackland... All great products and still relatively new, but for a while there we were seeing new and creative products dropping every couple of months or so and now we have a great selection but it’s the same selection minus some great products that have disappeared, hence my concern that the hobby is losing popularity faster than it is picking up new hobbyists.

 

[gstriftos]

@IMightBeWrong are you talking about the W/S ''industry'' as a whole or just the artisan part?

The former seems to be going upwards: Gillette (even with OEM) made a razor for the first time on something like 60 (?) years and the Chinese are running the engines hot, copycatting for now but soon enough they will start their own designs (I 've seen this happening to various other industries), at least in hardware.
''Software'' wise (creams, soaps, pre/post shaving products) Chinese will almost never be on the ''front page'' (ehwwww who wants to put Chinese stuff on his face) but I rest asure you that many will outsource these products to China. Honestly I will be very surprised if this not already happening, or for at least a great part of ingredients used.

Since being relatively new I don't know about the era you mention but I have the feeling that some thought being an artisanal is something easier (trust me it is not) but then the hard hand of entrepreneurship slapped them:
Having an idea is just a part, you will need to support it - even in downtimes - and the majority of hobbists just expect from you to constantly produce awesomeness.
Fat chance because most of the times you have just one good idea or you did not support your major product enough so as to establish a steady income in order to invest to other products (that may be accepatable).
Or you thought your product will be a golden goose ( ) because you sold out your first batch and then you discovered that hobbists are as loyal as a Brazilian hOOkEr (no offence to other nationality s3x workers, rumors say that).

 

[lurchbrian]

my thoughts on this are .
now how many new inovations in the razor itself have come along when you look at it apart from the slant all you realy have is oh thats a nice colour or its stainless . and in the soaps department its like flooded the market with types and scents so we all have our best soap with the best scent .
and the rest is like putting double glazing in your house you have 8 windows so you double glaze them your not going to double glaze them again unless there is some major upgrade come on the market or they get damaged .

but on the plus I hope the de and wet shaving community keeps growing as I myself have found it enjoyable .

 

[xiletero]

My guess is that your observations reflect a cyclical interest in men’s grooming. However, I would love to see some real data.

+1

 

[IMightBeWrong]

@IMightBeWrong are you talking about the W/S ''industry'' as a whole or just the artisan part?

The former seems to be going upwards: Gillette (even with OEM) made a razor for the first time on something like 60 (?) years and the Chinese are running the engines hot, copycatting for now but soon enough they will start their own designs (I 've seen this happening to various other industries), at least in hardware.
''Software'' wise (creams, soaps, pre/post shaving products) Chinese will almost never be on the ''front page'' (ehwwww who wants to put Chinese stuff on his face) but I rest asure you that many will outsource these products to China. Honestly I will be very surprised if this not already happening, or for at least a great part of ingredients used.

Since being relatively new I don't know about the era you mention but I have the feeling that some thought being an artisanal is something easier (trust me it is not) but then the hard hand of entrepreneurship slapped them:
Having an idea is just a part, you will need to support it - even in downtimes - and the majority of hobbists just expect from you to constantly produce awesomeness.
Fat chance because most of the times you have just one good idea or you did not support your major product enough so as to establish a steady income in order to invest to other products (that may be accepatable).
Or you thought your product will be a golden goose ( ) because you sold out your first batch and then you discovered that hobbists are as loyal as a Brazilian hOOkEr (no offence to other nationality s3x workers, rumors say that).

What you’re talking about with Chinese products applies well to cutlery. Chinese companies used to just rip off knives that were popular. Now Kizer and WE Knives make outstanding originals just to name a couple of brands. If China starts producing outstanding original razors I’ll be excited.

 

[JeffJ]

As folks who started wetshaving as part of the couple of waves associated with the Bond movie and the Art of Manliness article progressed through the forum-driven multi-acquisition-disorder stage, they also probably stopped buying so much, which couldn't have helped the new artisans either.

I wonder whether it will be a single rise/fall or a cyclical thing.

+1 speaking as someone who rode in on the Art of Manliness article.

 

[AZBronco]

I’ve noticed a decline in artisans. At one point, many of us wanted to try every new artisan because someone would post a glowing review about the newest, slickest, cushioniest, bestest soap ever made. So we’d all run out and buy it which meant we weren’t buying from our previous favorite artisan. And then many of us realized we had years worth of product and stopped buying altogether. As fun as that was for hobbyists, it was terrible for artisans. Those who survived (Stirling, Razorock, B&M) were able to create enough repeat buyers to make it worthwhile.

As for me, I still like Stirling and B&M but have slowly gravitated back to mass produced product like PdP, Proraso, and Tabac. I find they are more consistent and have well deserved reputations. I just learned Stirling dumped one of my preferred scents (Blu) but I’m sure they’ll have plenty of other choices when I’m ready to order again (in a couple of years...)

 

[juno]

I’ve noticed a decline in artisans. At one point, many of us wanted to try every new artisan because someone would post a glowing review about the newest, slickest, cushioniest, bestest soap ever made. So we’d all run out and buy it which meant we weren’t buying from our previous favorite artisan. And then many of us realized we had years worth of product and stopped buying altogether. As fun as that was for hobbyists, it was terrible for artisans. Those who survived (Stirling, Razorock, B&M) were able to create enough repeat buyers to make it worthwhile.

As for me, I still like Stirling and B&M but have slowly gravitated back to mass produced product like PdP, Proraso, and Tabac. I find they are more consistent and have well deserved reputations. I just learned Stirling dumped one of my preferred scents (Blu) but I’m sure they’ll have plenty of other choices when I’m ready to order again (in a couple of years...)

I really like Stirling and continue to use their products.
I, too, have revisited both Cella and Proraso as of late.
There are several Stirling scents I will always have on hand (think pine) but the Proraso Blue and the new Cella Bio are pretty darn awesome. I have been more disappointed than amazed when it comes to new razors, new soaps etc. The Karve was one I was pretty impressed with. Timeless...meh. Bland. I tried 2 and was disappointed. Charcoal Goods...pretty, and pretty heavy but meh and mediocre overall. Wolfman....who cares...meh. more power to those that do care. Blackland.....very good, but tend to be on the aggressive side.....but better than the others and seems to love the hobby, so to speak. He seems to be a real participant/producer. Have to respect that! I predict he, along with Karve will be one of the last standing after the others tank.

 

[Cumberland Sausage]

I've not noticed many artisans either come or go here in the UK/Europe over the past five years or so; there has been the odd new arrival, and a couple of hobbyists dabbling their toes in the shaving water, but that's about it. I guess it's steady as she goes.

 

[JeffJ]

My entire back stock at this point is non artisan (not considering Valobra artisan). Razorock was a fine value but nothing special and half of them I did not like enough to finish. Stirling was a disaster for me. Granted it was early and things got better. My experience across shaving and bath soap was scent learnings/failures, soap with unconverted lye flecks, not hardened, etc. Mystic Water was great over the years though my last puck was soft and didn’t lather at all. B&M was consistency good. Probably a half dozen other artisans along the way.

I’m at the point in the lifecycle where it is just shaving and the old school products perform and are shelf stable. Not planning to buy anything for the foreseeable future.

 

[theid59]

I don't know if the market has subsided or if it's matured. 3 new adjustable DE razors are entering the market, one of them from Russia, with love. I don't own an adjustable but the fact that new ones are being designed and produced is a positive sign. I find it difficult to keep up with the amount of new things happening. It seems like yesterday, we were told that Catie's Bubbles LPV was the best soap ever. Now we're using milk from bears, bison, donkey and more - pretty much everything but unicorns in our soap formulations. With things moving so rapidly, where does it leave the Catie's Bubbleses of the world? I think that can cause some people to return to familiar and reliable brands which I'm sure can have market impacts. And one face can only use so much product.

 

[IMightBeWrong]

I don't know if the market has subsided or if it's matured. 3 new adjustable DE razors are entering the market, one of them from Russia, with love. I don't own an adjustable but the fact that new ones are being designed and produced is a positive sign. I find it difficult to keep up with the amount of new things happening. It seems like yesterday, we were told that Catie's Bubbles LPV was the best soap ever. Now we're using milk from bears, bison, donkey and more - pretty much everything but unicorns in our soap formulations. With things moving so rapidly, where does it leave the Catie's Bubbleses of the world? I think that can cause some people to return to familiar and reliable brands which I'm sure can have market impacts. And one face can only use so much product.

What are these adjustables you speak of? I know of the Rockwell T and that’s all. I’ve been primarily following the SE trends for razors lately.

 

[AshleyC]

My only concern would be either a decline in the variety of blades or an unreasonable increase in the prices for them. But I cannot fathom what would precipitate such a thing happening.