There is no limit! P&G will see the money to be made in this and will soon be introducing the heated, vibrating, 5 bladed, swivel straight razor with a push-button auto honing feature. Only takes 6 proprietary batteries and 5 replaceable (and also proprietary) honing strips! The razor will last you a decade! However, you will spend $70 a month in batteries and honing strips....
Where will it all end?
- Thread starter Rusty Blade
- Start date
I think traditional shaving will continue to maintain slow and steady growth. Many thought ten to twelve years ago when this all started it was a passing fad that would quickly fade and die. Now look at the amount of on- line and brick and mortar shops that have opened and stayed in business.
For DE shaving to take that leap from where it is now will take some huge promotion from Gillette or someone with deep pockets. I think Gillette is comfortable with the current business model and will not move away from promoting cartridges.
All and all a good time for us as the choices are plentiful and prices are reasonable.
For DE shaving to take that leap from where it is now will take some huge promotion from Gillette or someone with deep pockets. I think Gillette is comfortable with the current business model and will not move away from promoting cartridges.
All and all a good time for us as the choices are plentiful and prices are reasonable.
As I approach five years of DE wet shaving, I have seen a slow, consistent growth of the interest in this phenomenon. I don't know where our ceiling is, but I do believe there is one. The pervasiveness of cart advertising is strong, and I cannot imagine Gillette, Schick, and Bic giving up on their current products. Interestingly, DEs are starting to creep into ads peripherally, which I find encouraging. That's usually indicative of a trend that advertisers have caught hold of. With grocery stores, drugstore chains, and Target and Walmart dipping their toes into DE waters, it looks like DE wet shaving is poised to take off. Time will tell, but I welcome the current wave of growth.
I think that you will find more artisan soaps and products coming around, but I really do not think that DE and straights are going to make much of a comeback. I think that shaving is still too much of a chore and getting people to look at it otherwise will be difficult. Cart razors make the chore easier and for most people that is good enough. Plus you have to consider the crazy profit margins on carts. Sure they are obnoxious at $4 a piece, but they have a lot of wiggle room in that price. So at what price point does convenience out weigh costs?
I think it's more likely that someone is pulling your leg.
+3! This will be a niche market at best for them.
I like the analogy to craft beer. Availability will keep the market open, but how much of a dent we will make remains to be seen. I think the time and technique factors are a huge obstacle to over come for a lot of folks.
Even though the cost is high, squirting out a glob of canned goo and doing one pass with a cart is just too tempting.
I, for one, have no interest in this thing of ours expanding any further. For one, I don't think most people deserve to do things our way. Our hobby has little to do with the tools, rather the amount of effort that one must put into it.
Perhaps some will be pleased when the typical post on a shaving forum will be "@TheTed69: Feather is seriously sharp, yo", but I won't be one of them.
Perhaps some will be pleased when the typical post on a shaving forum will be "@TheTed69: Feather is seriously sharp, yo", but I won't be one of them.
If shaving behaves the same way beer does, then market share, even if it makes significant gains, will still be low. As of right now, I believe craft beer accounts for roughly 12-15% of the total beer market.
I was also just thinking. If similar to beer, does it ever get to the point where Gillette/Bic/Schick feel the need to tap into the small market, but without their own effort?
AB made a run at the craft beer space with Shock Top, their own brand. But they, as well as others, have also acquired a number of breweries as brands for their portfolio. Ballast Point sold to a company in Spain for a few billion.
Do Gillette/Bic/Schick even bother with new development to enter into the DE/SE space, or do they make bids to acquire? Do they limit this to just razors, or do they aim to grow by acquiring soapmakers as well? If this happens, will the small guys be viewed as sellouts, as many of the small breweries have been labeled?
AB made a run at the craft beer space with Shock Top, their own brand. But they, as well as others, have also acquired a number of breweries as brands for their portfolio. Ballast Point sold to a company in Spain for a few billion.
Do Gillette/Bic/Schick even bother with new development to enter into the DE/SE space, or do they make bids to acquire? Do they limit this to just razors, or do they aim to grow by acquiring soapmakers as well? If this happens, will the small guys be viewed as sellouts, as many of the small breweries have been labeled?
Gillette already did when P&G bought Art of Shaving.
Oh really? I had no idea. I also have limited knowledge as of now since I've only been at the DE thing for a couple years. I've only ever stepped into an Art of Shaving once and that was years before I started down this road. I remember looking at the prices and walking right out. At the time, they carried a "limited edition" Mach 3 or Fusion (can't remember which) and they were selling it for something like $80 or $100.
It doesnt seem to show any sign of slowing down anytime soon. I think that until the price of carts gets more in line with DE shaving, it will continue to grow.
Wait what? They are reintroducing the Tech?? I didn't know, wow.
Don't hold your breath, that rumor has been going around for a while. I don't believe there's anything to it.
So true. They have had that poster showing a "Tech" in the store since late November 2015 when my wife bought me the medium travel kit. Still no razor. This isn't rocket science. Should have been out by now if it was going to happen.
This
I just looked into it out of curiosity. The Art of Shaving is owned by P&G which also owns various Gillette brands. It seems the original release date was supposed to be Q1 2016, but that didn't happen. Then it was going to be some time later, and they're still going to make it. It's going to be made in Ohio and be wonderful and priced at $75 for the first run and $55 thereafter.
From what I can tell, the rumor started based on a marketing poster found inside the AoS stores that ambiguously shows a Fusion razor crossed with a fat handle tech with no clear message on it declaring any intent to produce the tech. It seems to me that the message was more about melding cultures than announcing a new product line. That's neither here nor there though.
It occurred to me that the tech design is still alive and well and being made today. The Gillette Stirling is one such offering. Before the high strung guy pops a vein, I acknowledge those are not the same quality as vintage. But that's what's on the market right now. And if Gillette made a tech, it would be that head on perhaps a brass handle. And maybe with heavier plating, since that doesn't require new tooling.
And a thorough search has produced nothing in the way of marketing material from AoS, P&G, or Gillette. All evidence points to wishful thinking...
Oh... well that would have been certainly interesting if they did. I wouldn't mind a nice stainless Tech but knowing Gillette, either it's not going to happen at all or it will be prohibitively expensive that it's almost like a joke.
$75 sounds pretty steep when you can get a pre war for between $10 and $20 in decent condition.
@MntnMan62 Ummm... This is AoS we're talking about here... That's practically bargain basement haha
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