was shaving yesterday with my 1912 single ring and it got me wondering. how much would these have been when they first released? would they have been used by 'ordinary' men (ie factory workers, coal miners etc) or would they have been the preserve of more professional people?
who bought early gillettes?
- Thread starter themilkman
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Gillette in their early days (the Single Ring debuted in 1903 according to Mr. Razor) was not hugely popular, and as such was largely unknown.
They didn't experience widespread adoption of the Double Edge razor, until they won a contract with the US Government to supply razors to each serviceman fighting in World War I (1914–18).
Gillette also produced a wide range of products/different packaging, with some aimed at the low cost consumer, and some aimed at the very rich man.
As I understand it, the cost of the early Gillette's made them quite expensive, along the lines of something you would receive as your only Christmas present from your wife.
They didn't experience widespread adoption of the Double Edge razor, until they won a contract with the US Government to supply razors to each serviceman fighting in World War I (1914–18).
Gillette also produced a wide range of products/different packaging, with some aimed at the low cost consumer, and some aimed at the very rich man.
As I understand it, the cost of the early Gillette's made them quite expensive, along the lines of something you would receive as your only Christmas present from your wife.
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King Gillette invented the DE razor. When they first came out on the market they were expensive and considered a luxury item. Most of the average working men continued to use straight razors. After Gillette's patents expired, his competitors came up with the razor and blades marketing concept. Give away or sell the razor cheaply and make money from the blades. Gillette had to follow suit and ended up perfecting this method of marketing.
The fact that Gillette also provided razors and blades for most of the allied troops in WWI gave his customer base a huge boost at the end of the war.
The fact that Gillette also provided razors and blades for most of the allied troops in WWI gave his customer base a huge boost at the end of the war.
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thanks for that. was thinking about who might have used the razor when it originally came out.
The Double Ring was $5 when it was released in 1904 which I think was alot of money in those days. It was aimed at the person that would go and pay a barber every morning for a shave.
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- #6
Gillette in their early days (the Single Ring debuted in 1903 according to Mr. Razor) was not hugely popular, and as such was largely unknown.
They didn't experience widespread adoption of the Double Edge razor, until they won a contract with the US Government to supply razors to each serviceman fighting in World War I (191418).
Gillette also produces a wide range of products/different packaging, with some aimed at the low cost consumer, and some aimed at the very rich man.
As I understand it, the cost of the early Gillette's made them quite expensive, along the lines of something you would receive as your only Christmas present from your wife.
thats a great looking set - i presume one in mint condition would command a fairly hefty prcie tag now?
"Give away or sell the razor cheaply and make money from the blades."
This marketing concept is clearly evident in today's world of computers, especially regarding inkjet printers. You can buy a decent printer for relatively little money, but then you pay a bundle for the ink cartridges.
This marketing concept is clearly evident in today's world of computers, especially regarding inkjet printers. You can buy a decent printer for relatively little money, but then you pay a bundle for the ink cartridges.
At the time the Gillette razor was first introduced, many men did not shave themselves daily. Many took their shaves from a barber; some were shaved by others in their household or by servants. Only the affluent shaved daily.
Gillette's innovation took away the need to maintain and master a straight razor, and replaced it with a consumable blade and the ability to shave one's own face safely and easily. It was an expensive "luxury" item in its day . . . average guys did not own them and men still didn't shave daily.
With chemical warfare introduced in WWI, soldiers needed to shave daily to ensure their gas masks would seal well and save their lives. For the soldiers in the field, daily self-shaving became the norm rather than the exception.
Upon their return from war, the daily shaving habit continued for generations, creating an ongoing market for blades and razors.
Gillette's innovation took away the need to maintain and master a straight razor, and replaced it with a consumable blade and the ability to shave one's own face safely and easily. It was an expensive "luxury" item in its day . . . average guys did not own them and men still didn't shave daily.
With chemical warfare introduced in WWI, soldiers needed to shave daily to ensure their gas masks would seal well and save their lives. For the soldiers in the field, daily self-shaving became the norm rather than the exception.
Upon their return from war, the daily shaving habit continued for generations, creating an ongoing market for blades and razors.
You miss the point. They weren't giving away or selling cheaply until the goodwill razor, the 1930s recession, after probak legal issues, patents running out,and King Gillette leaving the company.
Until all that happened Gillette DE razor were expensive. Even after that all happened, they still marketed expensive New improved and NEW deluxe, while offering the ball end as the cheap alternative. They still wanted to sell razors for a high price where they could too. Edit: they were quick to come out with the sheraton soon after as well.
My point is, they charged a lot more for DE razors back then, than they ever did later in the 1950s. So the "give away or sell cheaply and make money from the blades." philosophy was formed much later than the early gillette years.
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i think that concept came later; the earliest blades could be sent back to gillette for resharpening and even came with mailers to be used for mailing.
As pointed out, this actually wasn't an early Gillette's practice. When introduced, the $5 razor would be equivalent to over $100 in today's money. And DE blades were comparable in price to modern Fusion cartridges, even if they were theoretically user sharpenable.
I know Gillette advertised that option, but wasn't it just a marketing gesture toward folks who couldn't wrap their heads around this "disposable blade" concept? And would you really get your old blades back? I suspect that they sent out new blades and scrapped the old ones, but I suppose they didn't worry as much about product liability as we do today.
All in all, the early years of Gillette were much more confused and bumbling than one might think. The model of "give-away the razor, sell the blades" is something of a myth (more discussion at http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=167794). There were at least two factions within the company, Joyce and King Gillette, fighting over what the business model ought to be. As a result they tried a little of everything, but didn't focus on one strategy. So Gillette was in a small, expensive niche until at least 1910, when Joyce ended some of the infighting by buying out King Gillette's share of the company.
When they did start to grow in earnest they found that they couldn't make blades fast enough to meet demand. That problem was solved in 1914, but it's indicative of the lack of engineering culture in Gillette's early days. The business really started to move with the government contracts in WWI, and the engineering side turned around after the Probak-KroMan debacle and the takeover by Gaisman.
6 new blades for 12 old blades in 1905:
I think I read somewhere where after introducing the NEW Improved, the Old Types were sold for a 1$ where as the Improved took over as the "premiere" razor and sold for 5$
I dunno about the razor not taking off until WWI, although that helped mainstream it. In 1905, two years after introduction, Gillette sold over 250,000 razors, and WWI was about a decade away.
For $5, about a third of a weeks industrial wage at the time, a 1903 Gillette purchaser got a razor and twenty blades that Gillette marketed as being good for twenty to thirty shaves per edge! That's sixty shaves a blade!
After one month, Gillette changed the offer to five bones for a razor and a dozen blades, claiming that was a year's worth of shaves. You could exchange twelve used blades for six new ones. You could opt for twelve new blades for a buck.
I don't think the initial customers Gillette had in mind were the super rich or the dirt poor. He was marketing to the middle and upper classes. Sure, lower prices came with the Great Depression and patents that had expired, and luxury models catered to the rich, but the bulk of early Gillette sales were probably to working stiffs who needed to be shaved to meet social norms, and for about $115 of today's dollars could escape the Barber, or the need to strop, hone and use a straight razor for a year. Not a bad deal.
Also, the gas mask thing is a good reason for not having a beard, but I doubt that's the reason that men in the Western countries by and large stayed beardless after the Great War when gas masks weren't a factor.
Facial hair fashion has changed over time, and while the safety and electric razors have made the beardless look easy to achieve, a glance at the signers of the Declaration of Independence shows that shaved was in back in 1776, way before chemical warfare or safety razors showed up. During the Civil War, not so much. Our male children or grandchildren may all look like they should be playing for ZZ Top, for all we know.
For $5, about a third of a weeks industrial wage at the time, a 1903 Gillette purchaser got a razor and twenty blades that Gillette marketed as being good for twenty to thirty shaves per edge! That's sixty shaves a blade!
After one month, Gillette changed the offer to five bones for a razor and a dozen blades, claiming that was a year's worth of shaves. You could exchange twelve used blades for six new ones. You could opt for twelve new blades for a buck.
I don't think the initial customers Gillette had in mind were the super rich or the dirt poor. He was marketing to the middle and upper classes. Sure, lower prices came with the Great Depression and patents that had expired, and luxury models catered to the rich, but the bulk of early Gillette sales were probably to working stiffs who needed to be shaved to meet social norms, and for about $115 of today's dollars could escape the Barber, or the need to strop, hone and use a straight razor for a year. Not a bad deal.
Also, the gas mask thing is a good reason for not having a beard, but I doubt that's the reason that men in the Western countries by and large stayed beardless after the Great War when gas masks weren't a factor.
Facial hair fashion has changed over time, and while the safety and electric razors have made the beardless look easy to achieve, a glance at the signers of the Declaration of Independence shows that shaved was in back in 1776, way before chemical warfare or safety razors showed up. During the Civil War, not so much. Our male children or grandchildren may all look like they should be playing for ZZ Top, for all we know.
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Tools (and razors) were intended to be maintainable . . . disposability was a sin in that day . . .
+1 for sure!!
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