Got a few packs of Wilkinson Swords with a Maggards order some time ago. Finally tried them on two occasions and they were not for me. Terrible shave. Ended up getting a 100 pack. Didn't realize I ordered them. The old packs from Maggards are from China. The new 100 count is from India. Is there a difference between these? Not really interested in trying these again unless you can convince me the India blades are different.
Wilkinson Sword India vs Chinese
- Thread starter Mr00classic
- Start date
The Indian GWS 'Saloons' are an excellent and reliable lower-mid tier blade with very acceptable sharpness. They have a loyal following and I am fond of them. The price is good too.
I have no experience of the Chinese made ones.
Give them a go. Only your own face, beard and technique can 'convince' you whether they are ok or not for you.
Here is the packet of the one's I use, for I.D purposes.
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Unfortunately, the CN ones are considered to be a little bit better than the Indian ones. The story I read was that the Indian factory was churning out too low of a quality, even for the domestic consumer apparently, so Gillette had them made in Shanghai on new equipment moved there from somewhere in the west. All the CN blades are 16' or older, I have many. At some point, they figured out how to get the quality under control and moved production back to India. Also, these are the base model blades in India so their performance is pretty decent for their station. They replaced Voskhods for me as they are the same sharpness based on testing.
I thought the Indian Wilkies were OK, but not great. Can be inconsistent from blade to blade and they don't seem to last as long as some others.
Well damn I just bought 100 of the Indian ones, but they seem OK. I agree with the comparison to Voskhod.
My understanding was that production remains in China. RBC explicitly told me that all the remaining Indian ones were NOS and that all the ones now branded for India are made in China as well.
EDIT: as for the India NOS vs Chinese-made GWS, I'd consider it a tie, with the Chinese ones being sharper.
That makes more sense, I will stop repeating this. I heard this story from an Indian on another forum and a similar story from another. I keep mixing up copyright date and the production date on blades, just checked and have relatively recent CN blades. Agree that the Shanghai blades are sharper, that's what I meant to say. It's marginal though. I wonder how they can make them cheaper in China for the Indian consumer though?
Edit: by recent, mine are 11/19. I guess that's not really recent, my brain is broken.
Edit 2: the answer might have to do with the different packaging, the saloons sold in 50 to barbers and the 100 meant for corner store retail. The former are made in India and the latter are made in Shanghai. So maybe they are simply subject to availability and stock, how old the packaging says.
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I have an unopened pack of 10+1 free GWS Saloon Pack blades in front of me now. They state on the box "MFD by Gillette India Limited, Plot No 4, Katha Bhatoli Kalan, Baddi, HP-173205. PKD:01/21 QTY:11N Blades MRP Rs 25 (Incl of all taxes)"
No evidence that these are made in China. They clearly state they are made in the Indian plant.
@APBinNCA said:
All the CN blades are 16' or older, I have many. At some point, they figured out how to get the quality under control and moved production back to India. Also, these are the base model blades in India so their performance is pretty decent for their station. They replaced Voskhods for me as they are the same sharpness based on testing.
I think this is in fact correct, and tallies with the information on current Indian packaging, and anecdotal information from Indian observers and consumers that Aaron has noted.
No evidence that these are made in China. They clearly state they are made in the Indian plant.
@APBinNCA said:
All the CN blades are 16' or older, I have many. At some point, they figured out how to get the quality under control and moved production back to India. Also, these are the base model blades in India so their performance is pretty decent for their station. They replaced Voskhods for me as they are the same sharpness based on testing.
I think this is in fact correct, and tallies with the information on current Indian packaging, and anecdotal information from Indian observers and consumers that Aaron has noted.
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I would be interested to see if anyone had any Indian GWS made recently to confirm that the Saloon packs aren't NOS. If they moved production back to India we should be able to find some made in 2019, if not sooner.
My 100 all appear to be 01/21 packaged, so I believe them to be of the approx the same date of manufacture. Certainly before 2019.
These are after the earlier Wilkinson Swords which were made in China for India market.
I suspect it was more to do with some Indo-China trade dispute resulting in a steep increase in import duties which made the imported Chinese blades perhaps uneconomical.
Badi in Himachal (HP) has been an old manufacturing site for Gillette where many other Gillette India blades were made.
I think the Chinese blades were some strategy to undercut local market completion by crashing prices which flopped posy the import duties increased.
All my readings of markets and industries as a banker
I wonder why they decided to have different manufacturers for the 50 pack Saloons and the 100 retail packs. Could it be that it needed to be a cheaper blade to justify selling it in 50s for barbers? Going off packaging date, it seems there are both Indian and Chinese GWS made in 2021, so it looks like this duel setup is something they will continue forward with rather than shifting all the manufacturing to one country.
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As explained in another thread, the saloon pack is the common way that barbers purchase blades in India so they had to have one. But they are 10 packs and consumer packs are 5. I believe the two formats represent two different resale channels so they may have decided to source them separately. The reason for initially switching the 5 packs to Shanghai may have been quality issues as the story goes. They may have intended to keep sourcing them from there as I haven’t seen any 5 packs made in India. Or they just started sending out saloon packs to retailers because they couldn’t import the others, but I am not in India to verify what format the corner store is selling.
When I went to India I saw both blades for sale.
When I was in India a few years ago in 2019, both the MIC and MII blades were everywhere.
Largely I saw the following. Keep in mind, India largely operates on the brink of chaos at most times so there are no hard and fast rules.
5 blades to the pack MIC = Consumer blade, this was sold in 'mart' style retailers (little grocers that sold a multitude of products, from chips to washing soap). I think these were priced at 15 INR for 5 blades.
10/11 blades to the pack MII = Barber's blade, this was the blade almost all barbers used for shaves/trimming back and sides (most Indian barbers do not use electric trimmers). I think these were priced at 20/25 INR for 10/11 blades.
From what I gather the MIC GWS is no longer for sale or made in the Shanghai factory. There is a conflict between China and India which could explain why the MIC one is no longer for sale in India.
I've used the MIC GWS a number of times, I think it's a fine blade but there are far better ones made in the Shanghai factory right now, Super Blue, London Bridge to name a few. I prefer the Indian made GWS to the MIC one, but YMMV as ever.
I bought from Indian eBay sellers in four or five different occasions this 2022 year, all them sent me Saloon Pack made in India. Printed on package: Packaged 12/20 and 02/22. So NEW stock.
For me all them excellent blades for about US$ 6.50 each 110.
Never tried a Chinese WS.
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You're correct. After further examination, there are a number of Indian GWS Saloon pack produced in 2022. I'm currently looking to see if any Chinese GWS have been made recently, with the earliest being a 2021 packaging date thus far.
EDIT: apparently RBC guy is an unreliable source, somehow.
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Remember, they are not a small operation. They have local warehouses in several countries AND you may get products from those warehouses or the mothership depending on which website you order from them.
Also, they must have a local source to send them blades meant for the domestic Indian consumer. So he is probably their sole source of information, right or wrong. As said above, near chaos locally.
I find both to be middle-tier blades for me. I have decently easy-to-shave whiskers so I don't need incredibly sharp blades and these work well for me without being incredible. The price is fantastic on them so I have about 250 of them ( 100 Chinese and 150 Indian Saloons ). I'm not 100% sure I could pick them out from each other in a blind test but my brain seems to think I like the Indian Saloons just a tad more than I like the Chinese ones ( checked my shave app and I do have the Indian blades rated a bit higher ).
That said they are probably only in my rotation based on price. They are good without being great, and almost all of the Russian-made Gillettes seem better to me than either of the GWS blades. That said I never hesitate to reach for one when the mood strikes me, and they rarely give me any issues.
That said they are probably only in my rotation based on price. They are good without being great, and almost all of the Russian-made Gillettes seem better to me than either of the GWS blades. That said I never hesitate to reach for one when the mood strikes me, and they rarely give me any issues.
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I have a bunch of the Indian GWS blades and find them to be a really solid medium sharpness blade. Mine came in the saloon pack and were made in October 2021. They are a great value too, I think I paid about $6.50 for 110 blades.
I have both. I consider the India model average for an Indian blade.
The China blade was a tuggy, rough disaster of a blade. Terrible. Maybe it was a dud, but I’ve never had a good shave with a Chinese blade.
The China blade was a tuggy, rough disaster of a blade. Terrible. Maybe it was a dud, but I’ve never had a good shave with a Chinese blade.
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