How Much Higher Can The Bar Go?

Its a truly great time to be a man who shaves isn't it? There is such a selection of both hardware and software on the market and there seems to be more coming all the time. There is also a wealth of knowledge out there and a willingness to share that knowledge so we, as wet shavers are becoming reasonably informed on all sorts of aspects of the art and the business of wet shaving. We're also becoming more discerning as consumers of wet shaving products. I've been wet shaving for about 4 years now and I've amassed quite a collection of "shaving things" as my wife calls my soaps, creams, brushes, aftershaves, balms blades and razors.

I've been aware for a while that there are 2 main categories of artisans, those that put out a product and run with it and those that are constantly improving their products. By "improving" here I don't mean reformulating in order to pad the bottom line but rather making them actually better than they were before. The net result of this is, as their products become better, the products of those that are running with their first, best entry are becoming, in relative terms, worse. I have products sitting around that I haven't touched in well over a year. I suppose I keep them for sentimental reasons. My first decent razor, my first badger brush, that eshave lavender shaving cream that was my first, wonderful introduction to brush and lather shaving. I still really like some of the Ogallala scents but their soap doesn't really stand up to some of the top artisan soaps does it? I can improve the slickness by super lathering it but I find that the scent is overwhelmed by the cream, and the scent was the best (only) part so whats the point?

We've seen a few artisans close their doors over the past year and I suspect we'll see some more in the coming year. The competition is fierce and any new artisan planning on bringing a product to market had better be on their A game because they will be judged against the best in the business. There will be no honeymoon, no grace period during which they'll get a chance to up their game - the market is a cold blooded killer if you fail to meet its expectations. The innovators and continuous improvers will win the day and handily at that and, I suppose thats as it should be. The law of the jungle. Say, thats a good name for a shaving soap or an aftershave isn't it? Smells like victory, like the crushed dreams and tears of the competition you've trampled beneath your feet. Juggernaut, another great name.

Just some Sunday morning musings....

Marko

I am not a huge artisan user but I see the next step is the makers to make or contract out their scents into hard pucks and turnkey operations for their frags, creams and balms. This would reduce shipping costs, unit cost, increase product stability and getting shelf space easier. This is all beneficial in getting into big box and grocery chains. All of these would determine who will be the players in the field a,k,a AoS, VDH, Conk etc. Of course some don't aspire to that and is fine in itself

Marko, I agree with your post.  One of the aspects of our top artisans and vendors (aka merchants), at least here on DFS, is their approachability.  Even though I may never meet any of them I feel as if they have our best shaving interests at heart and go that extra mile to make or sell a product to us on a one to one basis.  Of course, I know this isn't literally true but so many of them do listen to our concerns, as well as our praise, and I believe that besides helping the bottom line (as it most definitely should) it encourages them to keep surprising us with quality products and service.  While some big name producers and vendors also try their best, the feeling simply doesn't seem as personal to me.  I would much prefer this than being able to walk into a big box store and pulling a commercial shaving product off the shelf.

 I've been aware for a while that there are 2 main categories of artisans, those that put out a product and run with it and those that are constantly improving their products.  By "improving" here I don't mean reformulating in order to pad the bottom line but rather making them actually better than they were before.  The net result of this is, as their products become better, the products of those that are running with their first, best entry are becoming, in relative terms, worse.  

I think you need to say "some" artisans who make a product and don't improve it - never say all.  I believe the following are "artisans" in some way in that they are not produced in a commercial factory and there probably is no need to improve: MdC, SMN, LPL, and CF (Castle Forbes from Lady Forbes). I also think ABC, with one owner, likely does not need to continually perfect its product.   ABC sure sounds "artisan" to me http://www.thebespokedudes.com/en/artisa...eria-colla Once you get it nearly perfect, there is very little to improve upon.

CF and LPL are fairly new. MdC middle aged. SMN and ABC older. IMO, they pretty much got it right on the first shot or in the case of SMN and ADP, nothing has changed in some years. I'd add ADP to this list but they are owned by a large company.

 I've been aware for a while that there are 2 main categories of artisans, those that put out a product and run with it and those that are constantly improving their products.  By "improving" here I don't mean reformulating in order to pad the bottom line but rather making them actually better than they were before.  The net result of this is, as their products become better, the products of those that are running with their first, best entry are becoming, in relative terms, worse.  

I think you need to say "some" artisans  who make a product and don't improve it - never say all.  I believe the following are "artisans" in some way in that they are not produced in a commercial factory and there probably is no need to improve: MdC, SMN, LPL, and CF (Castle Forbes from Lady Forbes). I also think ABC, with one owner, likely does not need to continually perfect its product.   ABC sure sounds "artisan" to me http://www.thebespokedudes.com/en/artisa...eria-colla Once you get it nearly perfect, there is very little to improve upon.

CF and LPL are fairly new. MdC middle aged. SMN and ABC older. IMO, they pretty much got it right on the first shot or in the case of SMN and ADP, nothing has changed in some years. I'd add ADP to this list but they are owned by a large company.

Oh absolutely, yes you are correct. I was speaking in generalities but there are always the exceptions. I'm sure, however, that even those artisans who got it right the first time would be ill advised to sit on their laurels for too long.

I was just re-reading my post immediately above and it looks like I'm implying that those artisans who've continued to improve and innovate didn't get it right the first time. Thats not what I meant at all, in fact, to name names here, the Barrister And Mann original white label soap is still better, IMO than most of the soaps on the market today and their glissant base soap is better still. The artisans who strive to improve and innovate notwithstanding the fact that they got it right the first time are the ones that keep raising the bar.
Mark

I was just re-reading my post immediately above and it looks like I'm implying that those artisans who've continued to improve and innovate didn't get it right the first time.  Thats not what I meant at all, in fact, to name names here, the Barrister And Mann original white label soap is still better, IMO than most of the soaps on the market today and their glissant base soap is better still.  The artisans who strive to improve and innovate notwithstanding the fact that they got it right the first time are the ones that keep raising the bar.
Mark

I knew what you meant and I agree. Artisans that continue to improve are passionate about what they do, thus they are constantly working to create new scents and improve current formulas. I would say it could get boring to just stick with the old and never work to improve or create new products. The large commercial brands probably don't care as long as their sales are good. When the person or team who created a product no longer is around there isn't the same passion and driving force behind the brand. Heck, some of the luxury or high end commercial brands changed their products for the worse, which is very telling of how disconnected they are. But some commercial brands do indeed change their products in an effort to improve. Grim mentioned SMN above, but aren't they on version 3 of their shaving cream now? Others that went through with reformulations are AdP, AoS, GFT, C&E, Pennhaigons, and probably many more that I am forgetting.

Grim mentioned SMN above, but aren't they on version 3 of their shaving cream now? Others that went through with reformulations are AdP, AoS, GFT, C&E, Pennhaigons, and probably many more that I am forgetting.

I was talking ADP, SMN, CF, MdC, ABC, and maybe LPL. So here's the difference.

Sure, I think ADP revised its scent. Pretty sure SMN tweaked something. And ABC has been around so long its hard to believe they haven't evole ved.

OTH, the "new artisans" tout V2.0 or V3.5 or whatever. Some, I believe, it just marketing, just like buying "new and improved" detergent or cereal. They advertise heavily their "new version".

Products are improved all the time, and you never know it. It does quietly. When you buy a new car this year, unless you dig into it, you might never know the new materials put into the body to make it lighter or stronger. This is not different. Not sure if CF or MdC has ever changed anything but they are fairly new compared to the older Artisans. Sure, these companies could have improved things, and we might never know it.

 Grim mentioned SMN above, but aren't they on version 3 of their shaving cream now? Others that went through with reformulations are AdP, AoS, GFT, C&E, Pennhaigons, and probably many more that I am forgetting.

I was talking ADP, SMN, CF, MdC, ABC, and maybe LPL. So here's the difference.

Sure, I think ADP revised its scent. Pretty sure SMN tweaked something. And ABC has been around so long its hard to believe they haven't evole ved.

OTH, the "new artisans" tout V2.0 or V3.5 or whatever. Some, I believe, it just marketing, just like buying "new and improved" detergent or cereal. They advertise heavily their "new version".

Products are improved all the time, and you never know it. It does quietly. When you buy a new car this year, unless you dig into it, you might never know the new materials put into the body to make it lighter or stronger. This is not different. Not sure if CF or MdC has ever changed anything but they are fairly new compared to the older Artisans. Sure, these companies could have improved things, and we might never know it.

This is born of a preference for not answering the same question over and over, more than anything. You would not believe how many emails I get asking which soaps are Glissant, why we changed the formula, etc etc. We'd still get those emails even if I didn't label a soap as Glissant, but people would be angry that we had reformulated an already good product and would be hesitant to try it because we didn't tell them we were changing it.

Advertising that we are transitioning to a new base allows us to better guide the conversation in full public view and answer questions people may have (as well as address any issues) in the light of day, rather than answering the same questions over and over in private and allowing the community, which often suffers from a severe hearing problem, to repeat what we say into the aether. I have no wish to play a game of telephone with half a million people.

There are benefits to doing it either way, but it's not really accurate to imply that the tendency of newer artisans to indicate whether a formulation has been changed or not is better or worse than the methods employed by the older houses. It's simply a difference in style and, in the case of Barrister and Mann, born more of practicality than of any particular intent to capitalize on one or the other.

[ it's not really accurate to imply that the tendency of newer artisans to indicate whether a formulation has been changed or not is better or worse than the methods employed by the older houses. It's simply a difference in style

Sorry, I was not trying to imply anything, only my observations. I just don't see the older "artisans" advertising much of anything about "new and improved" products. If you didn't have an older version of ADP to compare a newer version, you might never know the scent changed. I'm no sure MdC, which is clearly artisan, has ever changed anything, although they clearly could have and the public never known it. And with the older places like SMN and ABC, I think I have read SMN changed something but I don't see it advertised.

OTH, I do observe advertising for the newer artisans, and not just from the US.

SV Cosmos is V4.2 which clearly indicates there were previous versions
CRSW is on V2.0

These are advertised as such. In some cases, you see "new formula".

These are just facts from observation. OTH, the older places, I do not observe this happening. I do not see ABC touting some new formula or even a new scent. yes, a difference in style. But that does not mean they haven't changed something. Just saying, I kind of agree with the OP. Its just a different style.

When I think about it, I don't see them advertising anything at all. You don't see Santa Maria Novella, Antica Barbiera Colla, Martin De Candre, LPL, etc advertising anything. Forget about the commercial places like Trumpers or TOBS. Its only the new artisans who advertise. Just an observation. But I also don't see some new artisans advertising either. I guess its what the company want to do or not.