Too Many Stainless Steel Razors or Not Enough?

Obviously DE razors in general have experienced a popular revival.
Recently there seems to be an explosion of stainless razors:
Feather, ikon, Tradere, Darwin, Pils, ATT, BBS-1, Wolfman,
Rockwell, Timeless, Blackbird, Mongoose, Oneblade….


Sainless steel razors are beautiful, durable, and precise,
but they are all pricy products and I wonder can the market support them all?


Is the market segment of premium SS razor over populated?
If so which ones will survive?


If not why don’t the major razor manufactures have their own SS products offered?
Is the markup too low?
Do they think the niche is too small?
Is the mark up too low to even register in their world wise cooperate sales?


Anyone have a industry wide view of the stainless steel razor trend?

Thanks,
Curt

OK.....
Disclaimer:
I don't have any industry specific numbers nor do I represent any grooming product mfg.

I'm going to take a wild-assed guess here that the entire DE market is very small in relation to Total Razor Sales. (insert favorite geographic region here)

Now, out of that already small market, you have $200 - $300+ stainless razors for market.
Added:
The SS Razor is marketed as a "luxury item". Beautiful, lasts a lifetime, heirloom quality etc, however that segment willing to part with the cash is a very small slice of the pie.
End of edit.

Even though I'm sure that a market will exist for SS razors, not all the mfg will survive.
Just can't.

Which ones will survive?
Don't know that market well enough to even guess.

I believe the major mfg have not entered the SS market for the following reasons:
Low markup
Limited market opportunity (sales)

Just my opinion here:
The SS razor business may be and probably is a good "small business" custom opportunity, but there are severe limits to the marketing opportunities.

Thoughts?

"...the more people I meet,
the more I like my dog......"

The major makers don't sell razors, they sell blades. The small companies that produce SS razors don't sell blades, they sell razors. That's why the big boys will never offer anything comparable. No (long term) profit going in that direction.

The number of stainless steel razor makers is determined by the market, so the number at the moment is just right. It might be a small market, but it is quite wealthy, hence the number of relatively new players in the game of late. More might join in, which could drag the price down a little, although that's rather doubtful. The OP's list is also illustrative of the fact making stainless steel razors can't be tremendously profitable, since at least two of them are no longer active.

Don't know but if there's someone that can afford a razor that goes over the time...

all of the brands will survive but only 2 of them offer SS + Adjustability + lowest prices for a trade of being non machined but still great shavers. Usually these 2 manufactures should make the most revenue

Italian Barber's Wunderbar slant is my favorite. I don't need adjustability. That razor's blade exposure and angle are perfect for me (and, apparently, for the others who have reviewed it. Is $130 expensive? I suppose, but it's something I use every morning and the lack of irritation from that razor makes it perfect for me. Will it be around in the future? Difficult to say. It's made in limited quantities (100 per month) so Joe hasn't invested thousands of dollars in inventory. Right now, demand outstrips supply. When the demand slackens off, Joe will have a decision to make, but not a lot of money tied up in slow moving inventory.

SS Razors is a tiny niche for the most dedicated hobbyists. Reading this board it's clear that many members have bought (and subsequently sold) many of the models you listed. That's part of the fun of the hobby.

You could add Rocnel to your list – they launched their SE at $25 and revised the price up to $45 pretty quickly. Even at the higher price, it shows the difference between an engineer-led business and a marketing-led business. Prices of SS razors are high because that's what people are prepared to pay for their perception of 'value'.

I haven't seen any hard evidence to suggest that a SS razor outperforms a brass razor in use. I suspect the market is subject to whims and fashions so Feather apart (which is part of a larger company that makes blades and other sharps as well), all are likely to rise and fall depending on their ability to innovate and launch products that a critical mass of us want to buy.

Highspeedlane said:

The major makers don't sell razors, they sell blades. The small companies that produce SS razors don't sell blades, they sell razors. That's why the big boys will never offer anything comparable. No (long term) profit going in that direction.

Click to expand...

+1! The DE market is small with SS on the premium end.

Have you had a chance to compare it to the S-1 or S-2? I'm sitting on the fence looking for a slant to replace my C-37 which is starting to show wrinkling on the finish of the cap (despite faithfully rinsing and drying after each use).

As long as there are people willing to pay for it, there will be a market.

Stainless-razors are an option – and, we all like having options, (think… food, clothing, and/or houses), even if we don’t justify spending for it. Think of how boring life would be without choices. I also don’t see greed, envy, or “up with the Jones’s” leaving society anytime soon, either.

Stainless is a selling-point to folks who assimilate that to quality and durability.

People purchase expensive vehicles everyday for ridiculous prices, and that’s a portion of the market that these razor-manufacturers are appealing to. Undercoating, aluminum wheels, tinted-windows, and pin-striping don’t make a vehicle drive any different… but, people pay for it anyway.

In my particular case, I did purchase a stainless DE razor… my first.

No, I don’t drive a Cadillac… but, I don’t see the purpose of owning a bunch of razors, either. (To each his own – no offense intended.) I wanted something that would be used daily with little to no worry, and something that would outlast me. For now, it’s still my money… and, that’s how I chose to spend it. Fortunately, it was a very rewarding expenditure that I appreciate each and every day.

bazemk said:

all of the brands will survive but only 2 of them offer SS + Adjustability + lowest prices for a trade of being non machined but still great shavers. Usually these 2 manufactures should make the most revenue

Click to expand...

I think one of those brands is Rockwell, what's the other one?
Thanks!

Don't think there's enough... out of that list how many of those are available to buy new? Wolfman and BBS-1 are nearly impossible to get, I think Tradere is out of business? Although I'm sure the Rockwell is a great razor it's a bit ugly, Mongoose is only SE, I think the SS razor market has room to grow and could use more competition.

Thomas Darkblade said:

I think one of those brands is Rockwell, what's the other one?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

Im guessing ATT

I personally think, that most of the big companies, except Feather, doesn´t produce SS razor because of the costs. If someone starts with DE shaving he wouldn´t pay too much money for a starter razor. The would look for a metal razor for a good price. Merkur and Edwin Jagger are a good example.
SS razor are some kind of niche market. It´s something for smaller companies, which can change models much more easier than the bigger ones.
I like my SS razors, but I always go back to my brass and other pressure die casting razors.

Thomas Darkblade said:

I think one of those brands is Rockwell, what's the other one?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

Its Supply Provision

Right now, the SS machined market is tiny, relative to other markets.

I would guess the totally market for machined billet SS razors is under 5,000 razors per annum (I could be wrong); basing on us, Wolfman, ATT, Mongoose, Timeless, Blackbird, One-Blade, PILS, BBS-1, soon Muhle. I don't include MiM pieces like the Rockwell or Feather because these are build different.

The average selling price is probably in the neighborhood of $200 USD.

When I compare this to other products that people don't really need, watches, our market looks even more tiny. I consider mechanical watches to be similar to billet machined SS razors, awesome but totally unnecessary to complete the task (telling time). Yet, Rolex alone produces about 800,000 watches a year at an average price of (guessing) $12,000 per. That is just one company, there are others that have huge volume as well.

When I look at the barrier to entry, $130 vs. $5000; and the volume of less than 5,000 pieces compared to millions of $5,000+ watches per year, I believe the razor market can grow.

The one nice thing about buying items that last (virtually) forever, the resale value is usually very good. With most SS machined billet razors, I would guess you could at least recoup 75% of your investment after years of use. In some cases, the razors are so difficult to obtain that you can sell them for more than the original price. I personally don't mind spending a lot of money on an item if I know the resale value is excellent.

UserNameTaken said:

Im guessing ATT

Click to expand...

No, I don't think is ATT. ATT is adjustable but is machined and price is not low. Must be something else.

bazemk said:

Its Supply Provision

Click to expand...

Thanks, I didn't know about them, I will look it up.

IMO a lot depends on the future economy. If it remains good then the high end SS razors will continue to have a market. Look at the Deluxe Gillette razors of the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920s was a boom era and people had money. Therefore the Deluxe Gillette razors from that era are quite common on Ebay and reasonably available. There was a new design of them introduced in 1930, at the start of the Depression. These are the so called NEW Deluxe Gillette razors. They are much less common today as sales were apparently much smaller. People did not buy deluxe, and expensive at the time, high end razors during economic hard times. Even the Gillette Goodwill, a free razor given away with the purchase of 10 razor blades, is a scarce item today.