Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

[Barberbite]

@Barberbite , I don't know about the rest of your investigations, but 021 is the area code for Shanghai.

Thanks for the confirmation.
Dorco has the sales branch for East Asian countries in Shanghai, China.

These should be all their subsidiaries and branches for the sales network located throughout the world in different geographical areas.

These are their three Dorco factories in the world, three not four excluded Egypt.

So some Dorco ST300 blades packaged with Chinese writing are for East Asian countries.
There is also a similar package of Dorco ST300 blades sold in Indonesia and Hong Kong, it just lists a different phone number 021-6207-6630.
Since the East Asian market is huge, it could be that depending on the different East Asian countries, the packaging will indicate different telephone numbers always for the Shanghai offices.

 

[Barberbite]

I'll stop boring you with Dorco Blades.

Ultimate for Dorco Super Sharp.

A forum participant here wrote that Dorco Super Sharps appear to be renamed STL300 so Dorco Titans.

Dorco New Blade?

I was scrolling through the Aliexpress app and noticed these... Dorco Super Sharp. First time seeing them. I'm just wondering if this is a new blade from Dorco, a repackaging of the ST-300 or some shady Chinese company that slapped "Dorco" on their packaging? Anyone tried them?

www.badgerandblade.com

The same pack of Dorco Super Sharp blades in the blue pack I read and saw a photo in the Turkish shaving forum.
There are comments there that date back to 2020 and a member wrote there that he purchased both the Dorco Prime and Dorco Super Sharp blue package blades locally in a Turkish city. You should have seen them in the Turkish Razorus store and in another Turkish online cosmetics store.

Probably these marked blades and Dorco Super Sharp packaging are also sold in Russia?

Dorco Super Sharp Blue package
Dorco Super Sharp Red package
Dorco Super Sharp Green package

Note that they always write them Dorco Super Sharp STL300-10P
The Dorco Super Sharp blades blue package sells them TRC as well. Yes,them should be the same Dorco Titan blades in different packaging.

 

[Lane101]

Thank you sir. So I was able to verify that there are two different SKU codes for Dorco ST300 blades.
Mainly for me the problem is that I will never buy by ordering Dorco ST301 blades online in plastic packaging.
Them are the same blade so I don't want to pay more for them to have the plastic packaging.

It doesn't even occur to me to buy them from Aliexpress/Temu, however even buying them from the Chinese stores, locally in Italy, I don't trust them 100% that they are genuine blades.
The last ones I bought are the blades for the Asian and Philippine market, they are not counterfeits but one should always be careful.

I hope my comments can also help others in the future to clarify that there is only one Dorco ST300 blade in cardboard packaging (it only changes according to different markets of sold) until perhaps they disappear and finally eliminate the Dorco ST301 blade in plastic packaging that has not been listed in their catalog for years.
More than three years after your comment #1 even the latest Dorco catalog dated June 2023 still shows only Dorco ST300 so maybe they no longer produce them in plastic package but they are still in the market.

View attachment 2001376

Thank you. Actually the ST301 and STP301 plastic tuck stainless and Prime blades were dropped from the latest catalogs over a year ago. Only the cardboard tuck ST300 and STP301 tucks are now listed.

 

[Lane101]

Dorco Klass may not be the same blade as Dorco Titan.
View attachment 2001509
On the packaging of the Dorco Klass it says Chromium Ceramic Coated Blades the same as what is declared for the Dorco ST300 for the Western and Asian markets.
View attachment 2001511

If STL300 they are Titan. Per earlier posts Titan may have changed. Earlier Titans, per a 2020 catalog, noted that they were double coated. Later this copy was removed per the 2022 catalog.

It may also just be a case of selective copy that note blade features in some markets and not others while the blades with the same SKU number are all the same regardless of where sold.

 

[Barberbite]

Thank you. Actually the ST301 and STP301 plastic tuck stainless and Prime blades were dropped from the latest catalogs over a year ago. Only the cardboard tuck ST300 and STP301 tucks are now listed.

I apologize, my way of communicating in English is not fluent and I have difficulties in translating and communicating well in English.
I had understood that Dorco ST301 and STP301 blades are not listed in their catalog as early from 2021, that is as you had written in your post #1 here.
I'm not a fan of Prime blades which I should try again and I don't know if it is easy to still buy them in the plastic packaging, for Dorco ST301 blades I am sure they can still be found and it will be many years before they will be sold out and no longer commercially available.

I meant to write that it will be many years before they disappear from the market and it will no longer be possible to buy the old Dorco packs in plastic packaging.
On the other hand I was reading here in another discussion

where to buy actual Korean Dorco ST300's?

I have an old pack of Korean Dorco ST300 blades that I broke out the other day and had some great shaves with them. So I ordered a 100-pack from Amazon, whose description included the words "Product of Korea". However, when I got the packs, each 10-blade package had Chinese (not Korean)...

www.badgerandblade.com

There a forum member wrote that according to a communication from the Dorco company where this was specified and answered.

"ST300 does not currently have any domestic(S.Korea) products, and from 2013, production facilities will be in Vietnam. It's been transferred and produced in Vietnam."

Well, if it were true that as early as 2013 they had shifted blade production totally from Korea to Vietnam, in the local Chinese stores in Italy at least until 2019 (before the coronavirus pandemic), I continued to find those old Korean-made Dorco blades. Perhaps them are still found today but it is more complicated, clearly in Italy and in other parts of the world not in Sud Korea.
I think the same will take many more years before the Dorco ST 301 blades sold in plastic packaging, which are still easily found, will run out and disappear from the market, it will be more difficult to find and purchase.

 

[Barberbite]

I don't know if the information I am reporting and providing by sharing with you is all accurate and true, but I am adding it only out of our curiosity to know something more.

On the back of other packages of Dorco blades I have always read Dorco Vina, this is the first time I have come across a package that says Pho Noi A. Another discovery.

Pho Noi A is the main industrial park in Hung Yen Province (Vietnam) which boasts a total of about nine major industrial parks.

Pho Noi A therefore indicates the industrial park where Dorco Vina Co. Ltd is located.
Well, now I have clarified and understood what the writing that is reported Pho Noi A means.
Other information found online. Dorco vina Co., Ltd. is a Dorco Korea Group company, established in 2008 and operational in September 2010. It has a total area of 33,000 m2.
The main products produced in the factory are razors, various sets of cutlery and knives, hand tools, metal articles in general.

From what I read, Dorco Vina manages and controls three factories in Vietnam, two in the province of Hung Yen; in the first factory Hung Yen A (Factory 1) they mainly produce razors and refill cartridges, in the second Hung Yen B (Factory 2) they produce razor blades and another in Ha Nam province (Factory 3) produce disposable razors.

If the information that the other member had provided in the other discussion is correct the main factories in Hung Yen should have started operating in 2010 and in 2013 they began to steadily produce Dorco blades in Vietnam.
I don't know and can't guarantee whether that information about the 2013 production shift of blades from Korea to Vietnam is correct.

 

[Lane101]

I apologize, my way of communicating in English is not fluent and I have difficulties in translating and communicating well in English.
I had understood that Dorco ST301 and STP301 blades are not listed in their catalog as early from 2021, that is as you had written in your post #1 here.
I'm not a fan of Prime blades which I should try again and I don't know if it is easy to still buy them in the plastic packaging, for Dorco ST301 blades I am sure they can still be found and it will be many years before they will be sold out and no longer commercially available.

I meant to write that it will be many years before they disappear from the market and it will no longer be possible to buy the old Dorco packs in plastic packaging.
On the other hand I was reading here in another discussion

where to buy actual Korean Dorco ST300's?

I have an old pack of Korean Dorco ST300 blades that I broke out the other day and had some great shaves with them. So I ordered a 100-pack from Amazon, whose description included the words "Product of Korea". However, when I got the packs, each 10-blade package had Chinese (not Korean)...

www.badgerandblade.com

There a forum member wrote that according to a communication from the Dorco company where this was specified and answered.

"ST300 does not currently have any domestic(S.Korea) products, and from 2013, production facilities will be in Vietnam. It's been transferred and produced in Vietnam."

Well, if it were true that as early as 2013 they had shifted blade production totally from Korea to Vietnam, in the local Chinese stores in Italy at least until 2019 (before the coronavirus pandemic), I continued to find those old Korean-made Dorco blades. Perhaps them are still found today but it is more complicated, clearly in Italy and in other parts of the world not in Sud Korea.
I think the same will take many more years before the Dorco ST 301 blades sold in plastic packaging, which are still easily found, will run out and disappear from the market, it will be more difficult to find and purchase.

Yes, DE blades are often slow moving with a lot of old inventory floating around. This is consistent with what we've reported elsewhere and in this thread. The Vietnamese made Dorcos are excellent, those older blades made in Korea have many mixed reviews.

 

[Barberbite]

The Vietnamese made Dorcos are excellent, those older blades made in Korea have many mixed reviews.

Some find the Korean Dorcos softer and smoother than the new blades Vietnamese ones, others much rougher than the new production. To me they seemed sharper than the more recent production from Vietnam but they don't seem too bad to me.
It's a shame that Korean production is no longer available, I would like to try them again. Maybe the only way to still get them is to try to source them directly from South Korea.

Seems only available here from Korea, are old Dorco Blades New Platinum?
I remain in doubt because the description of the blades reports Hanoi (Vietnam).
If anyone knows of old stock where to get these Korean-made Dorco blades with the old Dorco logo and the additional red D can kindly let me know where they found them.

 

[Lane101]

Some find the Korean Dorcos softer and smoother than the new blades Vietnamese ones, others much rougher than the new production. To me they seemed sharper than the more recent production from Vietnam but they don't seem too bad to me.
It's a shame that Korean production is no longer available, I would like to try them again. Maybe the only way to still get them is to try to source them directly from South Korea.

Seems only available here from Korea, are old Dorco Blades New Platinum?
I remain in doubt because the description of the blades reports Hanoi (Vietnam).
If anyone knows of old stock where to get these Korean-made Dorco blades with the old Dorco logo and the additional red D can kindly let me know where they found them.

YMMV, the vast majority of B&B members gave the older Korean made Dorco blades very mixed reviews, often extremely negative. This perspective was so prevalent that all Dorco DE blade were perceived relatively poorly until few years ago when we figured out that production had shifted to Vietnam in a new plant with new equipment that made the far superior Dorco DE blades that most here now regard highly.

In fact most of the time when we see a negative Dorco DE blade review it turns out that the user has older made in Korea blades. Go through this thread in detail and you will find lots of examples of the above. Vendors with old inventory have figured this out as we've seen examples where the vendor stamped "made in Vietnam" on tucks that did not have country of origin information.

It's interesting that there are still on-line listings (even on Amazon) still appear to show older made in Korea Dorco DE blades. Unclear if it's really old inventory being sold or just a failure to update the listing photos.

Given that you found the made in Korea Dorco blades to be highly variable (some rough, others smooth), per your post above, it may not make sense to pursue old blades as you have no idea what you will get.

Thanks again for all your posts on Dorco. Dorco appears to have invested in the new Vietnamese plant as part of a strategy of better penetrating a variety of South Asian, Middle Eastern and African markets leading, in part, with its newer DE blades based on what is marketed as superior Korean technology. All your posts/photos provide great additional evidence that illustrates how they have executed this strategy. My sense, given that their broader strategy, like most other razor manufacturers, is to move users from DE to more profitable cartridge systems, is that they use these to break into markets hoping that shavers will trade up as income levels grow.

P.S. Your English is fine and easily understandable. What country are you based in?

 

[Barberbite]

P.S. Your English is fine and easily understandable. What country are you based in?

Thank you for all your clarifications and clarifications on the changes of all these years for the Dorco blades.
I'm happy that my English is correct and understandable, I use automatic translator to speed up and I hope to improve my English further in the future. I'm in Italy.

 

[george644]

There are also a lot f counterfeit Dorco st 300 blades circulating.Another reason for some bad reviews especially from new or inexperienced users.

 

[george644]

I managed to do 3 fine shaves with the Dorco ST 300 blade in the white tuck.This new blade is highly serviceable even for a guy like me with tough wiry beard.I used the same setup for the 3 shaves all of them with 3 passes plus touch up.I am very satisfied.i will continue with the blue tuck.Is it the same blade or different? We'll see...

 

[george644]

My setup is
Yaqi synthetic brush
Parker closed comb with 26c handle
Old Spice cream

 

[Barberbite]

I am very satisfied.i will continue with the blue tuck.Is it the same blade or different? We'll see...

They are exactly the same blade sold in different packaging.

 

[george644]

They must be but I just want to learn more about the Dorco blades.

 

[Barberbite]

Let us know how you find them and if you notice any differences. The current white boxes packaging with the red triangle at the edge reminds me of the one they had many years ago when they were still produced in Korea.

See Description

mg.gmarket.co.kr

The white package like in your photo that they currently sell in East Asian markets is even more beautiful in my opinion.