Knockoff henson
- Thread starter LuckyGlenn
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Canada razor? Sheesh, this is really bad!
They named it after the country they stole it from… :/
Exactly, flagrantly flaunting that they are stealing the design.
I saw a picture from Aliexpress on a Facebook shaving group and apparently, they sell knockoffs of not only Henson, but also Muhle Rocca, Muhle R41GS and others.
They've stolen the photos too...
One of the photos show RK blades, which are the official blade Henson ships with their razors.
One of the photos show RK blades, which are the official blade Henson ships with their razors.
Iridian
Cool and slimy
This is apparently a Synthesi copy, but, despite stealing the text with the "Hard Chrome Coating", this one seems not coated with anything.
Named... drumroll... Italy razor.
I mean, we know Yaqi is often inspired by other designs...but I never saw anything as flagrant as the examples in this thread. It's pretty egregious.
I wonder who is buying these razors?
I wonder who is buying these razors?
There are plenty of people who would buy them, especially those who want to pay as little shipping as possible or those living in Europe and don't want to pay VAT and import taxes. The other reason is because if the product end up not being original, which most likely would be the case with these razors, then they will get their money back and keep the razor, since it was advertised as the real deal and it ended up not being.
What makes you believe those Italy(Synthesi), Canada(Henson) and German (Rocca) razors are knock-offs and not original ?
Could be reseller ...
Could be reseller ...
Yeah, the only thing like this I have ordered, Germany razor blades, were authentic German Edgewells...
Only one way to find out.
Iridian
Cool and slimy
Indeed, maybe @m949 can shed some light on this, importing from Canada or Italy might per se be possible, but at least the Goodfellas and Razorock absolutely don't "want" to ship to Asia, but refer to their partners. Don't ask me who they are, I don't know.
They still rather look like perfect copies, which might be good enough. The price for the super shiny hard chrome plating of the Syntesi makes it roughly 100 EUR, while the apparently not coated copy or non-coated original only costs 50 EUR e.g..
But all these products are either made in Europe to begin with or have solid European distribution. Surely, nobody sees this pricing on a Chinese website with a reputation for copying / counterfeiting western products and thinks they are getting the real thing? It's not even like the knock off are that much cheaper. I just don't get it.
"I reeeeaaaally want a Henson but I simply cannot afford the extra $30 to get a real one and none of the hundreds of alternative options in my budget will do. I know..."
As has been suggested, I suspect they may be using images of original products, but that ain't what you are buying. Even if it is "good enough" is there not an ethical question about supporting this kind of flagrant intellectual property theft? Yaqi sail pretty close to the wind sometimes, but this type of thing is just beyond the pale. Well, that's one man's opinion - perhaps others feel differently.
Different people have different mindsets. For some people saving $10 is worth the gamble, especially since they can get their money back and keep the razor in case if it's counterfit. I admit that I'm biased torwards Chinese razors and I don't buy them no matter how pretty and afordable they seem. The only thing I buy is Chinese brushes, since I care little about them, because they don't affect the outcome of my shaves and I see no reason to buy an expensive artisan synthetic brush, which might not last 10 years with my ways of making lather.
Given the random name of the shop, no rating or anything, I'd say that the whole thing is fishy and that's me being generous.
I don't mind a SS 1:1 duplicate though 
Iridian
Cool and slimy
It might not be just an ethical question but plain illegal.
This razor interestingly could not be shipped to MY location in Europe, but maybe to other parts of the world, namely Asia, that would otherwise not get the razor.
It will still be illegal IMO, but who would enforce that for the Goodfellas that their razors don't get sold as copies in Asia? It would be easier for them if a counterfeit comes from China to Italy, but the other way round they might be right, but would have to depend on Chinese authorities to bother with this.
Note that this shop just has a number and not a name/brand. But well, DSCosmetic made copies of the Blackland Dart handle. That might be legal, the particular shape would be hard to patent, but buying it would be to support copying.
It never happened to me, but if you buy Brooks or Nike shoes from the very original factories in China that made them but no longer are contracted by Nike, they will just continue making them nevertheless in many cases.
If customs notices such a shoe coming from China, they shred it and present you a massive bill for this massive effort of apparently over 100 EUR. That's the way it works in Germany.
It is a bureaucratic method to punish people without having to prove and sentence them guilty of knowingly buying counterfeits.
Customs bothers to do that for big companies, but not for smaller businesses.
Iridian
Cool and slimy
The Hensons are meant to be lightweight, but yeah, I also always rather wanted them in SS. The price upgrade for Ti is quite significant, plus I am not so sure if I would finally start liking the design at the +++++ level. The huge gap thing on the WR2 heads gives a lot of flexibility how steep or shallow one wants to go, it likely will just not work like that on the Henson head design, not even with a ridiculous gap.I don't mind a SS 1:1 duplicate though
Razorock’s partner retailer in China is called Ranger’s Corner. They are listed on the RR website as one of their retailers. I bought my two RR handles from them.
TGS is sold by a shop called DOPEBarber along with several over razor brands including Merkur and Henson. I bought my TGS Bayonetta from them. They also have the Syntesi on stock.
My Mühle Rocca was bought from Mühle’s official online shop on Taobao.
Both Ranger’s Corner and DOPEBarber shops are legit. The pricing is similar to prices in EU and U.S. markets, anctually usually slightly more expensive. My Bayonetta was very close though at around USD 42 using some bonus points.
All products on these shops are shown with their respective brand names. Not with Italian, Canadian, or German razor. DOPEbarber even did a a collaboration with Westman Shaving bringing out their own Aftershave.
There are a few other shops which sell Henson, RR and Mühle razors but they tend to be a bit more expensive, but they are also legit. TGS razors are only available from DOPEBarber though.
I can’t say much about this particular shops on AliX, as I can’t open the site without it asking me to make an account, which I don’t want to do.
Since they don’t list the respective brand names in the description it could be that they are an unauthorized reseller. Whether these are counterfeit I cannot say. I haven’t come across any counterfeit Henson’s, TGS or Rocca’s on Taobao, but then again I’m very careful in where I order from and generally Taobao is very strict about counterfeited products being offered on their platform. That of course, doesn’t mean that there aren’t any to be found from time to time.
TGS is sold by a shop called DOPEBarber along with several over razor brands including Merkur and Henson. I bought my TGS Bayonetta from them. They also have the Syntesi on stock.
My Mühle Rocca was bought from Mühle’s official online shop on Taobao.
Both Ranger’s Corner and DOPEBarber shops are legit. The pricing is similar to prices in EU and U.S. markets, anctually usually slightly more expensive. My Bayonetta was very close though at around USD 42 using some bonus points.
All products on these shops are shown with their respective brand names. Not with Italian, Canadian, or German razor. DOPEbarber even did a a collaboration with Westman Shaving bringing out their own Aftershave.
There are a few other shops which sell Henson, RR and Mühle razors but they tend to be a bit more expensive, but they are also legit. TGS razors are only available from DOPEBarber though.
I can’t say much about this particular shops on AliX, as I can’t open the site without it asking me to make an account, which I don’t want to do.
Since they don’t list the respective brand names in the description it could be that they are an unauthorized reseller. Whether these are counterfeit I cannot say. I haven’t come across any counterfeit Henson’s, TGS or Rocca’s on Taobao, but then again I’m very careful in where I order from and generally Taobao is very strict about counterfeited products being offered on their platform. That of course, doesn’t mean that there aren’t any to be found from time to time.
If they were authentic and they were a reseller, they would say Henson and have their logo and branding shown clearly. That one does not. The Italy razor has branding on it, that looks even worse.
We have strong information that Henson doesn't outsource their production, because the family owns a machine shop where razors are just a side production. However, there have been other examples where it is thought that the Chinese shop that was outsourced to started selling a razor that they had been producing for a different company.
How could one get their money back for buying a counterfeit if it doesn't claim to be real? You're buying a genuine "canada razor". So what you would probably end up with is a not great copy that you paid much of what a real Henson costs.
We have strong information that Henson doesn't outsource their production, because the family owns a machine shop where razors are just a side production. However, there have been other examples where it is thought that the Chinese shop that was outsourced to started selling a razor that they had been producing for a different company.
How could one get their money back for buying a counterfeit if it doesn't claim to be real? You're buying a genuine "canada razor". So what you would probably end up with is a not great copy that you paid much of what a real Henson costs.
I think counterfeit is the wrong word. I would call it "knockoffs" as nobody is tying to fool you.
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