Knockoff henson

[tropic]

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005008370980554.html

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 almost bought the Syntesi from Maggards in November. I wonder whether the Italy has TGS' branding on it.

 

[Halfbeard]

I almost bought the Syntesi from Maggards in November. I wonder whether the Italy has TGS' branding on it.

It has.

 

[jesseix]

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.

How would they get their money back based on it being advertised as real? They’re not calling it a Henson razor, there’s no Henson branding, I don't see anything directly referencing Henson… it’s obviously a knockoff, but they sell a lot of those and I don’t see how a buyer would try to claim they thought this was an actual Henson.

As an experiment, I just went to AEx and did a search for “Henson razor”… this product doesn’t even show up.

https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-henson-razor.html?osf=direct&spm=a2g0n.productlist.header.0

 

[wetshaver233]

How would they get their money back based on it being advertised as real? They’re not calling it a Henson razor, there’s no Henson branding, I don't see anything directly referencing Henson… it’s obviously a knockoff, but they sell a lot of those and I don’t see how a buyer would try to claim they thought this was an actual Henson.

As an experiment, I just went to AEx and did a search for “Henson razor”… this product doesn’t even show up.

https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-henson-razor.html?osf=direct&spm=a2g0n.productlist.header.0

They might not say it directly, but it's still misleading and I don't see anything saying that they are not genuine, but knockoffs. Some of the razors are advertised as the real deal, like the R41GS, Syntesi and others, so given how in most cases the dispute favours the buyer, I'd say the chances of keeping the razors and getting your money back are pretty high. At least that's what my experience was a few years ago when I used to by all kinds of junk from that website.

Also, if you zoom some of the pictures of the razors, you can see ''Muhle'' stamp on them.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1103838205?pagePath=index.htm&shopId=1103838205&srcSns=sns_Copy&sellerAdminSeq=2683176050&spreadType=socialShare&bizType=StoreDetail&social_params=60957905596&sellerId=2683176050&aff_fcid=be44a17d34a041cbbeb07e15427f120a-1737269567751-00016-_EHjaB8k&tt=MG&aff_fsk=_EHjaB8k&aff_platform=default&sk=_EHjaB8k&aff_trace_key=be44a17d34a041cbbeb07e15427f120a-1737269567751-00016-_EHjaB8k&shareId=60957905596&businessType=StoreDetail&platform=AE&terminal_id=9bdbf3f9e3be4ff4abf34df5dffa0d5e

This one even says ''made in Italy''.

 

[Iridian]

I almost bought the Syntesi from Maggards in November. I wonder whether the Italy has TGS' branding on it.

The Syntesi is shiny white and mild, the Bayonetta is reportedly a much better shaver. I like the looks of the Syntesi better and I already said it several times, give me a machined SS Bayonetta and we are talking.

If the make a SS copy of the Bayonetta, the problem is that they don't ship to Germany for some reason.

TLDR if you get only one of the two, I would strongly recommend you the Bayonetta.

 

[tropic]

Thanks for the heads-up. I like the Syntesi's looks, too, but not enough to buy a razor I won't use. Cheers!

 

[Barberbite]

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.

I had noticed this razor yesterday but did not notice that it was not original, it was renamed as “Canadian Razor”
If they show me a stolen or fake photo where in the presentation they show the original razor it's easy to fall into the trap. And even if there are reviews and photos of the razors in the buyers' comments as a non-expert I don't think I would ever be able to tell it was a clone. In all this I think as usual for other razors,only the razor blades are original Rk stainless to make people believe it is the genuine razor.

 

[Barberbite]

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.

I agree. That's my own reasoning.

 

[threshyper]

To be honest, it's really infuriating to see this kind of situation. In recent years, there have been a lot of knockoff products in China. The most imitated product is the Wolfman WR2 series of razors. Not only are wet shaving stuff manufacturers like Yaqi and DScosmetic producing similar - looking products, but many enthusiasts are also contacting CNC manufacturers to produce 1: 1 replicas, and they even call them xxWolf razors. Although these are all acts of disrespecting intellectual property rights, at least these merchants never claim that their products are genuine.
In the past few months, fake razors have appeared on "Xianyu" in China (the website is: www.goofish.com, a second - hand product transfer platform under Alibaba Taobao, but it's not strictly limited to second - hand product transactions). The first fake product was Henson AL13. Merchants sold it at a price 40% - 50% lower than the market price, but they did not claim that their product was a knockoff. Because the processing technology of this counterfeit product is also pretty good, and it has a complete factory packaging, many people were deceived due to the habitual thinking that there would be no counterfeit products in the small safety razor market. At present, this counterfeit manufacturer has also extended its counterfeiting to products such as Muhle R94 and TGS Syntesi. To be frank, this is very bad. It not only brings a negative impact to “Made in China”, but also makes everyone have to be more vigilant when purchasing new or second - hand products, increasing the cost of purchasing.

 

[Barberbite]

I do not know the U.S. laws for importing from China or their customs controls. As far as the EU laws and customs of European Community countries are concerned, from what I know, from April 1, 2025, there will be stricter controls for imports then especially from China.
Each transport company will therefore have to anticipate to the customs authorities a number of details about the goods that are imported within the EU. In addition to the exact details of the sender and the receiver, also a detailed and precise description of the cargo and the goods. Why do you pose and write down all these problems?

Counterfeiting of razors and other products will continue, the laws and controls for customs at least in the EU are getting stricter and stricter, and the fines or penalties for those who do not comply with the laws are continually being tightened. Agreed, there will always be someone who gets away with it but it has always been so, as it always will be.

 

[OlegN]

I do not know the U.S. laws for importing from China or their customs controls. As far as the EU laws and customs of European Community countries are concerned, from what I know, from April 1, 2025, there will be stricter controls for imports then especially from China.
Each transport company will therefore have to anticipate to the customs authorities a number of details about the goods that are imported within the EU. In addition to the exact details of the sender and the receiver, also a detailed and precise description of the cargo and the goods. Why do you pose and write down all these problems?

Counterfeiting of razors and other products will continue, the laws and controls for customs at least in the EU are getting stricter and stricter, and the fines or penalties for those who do not comply with the laws are continually being tightened. Agreed, there will always be someone who gets away with it but it has always been so, as it always will be.

These are some pictures of a razor purchased on Aliexpress.

 

[Barberbite]

These are some pictures of a razor purchased on Aliexpress.

In Aliexpress stores, from the photos of the box does not say “Henson Shaving” razor, generically razor any double edge.

I have not purchased and don't know if it then arrives different with the box marked "Henson Shaving" as you wrote me, I trust.
It should be a problem of Customs and those who do the checks, that counterfeit goods can come from China we don't find out today in this forum. What can we do about it? If you don't like the idea of a clone razor, don't buy it. It's simple!

 

[spacemonkey42]

Wow, that is certainly a counterfeit, yikes! I've had that happen, I ordered a watch from Ali, thinking it was a homage with no branding, that is what the images showed. When it arrived it had the premium brandname/logo on it. I am too ashamed to wear it.

 

[Gilf187]

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.

These are some pictures of a razor purchased on Aliexpress.

Here's the real one. They really went out of their way to match the design.

 

[brucered]

Knockoffs, homages, replicas, ripoffs, copies.

It's AliExpress, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

 

[jesseix]

They might not say it directly, but it's still misleading and I don't see anything saying that they are not genuine, but knockoffs. Some of the razors are advertised as the real deal, like the R41GS, Syntesi and others, so given how in most cases the dispute favours the buyer, I'd say the chances of keeping the razors and getting your money back are pretty high. At least that's what my experience was a few years ago when I used to by all kinds of junk from that website.

Also, if you zoom some of the pictures of the razors, you can see ''Muhle'' stamp on them.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1103838205?pagePath=index.htm&shopId=1103838205&srcSns=sns_Copy&sellerAdminSeq=2683176050&spreadType=socialShare&bizType=StoreDetail&social_params=60957905596&sellerId=2683176050&aff_fcid=be44a17d34a041cbbeb07e15427f120a-1737269567751-00016-_EHjaB8k&tt=MG&aff_fsk=_EHjaB8k&aff_platform=default&sk=_EHjaB8k&aff_trace_key=be44a17d34a041cbbeb07e15427f120a-1737269567751-00016-_EHjaB8k&shareId=60957905596&businessType=StoreDetail&platform=AE&terminal_id=9bdbf3f9e3be4ff4abf34df5dffa0d5e

This one even says ''made in Italy''.


View attachment 1979596

I’m just looking at the razor in the original post, I didn’t go digging for any other razors (but I already know that there’s numerous knock-offs there; maybe that’s not as widely known as I thought??)

 

[spacemonkey42]

Oh no, search for "nodachi razor" and you'll see a Tatara knockoff. It looks pretty shoddy from the pictures. This keeps getting worse.

 

[DeBladeRunner]

Did Henson aquire any trade marks for the henson.? I

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.

Illegal?

Did henson aquire any trademarks /patents ? I don't know of many wetshaving manufactures that have active trademarks ..Most razors today are copies or inspired by old designs whose trademarks expired decades ago..

 

[Iridian]

Did henson aquire any trademarks /patents ?

I don't know for sure, but apparently they didn't patent anything. Henson could bring forward "unfair competition", but that would require a court and the outcome is not guaranteed to be positive for them, as anything not patented can be copied.

 

[spacemonkey42]

US or Canadian patents are not international and are not usually honored by China.