MWF Closing?

[Lane101]

MWF RIP.

View attachment 1958881

Hi Goblin, Wondering if the death announcement of the MWF brand may be premature? Right now we have two pieces of information, a local Wibsey barber made the above post in the area business community blog and the company website is down.

Even with the local MWF office and facility being shut down it's possible that the brand itself may have been sold or other arrangements have been made to continue it. The local Wibsey barber can only report on what he is seeing or hearing in his neighborhood and won't have visibility to possible other elements of any MWF business plan or transaction.

Another reason for considering the possibility of this is the odd temporary transfer of MWF ownership from the Robinson family to Adam Mackenzie, who per @pjgh , appears to be a family wealth management specialist. Unclear exactly why this was done though a possibility is his involvement was focused on a sale of the business or at least the brand itself. Possibly the whole thing was outsourced to a third party. Just strange that a brand with such wide distribution would be thrown away and totally shut down.

Will be interesting to here more of the story or if we eventually get an announcement from MWF itself. Please let us know if you hear more.

P.S. Edit: Just saw an Instagram post from The Invisible Edge, an on-line U.K. grooming products retailer, that states:
"We were sad to receive notification that Mitchell’s Wool Fat Soap Ltd is closing the doors after a century of good old fashioned soap making. With a history dating back to the early 1900s the business was one of Bradford’s oldest and produced a shaving soap which was much admired. So the little stock we have will be our last."

Moves the dial towards at total business shut down assuming they are referring to a formal notification from MWF and not a reaction to the Wibsey Business Community Blog post. Otherwise all the other posts on the web right now are based on the single barber post above.

 

[Lane101]

The price for refill pucks on Amazon is €70 as of this morning, it was about €14 last week.

I hope people who aren’t on the forums but just like shaving with MWF run across these posts and see that Kent is the same thing.

Amazon refill pucks in the U.S. are still around $15. Connaught has 11 refill pucks left 7 British Pounds (ex. VAT) each.

My plan is to just enjoy the inventory of tallow MWF pucks I picked up a couple of years ago.

 

[pjgh]

Hi Goblin, Wondering if the death announcement of the MWF brand may be premature? Right now we have two pieces of information, a local Wibsey barber made the above post in the area business community blog and the company website is down.

Even with the local MWF office and facility being shut down it's possible that the brand itself may have been sold or other arrangements have been made to continue it. The local Wibsey barber can only report on what he is seeing or hearing in his neighborhood and won't have visibility to possible other elements of any MWF business plan or transaction.

Another reason for considering the possibility of this is the odd temporary transfer of MWF ownership from the Robinson family to Adam Mackenzie, who per @pjgh , appears to be a family wealth management specialist. Unclear exactly why this was done though a possibility is his involvement was focused on a sale of the business or at least the brand itself. Possibly the whole thing was outsourced to a third party. Just strange that a brand with such wide distribution would be thrown away and totally shut down.

Will be interesting to here more of the story or if we eventually get an announcement from MWF itself. Please let us know if you hear more.

FWIW, the sign is still present on the house on St Helena Road - I drove past this evening.

Yes, that one post by the local barber does seem to be quite singular as a source of information. Likewise, I did wonder what was going on with that financial advisor appearing to be the considerable owner for a short period of time.

Something else we've spotted (and noted here in this thread) is that Kent appear to now be selling their SB2 refill as the 2024 MWF formulation with a recent batch number purchased by @geneaut and this has me wondering whether Kent has bagged it while it's hot, so to speak. I have reached out to them by email in the hope that they might shed some light. Here's hoping.

 

[Lane101]

FWIW, the sign is still present on the house on St Helena Road - I drove past this evening.

Yes, that one post by the local barber does seem to be quite singular as a source of information. Likewise, I did wonder what was going on with that financial advisor appearing to be the considerable owner for a short period of time.

Something else we've spotted (and noted here in this thread) is that Kent appear to now be selling their SB2 refill as the 2024 MWF formulation with a recent batch number purchased by @geneaut and this has me wondering whether Kent has bagged it while it's hot, so to speak. I have reached out to them by email in the hope that they might shed some light. Here's hoping.

Looks like Kent moved completely away from the MWF soap in advance of the closing. Just looked at their latest ingredients list (pasted below from their website) and it's now completely different from the reformulated MWF. In fact with sorbitol and propylene glycol among the leading ingredients this has some similarity to the Van Der Hagen Luxury shaving soap (top three ingredients include propylene glycol, sorbitol and stearic acid) sold here in the U.S.

New Kent pucks are now a completely different product. Anyone ordering Kent on-line should make sure the stock they are buying has the expected NOS ingredients.


Latest Kent Luxury Shaving Soap Ingredients List:
Sorbitol, Stearic acid, Sucrose, Propylene glycol, Glycerin, Lauric acid, Water, Sodium hydroxide, Myristate acid, Vitamin E, Sodium chloride, Lanolin, Coconut oil, Olive oil, Shea butter, Jojoba seed oil, Fragrance.

Reformulated MWF Ingredients:
Sodium Palmate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Stearate, Aqua (Water), Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Laurate, Potassium Laurate, Glycerin, Palm Kernal Acid, Parfum (Fragrance), Potassium Palm Kernelate, Titanium Dioxide, Lanolin, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium Iminodisuccinate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Gluconate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Limonene, Linalool.

 

[brucered]

@Lane101

A representative of Kent was on the MWF reformulation thread last year. She is not active on the forum but maybe she will see this and reply with some insight in regards to the Kent soap ingredients and/or change of maker.

@Kalie

Post in thread 'Mitchells Wool Fat Shaving Soap is no longer Tallow based' Mitchells Wool Fat Shaving Soap is no longer Tallow based - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/mitchells-wool-fat-shaving-soap-is-no-longer-tallow-based.640011/post-12269304

 

[Goblin]

@Lane101 you may be right, it could be a storm in a teacup, although it would be highly irresponsible for someone to say that a business was closing down without solid evidence. Unless, of course, it's a strategy to stimulate demand.

 

[geneaut]

Looks like Kent moved completely away from the MWF soap in advance of the closing. Just looked at their latest ingredients list (pasted below from their website) and it's now completely different from the reformulated MWF. In fact with sorbitol and propylene glycol among the leading ingredients this has some similarity to the Van Der Hagen Luxury shaving soap (top three ingredients include propylene glycol, sorbitol and stearic acid) sold here in the U.S.

New Kent pucks are now a completely different product. Anyone ordering Kent on-line should make sure the stock they are buying has the expected NOS ingredients.


Latest Kent Luxury Shaving Soap Ingredients List:
Sorbitol, Stearic acid, Sucrose, Propylene glycol, Glycerin, Lauric acid, Water, Sodium hydroxide, Myristate acid, Vitamin E, Sodium chloride, Lanolin, Coconut oil, Olive oil, Shea butter, Jojoba seed oil, Fragrance.

Reformulated MWF Ingredients:
Sodium Palmate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Stearate, Aqua (Water), Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Laurate, Potassium Laurate, Glycerin, Palm Kernal Acid, Parfum (Fragrance), Potassium Palm Kernelate, Titanium Dioxide, Lanolin, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium Iminodisuccinate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Gluconate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Limonene, Linalool.

Here’s the ingredient list on the last Kent puck I bought on Amazon last week.

 

[Captain Coconut]

As a general rule of thumb, if you don't see potassium in the ingredients list (e.g., potassium stearate, potassium tallowate, potassium palmate, etc.), then it's not really a shaving soap. There may be exceptions, but this is generally the rule.

I'll add that this applies to traditional soaps. Stuff like Van Der Hagen and the new Kent formulation listed above are obviously using other ingredients for lather stability.

Which leads me to wonder: can the newest Kent formula be melted in a microwave?

 

[pjgh]

Looks like Kent moved completely away from the MWF soap in advance of the closing. Just looked at their latest ingredients list (pasted below from their website) and it's now completely different from the reformulated MWF. In fact with sorbitol and propylene glycol among the leading ingredients this has some similarity to the Van Der Hagen Luxury shaving soap (top three ingredients include propylene glycol, sorbitol and stearic acid) sold here in the U.S.

New Kent pucks are now a completely different product. Anyone ordering Kent on-line should make sure the stock they are buying has the expected NOS ingredients.


Latest Kent Luxury Shaving Soap Ingredients List:
Sorbitol, Stearic acid, Sucrose, Propylene glycol, Glycerin, Lauric acid, Water, Sodium hydroxide, Myristate acid, Vitamin E, Sodium chloride, Lanolin, Coconut oil, Olive oil, Shea butter, Jojoba seed oil, Fragrance.

Reformulated MWF Ingredients:
Sodium Palmate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Stearate, Aqua (Water), Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Laurate, Potassium Laurate, Glycerin, Palm Kernal Acid, Parfum (Fragrance), Potassium Palm Kernelate, Titanium Dioxide, Lanolin, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium Iminodisuccinate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Gluconate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Limonene, Linalool.

t'other way around ...

When MWF reformulated in 2023, Kent were kept in the dark and even released some of the new formulation with the older tallow stickers erroneously. I think Kent were pretty irked! Rather than adopt the new formulation, Kent moved onto that Sorbitol formulation and has sold that for the last year or so. That formulation has some commonality with Haryali as well.

What is odd is that @genault picked up a puck of Kent to find it had the 2024 MWF formulation (and a recent batch number) yet the website still has the old ingredient list (as you've noticed). We believe that Kent have now adopted the (former) MWF latest formulation and yet to update their website ... which might well be wishful thinking given what we've just seen with Mitchell's, but the timing seems more than coincidence.

 

[geneaut]

Here’s the ingredient list on the last Kent puck I bought on Amazon last week.

View attachment 1959425

It shaves very well.

 

[geneaut]

It shaves very well.

I got a second puck last night. Same ingredient list as the first.

I have two more arriving Monday.

 

[Frito Ray]

They're being listed for $20, but I don't think they're going for much more than $5, if that.

Still too much.

 

[1e4]

I definitely ordered a supply — including the ceramic dish, which I figure I’ll be happy to have in 10 years.

 

[htownmmm]

As one who absolutely loved the Tallow version, the business dying doesn't surprise me. Why? Let's look at the course of events:

1. Remove tallow from soap and don't inform one of your main suppliers (Kent)

2. Many wet-shavers stock up on tallow version from MWF, Kent, Amazon, etc.

3. The company comes out w/the 1st reformulation; tallow lovers laugh at those who say it's better than the tallow version

4. The company reformulates the initial reformulation; tallow lovers are ROFLing at this news while still ignoring those who say this reformulation is better than the original.

5. The company says it's closing its doors for good; tallow lovers stop laughing and say, "You guys were still around?" while debating whether to sell any of their tallow supply.

Ultimately, the demise of any wet shaving supplier is bad for the community overall, but when they do it to themselves, all you can do is shake your head.

marty

 

[ChriWilson]

I mean - Haslinger Schafmilch and Stirling Sheep’s completely satisfy my Lanolin itch. The breakdown between MWF and Kent steered me away - though I did pickup a few verified tallow pucks from Kent directly. You never know…

 

[Lane101]

As one who absolutely loved the Tallow version, the business dying doesn't surprise me. Why? Let's look at the course of events:

1. Remove tallow from soap and don't inform one of your main suppliers (Kent)

2. Many wet-shavers stock up on tallow version from MWF, Kent, Amazon, etc.

3. The company comes out w/the 1st reformulation; tallow lovers laugh at those who say it's better than the tallow version

4. The company reformulates the initial reformulation; tallow lovers are ROFLing at this news while still ignoring those who say this reformulation is better than the original.

5. The company says it's closing its doors for good; tallow lovers stop laughing and say, "You guys were still around?" while debating whether to sell any of their tallow supply.

Ultimately, the demise of any wet shaving supplier is bad for the community overall, but when they do it to themselves, all you can do is shake your head.

marty

All valid points on the shaving soap. Most likely that shaving soap was a small part of their total business that was primarily focused on bath products. The bath soap was not reformulated. Suspect this was just a family thing with the owner retiring and the next generation not interested in running the business. Based on some analysis we did on their public balance sheet around a year ago this was a small business perhaps generating a few hundred thousand British Points in revenue.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

MWF was the first soap I got into when I joined this community. I never had much trouble lathering it. However, looking back it was not a good soap for me. I've tried it a few times since I ceased to use it on a daily basis only to discover that it is tremendously drying for my skin.

I've found that I like some veggie soaps and some tallow based soap. Strangely perhaps my favorite or most frequently used soap (Mike's) contains both tallow and lanolin so it has something in common with The Fat, but it is not at all drying for my skin.

I wish the family well and am somewhat sad to see the brand go. Even though it's not for me, I know many others love MWF and use it all the time.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Tomo]

I’ll miss them. Lots has changed in my five years here. A lot of big brands have folded and I’m not too impressed with what’s replaced them. More than anything I blame big goo for this. I can not understand how an inferior product continues to dominant the market share.

 

[Mitzie]

I’ll miss them. Lots has changed in my five years here. A lot of big brands have folded and I’m not too impressed with what’s replaced them. More than anything I blame big goo for this. I can not understand how an inferior product continues to dominant the market share.

It's as if manufacturers and retailers dictate to us what we should all use!

 

[Tomo]

It's as if manufacturers and retailers dictate to us what we should all use!

That’s exactly what they do. Most people will just use whatever happens to be on the shelf at the big box stores.