Author Topic: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional  (Read 6571 times)

Offline oversaturn

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Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« on: May 06, 2015, 02:28:45 pm »
0
Está visto que cada vez mais o barbear tradicional é negócio de milhões - até já é alvo de atenções por parte da revista Forbes! :o

Podem ler o artigo na íntegra aqui. :)

Quote
Not Your Grandfather's Razor: iKon And The Business Of Men's Grooming


Some shavers are trending back toward the tried and true safety razor and entrepreneurs like iKon's Greg Kahn are reaping rewards. (image credit: Ryan Hyde on Flickr)

When Gregory Kahn started building his own steel safety razors, he was doing it to remedy his dissatisfaction with the flimsy plastic cartridge razors that hurt when he used them and irritated his face when he was done. What made his move a business was the fact that lots of other fellas out there were suffering the same pain point.

“Basically I’m a guy who didn’t like to shave,” says Kahn, 44, founder of iKon Razors (yes, that’s a play on his name), a small, Texas-based company that designs and manufactures men’s grooming tools. “I always had irritation from shaving—it was a chore.” His 5-person company can’t seem to make product fast enough as the 2,000 CNC-cut steel pieces that are produced each month get snapped up as soon as they hit the market, priced between $80 and $135 each.



This iKon slanted head is coated in Teflon for lubricity.

Back in 2009, while living in Thailand and overseeing the manufacture of precision parts for satellites, he tossed aside the multi-bladed cartridge razors that have come to represent the pinnacle of modern shaving. Kahn turned instead to the tried and true safety razor, whose origins date back over 100 years. The heavy, mostly chromed steel designs were popular through most of the 20th century and use thin, disposable, double-edged razor blades that are super inexpensive.

His shaving results were far better than he’d experienced using cartridges but, having a background in engineering, he felt some minor improvements were in order. “With access to this machinery and having worked the machine shops, I made a razor for myself.”

The first one was rough, but nifty enough to get custom build requests from acquaintances. He put some of his creations on eBay and they sold for about $100 apiece. The design he sells through iKon is made from stainless steel, as opposed to the chromed carbon steel of most competitors. Grips are knurled to avoid slippage and some of the heads – the part that touches a shavers face – are coated in Teflon. The grips and heads are interchangeable so customers can create their own devices based on preference, and even match them with parts from other brands. Right now iKon produces eight models with more in development.

After his items appeared on eBay, Kahn was contacted by online wet shave vendors like BullGoose Shaving Supplies, ShoeBox ShaveShop, Shave Nation and UK-based Connaught Shaving. To meet demand he set up production in Southeast Asia and has product shipped to Austin, Texas, where much of the finishing and assembly work is done. From there units fly out the door with every order.

Traditional shaving techniques, or ‘wet shaving’ – that means badger or boar-hair brushes, fragrant shaving soaps and creams, safety or straight razors – have experienced a resurgence in recent years, and not just among older folks or antique hunters seeking archaic shaving tools. Art of Shaving stores – a chained owned by Gillette – have been spreading and sales of safety razors there increased 1,000 percent from 2009 to 2014.

According to Anne Rothstein, an export sales representative with established German razor company Dovo/Merkur, her firm has seen “a huge increase” in demand for its wares, causing three-year lead times on orders of straight razors and one-year leads for safety razors. “However,” she told FORBES. “The latest men’s fashion for beards has extended that demand to other areas for our production, such as beard scissors.”

But why the rekindled interest? “The whole men’s grooming industry has just been booming,” says John Koontz, who runs online shave shop WestCoastShaving.com with wife, Christine. “Not just in shaving but everything around men’s grooming—taking the time to take care of yourself is a big deal now.” He ain’t lying:  men’s grooming is a $33 billion industry worldwide, $6 billion in the U.S. and growing (shaving represents just under half of that). Though the wet shave portion of that market is truly only a growing subsection.


Razors by Merkur (top) and Edwin Jagger are strong performers on online retail shop West Coast Shaving. (image credit: TheCloseShave.com)

Launched in 2005 and soon to release its own new razor design, Koontz’s West Coast Shaving has seen an average 40% increase year-over-year in online search traffic since 2010, and they’re not alone. “Our sales continue to go up even though there’s a new competitor, a new store, popping up just about every day,” says Koontz. “Ten years ago I could name four or five stores that I knew of; today I could easily find 100 stores.”

ClassicShaving.com is one of these online retailers that’s growing, catering to a clientele in their 20s and 30s. “There seems to be a modern gentleman’s renaissance,” says Jason SaintJohn, a product specialist for the company. “We see a lot of guys that are moving away from the disposable lifestyle and are moving back to long term reusable goods.” Those include safety razors that last a lifetime, or a good shaving brush. “We see the same guys buying good fountain pens, nice Zippo lighters – these sustainable products – and paying more for them.”

Greg Kahn says old-timey shaving converts are attracted to style, savings and comfort. “The five-blade razors and triple-edged razors work great—people use them and are real happy. But when you’re shaving with a triple-edge blade, the first blade cuts and the second and third blades actually end up pushing whatever was left of the stubble back into the follicle.” That can lead to irritation, just ask Tristan Walker, a grooming entrepreneur whose take on the modern safety razor – the Bevel – attracted almost $7 million in growth capital from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Upfront Ventures, Collaborative Fund and hip-hop artist Nas.

On the savings front, multi-bladed cartridge razors can be pricey, while the double edged blades Kahn’s creations use can be acquired online for pennies. John Koontz says that’s what led him to discover the benefits of the wet shave. “In 2007, ’08 and ’09 there were a lot of guys getting into it just because they were fed up with the price and quality of what everybody else was using; the standard drugstore name brands.” Double-edged blades also use no plastics, making them more eco-friendly, Koontz added, which is good because Americans throw away an estimated 2 billion disposable razors each year.



Razor aficionados spend big bucks on eBay and antique sites for vintage models like this, the Gillette Aristocrat. (image credit: Wikimedia)

The style element comes from workmanship and aesthetics. A gentleman (or lady–they shave too, y’know) is not likely to come across a cartridge shaver as snazzy as a well-made modern safety razor from iKon or its established competitors like Parker, the German MÜHLE, or the UK-based Edwin Jagger brands; and certainly not one as regal as vintage examples like the Gillette Aristocrat (if the $100 to $300 price tag on eBay is not a barrier). “It might not have been an innovation for the triple and five-blade razors to come out,” Kahn says. “It might have just been a marketing tool for the big companies. This is an old standby that still really works well. And it’s cool.”
I wish I could be half as sure of anything as some people are of everything...


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Offline guest5676345

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2015, 02:36:16 pm »
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Vai pegar moda...

Offline Pitolas

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2015, 02:40:29 pm »
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Bem interessante

Offline Daniel J. Fernandes

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2015, 03:20:40 pm »
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É, tá indo pra frente o pensamento...

Offline FML

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2015, 05:51:03 pm »
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Agora é que vamos dar valor ao acumular de produtos que temos feito... Ou muito me engano, ou os preços vão subir ainda mais  :P

Offline Stützel

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2015, 05:55:59 pm »
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Woww!! Prevejo grandes inovações no mercado ... empresas seguirão o fluxo!!

@Flavio

Esta certíssimo!!  :)

Offline Gago

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2015, 06:14:36 pm »
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Agora é que vamos dar valor ao acumular de produtos que temos feito... Ou muito me engano, ou os preços vão subir ainda mais 
Especialmente das Aristocrats! 

Mas de facto, são tempos interessantes. Tenho curiosidade de como essa moda vai estar daqui a dez anos, quando chegar a hora do meu puto se barbear.

Offline JLTG

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2015, 06:25:27 pm »
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Forbes? Mas bah! Que maravilha!
José Luís Tomé Gonçalves

“Elogie em público e corrija em particular. Um líder corrige sem ofender e orienta sem humilhar." - Mario Sergio Cortella

“Se cortar, espirra sangue!” - José Luiz da Costa Gonçalves

Offline Caramelo

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2015, 06:46:11 pm »
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 Vamos lá ver se a procura aumenta de tal modo que tambem aumentem os preços...

Offline Moreira

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2015, 06:49:02 pm »
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Inflaram o ego do avatar do @Danilo

Offline udrako

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2015, 06:49:58 pm »
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Bem interessante.
Rezar apenas que não seja um modismo passageiro que venha e depois seja esquecido.
Outro coisa interessante que vejo é a forma como o mercado/marketing  - talvez inconsciente - de associar o barbear clássico ao luxo, ou bem sucedido businessman, a "coisas de rico" como se costuma dizer.
Como é o caso das "canetas tinteiro" e outros e que acabam fazendo os preços dispararem às alturas, tornando o hábito ou gosto pessoal mais em exceção.

Offline Dude

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2015, 07:19:05 pm »
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Quote
Launched in 2005 and soon to release its own new razor design, Koontz’s West Coast Shaving has seen...

Alguém tem mais informações sobre esse aparelho da West Coast Shaving?

Offline Gago

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2015, 07:24:14 pm »
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Alguém tem mais informações sobre esse aparelho da West Coast Shaving?

Não tenho nenhuma informação, nem sabia disso. Só espero que não sejam mais PEARLS remarcadas  :P

Offline Zeri

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2015, 07:46:36 pm »
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Ainda no começo....mas já comecei. :)

Offline Stützel

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Re: Artigo da revista Forbes acerca do barbear tradicional
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2015, 07:49:23 pm »
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Pode até ser moda!! Mas só fica tem tem o saco roxo!!!  ;D

 

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