Thread: Did Genco fall asleep at the wheel?

Lately I've been thinking about Gillette's marketing v. the standard straights of the day:

I would say that even by the early 1910-1917 Genco surely had more power in the marketplace than Gillette...sheesh, they were producing what, 10k razors a day or somesuch? So when the time came for the US government to ask for bids to supply their boys with razors, somehow Gillette won the contract? What could have made the G-Men in Washington decide to go with Gillette? King surely have the tons of money that Genco had....lobbying? super-loss-leading? donations to campaigns?

Given the choice between two applications perform basically the same task, people will, in general, use whatever is more convenient. Especially if the acquisition price is equal or lower. Which it is in the case of a DE. People tend to forget about total cost of ownership if the acquisition price is right. Think IBM vs Apple (or Windows vs Mac OS): Cheap products that killed a tremendous amount of productivity - but people wanted cheap.

A few years ago, some companies started marketing campaigns to encourage a certain target group (affluent middle class) to 'trade up'. This is a rather interesting book if you want to learn more about this: Amazon.com: Trading Up: The New American Luxury (9781591840138): Michael Silverstein, Neil Fiske: Books. This strategy will help manufacturers of niche products (bespoke clothing, expensive watches, etc.). And to a certain degree, the same can be said of straight razors.

But to be honest, if I were working 14 hours a day for minimum wages (and that was not uncommon in 1910-1917), I would be less inclined to pay a premium for straight shaving products. Not to forget the war, of course, because shaving with a straight in trenches is probably not exactly the best a man can get.

So, there were probably several factors, but price, and ease of use were probably big contributing factors to the success of the DE. And, quite honestly, I would prefer a DE with consistent shaving features over a straight with its high maintenance and varying degrees of sharpness if it were not for the ability of our honing experts to make them truly shave ready for me.

Someone once told me that the Norwegian Army (and probably other countries too) handed out DEs in the soldier’s kits around WWI because they had to be clean shaven for the gasmasks to fit 100%, and that this lead to an increased use ot DEs.

German Wikipedia has this, too, while the English version has not. There are some pictures of 1917/1918 Gillette military razors here.

that was correct then as it is now if you dont have a good shave your mask wont get a good seal....and breathing in VX is not the way i want to leave the world

I agree wholeheartedly. The need to be clean shaven for the use of gas masks--along with the utility, compactness in a soldiers' kit and ease of use for the DE makes perfect sense to me.

WWI was a total war and the draft brought millions of young men into the military who had probably never shaved before. To ask them to learn the skills associated with str8 razor shaving, along with all the other important skills necessary for survival on the frontlines, would have been a daunting task.

Well soldiers need to shave to maintain grooming standards, no? Not that the gas masks aren't good enough reason alone...

I would think maintenance is probably the biggest determining factor in the decision between a DE and a straight razor. The handles are solid and can stand a bit of abuse. The razors are cheap and disposable, so you can just toss them afterwards. Also, gear would be lighter since you wouldn't need to pack a strop... or a honemeister.

let's ask Henry Ford how these things happen

I can just see carrying a leather strop and honing stones around in your pack through all kinds of weather. Maybe in earlier times they had to do it but later there was an easier way-the DE.