Thread: Changing Market?

Hello fellow straight razor enthusiast. I have a general question regarding the availability of straight razors on the market today. I've been away from the "scene" for about two years now and recently looked at classic shaving and the straight razor design's site to view straight razors on the market today and was a little puzzled as to the minimal selections available as compared to those in the past. Is it just me or have they reduced the selections quite substantially recently? I remember seeing many more Thiers Issard's on the market and a bigger selection of Dovo's than what is there now? I currently own two extra hollow Dovo's and a Hart Steel razor. Thanks

I would guess they are available, but perhaps some vendors are cutting back inventory in a weak economy? I have no clue, but many local businesses are acting carefully with excess inventory these days

That said, if you call many of these places, they can get stuff pretty quickly for you.

If anything SRD seems to have increased their Dovo selection.
There is now Bocker razors offered, as well as customs razors.
TI are pretty expensive from the factory which makes their prices pretty steep and my guess it not many carry them because they do not sell well, but this is just a guess. You can still find TI razors but mainly from European vendors I think.

You can find TI with a few US vendors, but he's right, even their base models are nearly double what dovo prices, and about 20-50 more than boker. There are new dovos and bokers out, but not loads of different designs at a time. Looks like two or three w/in the last year. Straight razors are a niche market, so manufacturers run limited quantities, which is usually why it takes so long for vendors to restock. I waited two months for Lynn to get the ebony spikes back in stock; while some sites discontinued it or still haven't restocked that make at all. It doesn't help that there are really only 4 maybe 5 current manufacturers that I can think of off hand: Dovo, Boker, TI, Henckels. Am I missing any? That's good razors though, not krieger, B&B, and the other cheap knock off pakistani/chinese junk novalty razors.

I also think that the limited availability of TI is simply they being uncompetitive. May be they're changing their business model and switching to predominantly 'Limited Edition' luxury line.

With TI I also think that they have only a few distributors at least here in the states allowed to sell them. I remember hearing someone say that at the last great shave conference..not sure if it was Lynn and I don't want to quote anyone but that could be an issue on availability at least for that one brand..
More customs are Appearing tho...not sure if that is your thing..I know they all are almost out of my price range although they all all beautiful pieces..

I've seen the TI inventory of some online sellers drop since the beginning of this year. Their Dovo inventory seems to have dropped too.

However, I've see Hart Steel razors expanding their sales through more online distributors.

Seems the trend is starting to lean more and more towards restored razors. You can get a good blade you know is sharp, and pretty much get custom whatever scale materials, choice of hardware, scale shape and size for less than what some of the premium Dovos, Bokers, and TI's are going for. Personally, unless I just see one of these razors that just WOW me, I will just buy and restore, and resell as I go. Plus, this way my RAD doesn't completely kill me financially lol!

A while back they were saying the demand exceeded the supply so maybe fewer are available.

I notice SRD has a bunch of customs from Joe Chandler and a couple from Tim Zowada new on their site. I do think the weak economy has to be playing a role in an inventory reduction if there is one. Or else, like tbs said, demand exceeding supply. With Christmas around the corner I would think all of the vendors would be getting stocked up for the gift giving season.