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Declaration Grooming is CLOSING DOWN!!

Spider said:
No, that was only the one time I was trying to stretch a puck of Williams. Everything else I load it like I hate it because I know that's the only way I have a chance of ever using this stuff up.

The limited number of soaps you own makes YOU the anomaly. I think I've given you more soaps than you've ever purchased yourself.
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It occurred to me last night that I may be part pf the problem as well.....I've never purchased anything from this particular vendor. I'm the type of person that locks in on a single product and rarely wavers from that brand. Yes, KJ has expanded my palate with very generous gifts of soaps....but I still kinda locked in one particular soap brand and that's really all I use. I feel bad that a brand is going away and I acknowledge that I may have had a small part in their demise.....a very, very, infinitesimal part...but It thoughts like these that keep me awake.....What part did we all play in this?

Again...I'm not blaming people that bought the soap...or anyone that didn't buy the soap....just thinking out loud.
 
First of all, @Yetzirah Welcome to The Cadre! Be sure to head to the Newbie Forum to introduce yourself.

Yetzirah said:
I checked the website and most products are sold out. It must have been a massive FOMO moment for some.
I never tried DG products but I've heard nothing but good things about them.
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Their products are still available at some of the Wet Shaving Retailers.
 
Spider said:
But have I? My goal was to get you out of your zone and show you what other products can be like... but you still stay in your zone.
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Nah....I have close to 30 different soaps now. I think I'm out of my zone at this point. Not by much (and I'll admit that).....but I'm not a Williams, MWF exclusively guy anymore. I think I'm reluctant to buy more soaps only because I don't know what the lather-ability of any product is. I know the base on the ones I use....and I trust them. Again...I think I find what I like and stick with it. I'm not as adventurous as you and many others on here. Nothing wrong with either approach.....just a difference in personality.
 
I used the closing of Seaforth to experiment with a few other vendors. (I primarily used Seaforth and Wet the Face; which I still use). I ordered Noble Otter Tis the Season, Cooper and French Santa's workshop, and something from Hendrix Classics. I'll probably venture deeper into their catalogues of soap if I like what I ordered. I also brought this up with Barber Dave on his YouTube channel, and something he wrote kind of surprised me. When surmising on the "why's" of the soap closures, he also stated that bigger artisans can weather the storm more easily. That wasn't the surprising part, he listed CBL, noble otter and Stirling as "the bigger" soap artisans. I'd agree with Stirling, but CBL and noble otter? I don't think of them as bigger artisans. (Not knocking their quality, just questioning the definition of "bigger artisan") I'd probably list PAA, Stirling, Barrister and Mann and Ariana & Evans as "bigger" artisans in the field. USA at least. Then you'd probably also throw in Castle Forbes, Saponificio Varesino, ToBS, amongst the bigger players. Again, this is just in terms of sheer volume shipped. Are CBL and Noble Otter that big???
 
I’m not sure I artisans are the reason brands like Williams went downhill, I just don’t think that the people using artisan products is that large a share of the overall shaver market. Most people I know have no idea how what a shave brush even is for.

That said, I was really worried my pretty much exclusively used brand was going to go under early this year, but thankfully last I talked with them, they are staying around.
For sure it’s inevitable, like everyone said, us shave-heads kind of maxed out on how much we have room for etc. Some of us also just landed on something we liked, and got tired of all the hype, so stopped buying every new thing.

And poor economy makes finding new customers difficult, even if wet shaving was originally marketed as being more economical, we all know how that worked out. I’d have a lifetime supply of carts if all my shave spending had gone into them.

Interesting to see who manages to stay around. Does every company that leaves the market make it easier for the remaining to survive?
 
I would imagine that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into running a profitable artisanal company like Declaration. It might not necessarily be that they weren't profitable but that they were burned out and 10 years was the company shelf life for the owners. I know Peter Charkalis form A&E/The Club was running A&E out of his kitchen and then his garage for the first few years, and I'm not sure how he's expanded his operations, but he's extremely driven and enthusiastic. I chalk some of these artisans going out of business up to more the burn-out factor on top of slim profit margins than just not getting the business they used to. (though I would imagine that it definitely has a role to play)

IDK, just some of my thoughts on it. Sad to see DG closing down for nothing else than their brushes were absolutely top notch!
 
Aomalley27 said:
Are CBL and Noble Otter that big???
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I can’t imagine they are. Stirling strikes me as the biggest niche maker in the US, but that’s just gut feeling.
I’m not sure what the biggest European brand would be, and I definitely see people in my group either using the local Finnish brand, or one of the US artisans most.
 
HMan said:
Interesting to see who manages to stay around. Does every company that leaves the market make it easier for the remaining to survive?
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If it were down to basic economics math, i.e., supply and demand, I would think this would be true. But as you pointed out in your post, people's spending power has dramatically been reduced in recent years so disposable income is harder to come by for luxury items such as these. So, previous benchmarks for that supply and demand inverse relationship aren't as relevant any more; so even though supply is notionally going down with the loss of some of the artisans, supply isn't rebounding like it should.

I still think there is a lot about some of the artisans getting frustrated with profit curves which were not continuing to increase and actually reverse to previous averages before the boom happened.
 
Dagwoodz said:
I would imagine that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into running a profitable artisanal company like Declaration. It might not necessarily be that they weren't profitable but that they were burned out and 10 years was the company shelf life for the owners. I know Peter Charkalis form A&E/The Club was running A&E out of his kitchen and then his garage for the first few years, and I'm not sure how he's expanded his operations, but he's extremely driven and enthusiastic. I chalk some of these artisans going out of business up to more the burn-out factor on top of slim profit margins than just not getting the business they used to. (though I would imagine that it definitely has a role to play)

IDK, just some of my thoughts on it. Sad to see DG closing down for nothing else than their brushes were absolutely top notch!
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That’s a great point, and come to think of it, that’s how I read the letter. Of course thin margins has a big impact on burning out. Something i know from my own shuttered businesses.
 
Wet shaving is a niche market as well. Roughly 36% of US males use an electric shaver. Additionally; I saw a stat where 1/2 the total US population uses a disposable razor (and the corresponding out of the can goo that goes with it. BUT; that number includes both males and females. Can't find a % of men that use a disposable.) I also saw an interesting stat were 50% of wet saving spending is on Razors/Blades, whereas 40% is on aftershave products, and the remaining 10% is on soap/cream. So if we assume 30% (I think I'm being overly optimistic with this number) of shaving men engage in traditional wet shaving, only 10% of their purchases are dedicated to soaps and creams, So a niche market within a pretty niche market. But there is definitely potential for growth, since 64% of shavers already wet shave. So getting them to switch from canned product to artisan soaps isn't as much of a stretch as getting them to switch from disposables to DE/SE/Straights. (I think the later is highly unlikely, as there are plenty of negative impressions of straight razor shaving, I believe that it's overly dangerous)
 
Aomalley27 said:
Wet shaving is a niche market as well. Roughly 36% of US males use an electric shaver. Additionally; I saw a stat where 1/2 the total US population uses a disposable razor (and the corresponding out of the can goo that goes with it. BUT; that number includes both males and females. Can't find a % of men that use a disposable.) I also saw an interesting stat were 50% of wet saving spending is on Razors/Blades, whereas 40% is on aftershave products, and the remaining 10% is on soap/cream. So if we assume 30% (I think I'm being overly optimistic with this number) of shaving men engage in traditional wet shaving, only 10% of their purchases are dedicated to soaps and creams, So a niche market within a pretty niche market. But there is definitely potential for growth, since 64% of shavers already wet shave. So getting them to switch from canned product to artisan soaps isn't as much of a stretch as getting them to switch from disposables to DE/SE/Straights. (I think the later is highly unlikely, as there are plenty of negative impressions of straight razor shaving, I believe that it's overly dangerous)
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That should read Many believe straight razor shaving is overly dangerous. Autocorrect put I in its stead
 
Aomalley27 said:
Are CBL and Noble Otter that big???
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I don't know about Noble Otter, because I stopped branching out before they came onto the scene. But what I can say about CBL is that it's my favorite soap, and I've been a huge fan since day 1. I have over 300 shaving soaps in my den and I have more CBL soap than any other artisan, by a very large margin. He has a large and loyal following on this Forum. His following might have been larger overall, but a certain other forum (to remain nameless) has done everything in their power to squash any and all mention of his soaps, due to some stupid personal vendetta. I was personally almost banned because I did a PIF where I was giving away CBL Soap.
 
Spider said:
I don't know about Noble Otter, because I stopped branching out before they came onto the scene. But what I can say about CBL is that it's my favorite soap, and I've been a huge fan since day 1. I have over 300 shaving soaps in my den and I have more CBL soap than any other artisan, by a very large margin. He has a large and loyal following on this Forum. His following might have been larger overall, but a certain other forum (to remain nameless) has done everything in their power to squash any and all mention of his soaps, due to some stupid personal vendetta. I was personally almost banned because I did a PIF where I was giving away CBL Soap.
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Noble Otter have changed their old soap base formula from all the old art label format, all the new Noble Otter soap base formula are in the new art label style.

The new soap base formula is FANTASTIC, the owner who created the new soap formula is very please, and will keep this formula for a very very long time for the price point of the product.

The only Noble Otter will be a little bit pricey overtime is the aftershave and all the perfume fragrance.

I have 32 tubs (+1 coming) all new labels

Bare
Barrbarr
Eros’ Ambrosia
Firefighter
Flying Hide
Hamami
Italian Summer
Jasmine Green Tea
Logbook
Lonestar
Lorekeeper ..... coming soon in mail
Monarch
Monoi de Tahiti
Nectar Amissa
Neon Sun
Northern Elixir
Orbit
Plunder
Rainroot
Rawr
The Night Before
The Noir et Vanille
The Trail
'Tis the Season
Toons & Spoons
Two Kings

Joker
Jack
Queen
King
Ace

Noble Otter/APR ~ Jungle Warrior (Limited Edition)
Noble Otter/APR ~ Texaus (Limited Edition)
 
Spider said:
I don't know about Noble Otter, because I stopped branching out before they came onto the scene. But what I can say about CBL is that it's my favorite soap, and I've been a huge fan since day 1. I have over 300 shaving soaps in my den and I have more CBL soap than any other artisan, by a very large margin. He has a large and loyal following on this Forum. His following might have been larger overall, but a certain other forum (to remain nameless) has done everything in their power to squash any and all mention of his soaps, due to some stupid personal vendetta. I was personally almost banned because I did a PIF where I was giving away CBL Soap.
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I'm not disputing their quality; but rather being a "big player" in the wet shaving community. I'd always thought they were more the size of Adopted Acres, Cajun Blade, Spearhead, Blackship grooming, Cooper & French, etc. Maybe they do ship out a ton of product, but it certainly doesn't appear that way.
 
Aomalley27 said:
I'm not disputing their quality; but rather being a "big player" in the wet shaving community. I'd always thought they were more the size of Adopted Acres, Cajun Blade, Spearhead, Blackship grooming, Cooper & French, etc. Maybe they do ship out a ton of product, but it certainly doesn't appear that way.
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Larger than those.
 
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