Good morning Ladies and Gents-
I have a couple of questions in regards to iKon Razors. As many of you know, I love stainless steel razors and I actually own a couple iKon razor heads (and at one time a handle), but have little knowledge of them. I know that they were based in Texas, with their shipping warehouse in New Jersey. Their prices for stainless steel razors/parts are much more competitive than I would have expected, especially for machined razors, but I would attribute this to that they are manufactured in Thailand, not North America.
As far as shave goes - I find them to provide a decent shave.
I don’t have social media accounts so that is all I know about them - I did find a Forbes article dating back to 2015 - but the only information I found new - was that the owner apparently was an engineer and lived in Thailand. Their website provides very limited details on their parts - some explain that they are 316L Stainless Steel - others don’t mention the materials.
The reason why I have questions is for two things: (1) while I see some SOTD posts every once in a while - I see very little else. Given that they had a story in Forbes - I would think this would be a huge feather in their cap and given the competitive prices they have, that this would equate to more use/SOTD mentions. Heck, do a search on YouTube - and the videos are sporadic at best - a few in the past year - then it is several years to almost a decade.
(2) While perusing for stainless steel razors as I am wont to from time to time - I came across a listing for a first run and for what I saw - quite a sticker shock. While I understand anything first run would command a higher price for collectors - - there doesn’t appear to have been a large following or a sort of awe around them (for example Wolfman is a very small operation - but there are few in the shaving Community that have not heard of them). While their parts are well crafted - they don’t appear to be this unbelievable machine tolerance - see Wolfman above or Henson razors. They don’t seem to be part of the razor vernacular / royalty per se - such as Gillette, Schick, Ever Ready, Filarmonica, Simpson, etc). And they aren’t really old /vintage - say a Gillette or GEM razor. And it isn’t like the first time releases at the time they were released were that expensive. The only real difference I can tell between what they sell now and the first runs - is that the first runs had serial numbers.
Please I apologize if I offended anyone in my description - if they are the bee knees (and my experience with my new versions have been positive) - then great. I am just asking from a collectibility stand-point. Again, first runs I get it, having serial numbers - completely understand. Just to give a comparison - the prices I have seen are above what I acquired my Gillette Toggle - which was in decent shape).
Does anyone know a bit more about this manufacturer (I hesitate to use artisan - I don’t know where the line is drawn - I don’t know how much the owner was involved in the design and development - I would imagine greatly, but I don’t know)? Was there a demand at one time and now its just tapered off? Is there a reason for the relative quiet on these products? Are there differences between the first runs and now (other than serial numbers) - were they similar to a Karve back in the day so to speak?
I have a couple of questions in regards to iKon Razors. As many of you know, I love stainless steel razors and I actually own a couple iKon razor heads (and at one time a handle), but have little knowledge of them. I know that they were based in Texas, with their shipping warehouse in New Jersey. Their prices for stainless steel razors/parts are much more competitive than I would have expected, especially for machined razors, but I would attribute this to that they are manufactured in Thailand, not North America.
As far as shave goes - I find them to provide a decent shave.
I don’t have social media accounts so that is all I know about them - I did find a Forbes article dating back to 2015 - but the only information I found new - was that the owner apparently was an engineer and lived in Thailand. Their website provides very limited details on their parts - some explain that they are 316L Stainless Steel - others don’t mention the materials.
The reason why I have questions is for two things: (1) while I see some SOTD posts every once in a while - I see very little else. Given that they had a story in Forbes - I would think this would be a huge feather in their cap and given the competitive prices they have, that this would equate to more use/SOTD mentions. Heck, do a search on YouTube - and the videos are sporadic at best - a few in the past year - then it is several years to almost a decade.
(2) While perusing for stainless steel razors as I am wont to from time to time - I came across a listing for a first run and for what I saw - quite a sticker shock. While I understand anything first run would command a higher price for collectors - - there doesn’t appear to have been a large following or a sort of awe around them (for example Wolfman is a very small operation - but there are few in the shaving Community that have not heard of them). While their parts are well crafted - they don’t appear to be this unbelievable machine tolerance - see Wolfman above or Henson razors. They don’t seem to be part of the razor vernacular / royalty per se - such as Gillette, Schick, Ever Ready, Filarmonica, Simpson, etc). And they aren’t really old /vintage - say a Gillette or GEM razor. And it isn’t like the first time releases at the time they were released were that expensive. The only real difference I can tell between what they sell now and the first runs - is that the first runs had serial numbers.
Please I apologize if I offended anyone in my description - if they are the bee knees (and my experience with my new versions have been positive) - then great. I am just asking from a collectibility stand-point. Again, first runs I get it, having serial numbers - completely understand. Just to give a comparison - the prices I have seen are above what I acquired my Gillette Toggle - which was in decent shape).
Does anyone know a bit more about this manufacturer (I hesitate to use artisan - I don’t know where the line is drawn - I don’t know how much the owner was involved in the design and development - I would imagine greatly, but I don’t know)? Was there a demand at one time and now its just tapered off? Is there a reason for the relative quiet on these products? Are there differences between the first runs and now (other than serial numbers) - were they similar to a Karve back in the day so to speak?
