- Joined
- Tuesday September 24, 2013
- Location
- UK
As already said, the cartridge was developed out of pure profit motif. One of the strengths of the DE razor, from the consumer point of view, is that ANY DE blade will fit. In the hay day of the 50s & 60s, razors were engineered so well, that they would pretty much last a lifetime, barring dropping the darn things.
This meant that Gillette et all has just one chance to make money out of you. That's why all Gillette razors came with the message that only their blades worked best - they had no interest in you buying someone elses blade.
They simply had no way of preventing their consumers buying blades from other manufacturers.
There are a couple of modern analogies to that as well. Modern day ink printers try to hold on to their customers by developing specific replacement cartridges, and issuing dire warnings if you use a non 'branded' one. Of course, the market said stuff that for a game of smarties, and we bought 'copy' cartridges in their millions.
Also, until very recently, car manufacturers forced you to get your car serviced at their main stream dealership to keep your warranty intact.. This was subsequently outlawed and you can get your car serviced where you want.
Now, back to razors, Gillette had the idea of making a razor that only they could sell you the replacement 'blade'/cartridge, hence the disposable bespoke cartridge was developed. That tied the consumer into buying their product over & over again - pretty cool idea!
However, I believe when the patent time runs out, and anyone can produce a 'fusion' blade, Gillette will by then have developed a 10 x blade cartridge that the top sports guy of the time will endorse as no man would be complete without...
This meant that Gillette et all has just one chance to make money out of you. That's why all Gillette razors came with the message that only their blades worked best - they had no interest in you buying someone elses blade.
They simply had no way of preventing their consumers buying blades from other manufacturers.
There are a couple of modern analogies to that as well. Modern day ink printers try to hold on to their customers by developing specific replacement cartridges, and issuing dire warnings if you use a non 'branded' one. Of course, the market said stuff that for a game of smarties, and we bought 'copy' cartridges in their millions.
Also, until very recently, car manufacturers forced you to get your car serviced at their main stream dealership to keep your warranty intact.. This was subsequently outlawed and you can get your car serviced where you want.
Now, back to razors, Gillette had the idea of making a razor that only they could sell you the replacement 'blade'/cartridge, hence the disposable bespoke cartridge was developed. That tied the consumer into buying their product over & over again - pretty cool idea!
However, I believe when the patent time runs out, and anyone can produce a 'fusion' blade, Gillette will by then have developed a 10 x blade cartridge that the top sports guy of the time will endorse as no man would be complete without...