Mitchell's Wool Fat is closing down

They shouldn’t change their formula of MWF in the first place, that’s what happens when people turn away from the famous MWF, lucky me and glad to stock up (20+) with heaps of the original MWF tallow version early before the new formula came out.
Don’t know if i agree with that mate.
Well actually i do agree but the business must have been going under before that happened & that was a way to try save it.
Unfortunately what ever the reasons it hasn’t worked.
I haven’t tried the new version myself but by all accounts its just as good.
 
It’s a huge loss,
Iv just ordered 10 & i have 3-4 older version still brand new.
It’s definitely a soap i wouldn’t like to be without and at my age i now know if got enough.
i wanted to try the bath soap as well,
Just never got the chance sadly

The bath soap is awesome and I use it all the time. That’s pigged me off as much as the shave soap.
 
Business can't run on old Dinosaurs sadly, not withstanding the time a puck of MWF lasts, even if you use it everyday. It'd probably do you 6 months if you used it daily, probably more.
As Wet shavers we are still lucky to have the amount of products we get, there aren't that many of us still shaving the traditional way who actually know about the products available to us. Lets be honest, if we hadn't stumbled upon a Shaving forum, not many of us would have knowledge of the wealth of artisnal products on offer, I know I wouldn't.
 
Business can't run on old Dinosaurs sadly, not withstanding the time a puck of MWF lasts, even if you use it everyday. It'd probably do you 6 months if you used it daily, probably more.
As Wet shavers we are still lucky to have the amount of products we get, there aren't that many of us still shaving the traditional way who actually know about the products available to us. Lets be honest, if we hadn't stumbled upon a Shaving forum, not many of us would have knowledge of the wealth of artisnal products on offer, I know I wouldn't.
100% agree.
 
Business can't run on old Dinosaurs sadly, not withstanding the time a puck of MWF lasts, even if you use it everyday. It'd probably do you 6 months if you used it daily, probably more.
As Wet shavers we are still lucky to have the amount of products we get, there aren't that many of us still shaving the traditional way who actually know about the products available to us. Lets be honest, if we hadn't stumbled upon a Shaving forum, not many of us would have knowledge of the wealth of artisnal products on offer, I know I wouldn't.
The only thing advertised on uk tv is the cartridge razors by Gillette.
Zero on tv about proper wet shaving products, not even on the m9rning tv shows.....loads of articles on women's cosmetics.
No mention of the luxury products .
 
Sad to see MWF go under!

Some of these comments make me think I'm probably the youngest person on here as I'm shortly entering my 30's haha

I think we can expect more firms closing down - I don't think it's the youth not being manly

I think Roy has hit the nail on the head. The elephant in the room is how can any shaving soap manufacturer compete with the Gillette out there making accessible, cheap, highly profitable products that are featured on TV, billboards and wherever the eye can see?

Notwithstanding above, I'd be surprised if there's ever been as many small firms that I can order to my house, meaning they get an even smaller slice of the market.

It's tough out there!
 
This is grim news indeed, and I doubt things are likely to improve.

Although I have used it on and off for years, I have to confess that MWF shuffled down the list a bit when Nannys, Signature, P&B etc came upon the scene, but it is a decent enough soap and obviously has many admirers.

I keep all my shaving-related browser bookmarks carefully organised, with my most favoured prefixed with asterisks, for sorting by name. The most depressing thing is now to go through these and mark them CLOSED.
 
Mitchell's marketed a great deal more than shaving soaps ... and it has already been mentioned that the hand soaps will be sorely missed as well.

I suppose in some respects, Mitchell's were an early version of so-called artisinal products. Whenever I've seen Mitchell's out in the wild, it's been in those fancy tat shops that sell cards, candles and delicate crap that women like to have around the home. Likewise, on websites, it'll be the crafty, outdoorsy, ethical kinda outlets. All fronts, smoke and mirrors as everything they sell is made in factories or the third-world. Anyway ... er, gosh! That went dark quickly! Outed my cynicism of shaving artisans, huh!

I really doubt that our online community of wet shavers was much more of a blip on their radar with a few nerds poking them about "original 1873 formulation" and/or irate "give me tallow or give me death" types. Standing back, I do get the feeling that this is just a winding up of a business while it's still profitable and the family can consolidate their wealth and move on or retire.

Clearly MWF was not made in a bathtub in that terraced house in Wibsey. Clearly, it's industrial and on some scale given the breadth of their catalogue and perhaps more than one producer for any given product, something we mused during the period of tallow fails. In the end, it's about the balance of the books and that only happens if income exceeds outlay - cheapen your product or reduce your staff or get out entirely.

The writing is on the wall ...
 
They shouldn’t change their formula of MWF in the first place, that’s what happens when people turn away from the famous MWF, lucky me and glad to stock up (20+) with heaps of the original MWF tallow version early before the new formula came out.

I specifically didn't stock up on the tallow cakes ... but I will be buying in a couple more of the latest formulation refills and perhaps a boxed set of the ceramic for prosperity. Given that I still have some soaps that I bought when I first came to traditional shaving a decade ago, I can see that very modest stash lasting me ... well, the rest of my life for as much as I'll use it in and amongst everything else that I have.

Arguing the toss now seems a tad futile, but I have said before that given the alarming number of dud batches the reformulation was only a good thing. Somebody cheaped out somewhere and the finger of blame is pointed straight at their shaving soap maker. I doubt that era had any effect upon Mitchell's actual profits and losses, but something was notable enough for them to move to a different supplier ... which is clearly the same folks that make for T&H.
 
The only thing advertised on uk tv is the cartridge razors by Gillette.
Zero on tv about proper wet shaving products, not even on the m9rning tv shows.....loads of articles on women's cosmetics.
No mention of the luxury products .
Because no one is interested. Only us lot on forums are even remotely interested in traditional shaving. We literally are like Fred Dibnah droning on about steam rollers.
 
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I have been lucky enough to go into their shop on site. It would make Arkwrights Shop look like Selfidges. Seriously. They did nothing to promote their products. They were displayed ( If that can be the word ) in a 1960's wood and glass wall display case like your Nanna used to have. They actually couldn't believe someone had come in. They had to blow the dust off my puck and ceramic jar.
 
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