Gillette
Gillette is a company with a long history making shaving supplies. Their initial mission was creating safety razors, and they created great product that people still buy used and restore to this day. Today, a single safety razor is listed on their product page[1].
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1901-09-28 |
| Legal Structure | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Health, Shaving Supplies |
| Official website | https://gillette.com/ |
Consumer-impact summary
Well built safety razors are great from a consumer viewpoint. They are likely to outlive their users, they are easy to maintain, and razor blades can be bought from a big market with healthy competition. In 1964, Gillette started developing their first cartridge razor, featuring a plastic cartridge containing two razor blades. This was the start of what might be the earliest example of what is referred to as "two-part pricing"[2], or more commonly referred to as the subscription model. Since then they have aggressively marketed cartridge razors, including their "welcome to manhood" campaign where they sent free razors to millions of men on their 18th birthday[3]. As of writing, Gillette still provide razors for the price of shipping alone[4] with the preselected option to enter a subscription refill cartridges at $25 per 4 cartridges.
Today in the US alone there were 163 million US consumers of disposable razors in 2024[5], this creates a huge amount of waste that is very hard to recycle[6]. While Gillette's anti consumer practices are more by manipulation than by force, it has had a very large impact on pushing the subscription model with complete disregard of the environmental impact.
See also
"Why you should rethink how you shave". Washington Post. 2024-05-19.
References
- ↑ https://gillette.com/en-us/products/razors-trimmers-and-blades
- ↑ "How a razor revolutionised the way we pay for stuff". BBC. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ "Retail's new niche: Aging baby boomers". 2018-08-31. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Free GilletteLabs Starter Kit: Razor Handle and Exfoliating Bar". Gillette. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ "Usage of disposable razor blades / shavers in the U.S. 2011-2024". Statista. 2025-07-10. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ Brucculieri, Julia (2019-05-24). "How Bad Are Disposable Razors For The Environment?". Retrieved 2025-09-03.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)