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25 April 2017

Crisis of Growth?

Sailor has made a couple of shocking announcements in the last months. First was the suspension of the production of specialty nibs, including the basis for them all, the Naginata Togi nib. Then came the news of the discontinuation of the possibility of re-ordering original inks created with the invaluable help of Mr. Ishimaru, Sailor’s ink mixer. However, the creation of these personalized inks is still possible at the ink workshops regularly organized by Sailor throughout Japan.


My original ink, named Hiroko's Green.

Why would any company eliminate two of the elements that truly separated it from the rest? Why is Sailor giving up on his features of distinction in the market of fountain pens?

The issue with ink seems to be that many a user have been selling those original inks online at a premium cost, but I wonder if that should pose any problem for Sailor. More relevant could be that the ink production might have reached its limits with the popularization of some shop-original inks, particularly those by Nagasawa and by Bung-Box.


A Naginata Togi nib.


The Cross-Music nib.

That seems, in fact, to be the problem of the specialty nibs—the troubles of Mr. Nagahara to cope with the demand. Increasing the price of those nibs could ease the problem, but that is also an almost irreversible step.

Then, in summary, is Sailor suffering a growth crisis?


My thanks to Tinjapan.


Sailor Profit, Naginata Togi – Tomikei Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano, April 18 2017
etiquetas: Sailor, tinta, plumín, mercado

5 comments:

Rafael R. Pappalardo said...

I have tried to buy a couple of pens (promenade and pro Gear realo) from a vendor without sucess. He told me he is having troubles getting Sailor pens. I hope the situation improves soon.

Bob Page - Charlotte, North Carolina said...

Would it be worth contacting Sailor to ask for some background on what's going on?

Antolin2.0 said...

Sad news, mainly the one about specialty nibs

Saltire Turquoise said...

Hello

Might this be a point in time for Sailor to think about developing a new range of specialist nibs?

Bruno Taut said...

Thank you all, Rafael, Antolin2.0, Bob, Saltire, for passing by and commenting.

It seems that Nagahara and Sailor as a whole are trying to catch up with the pending orders for specialty nibs, but this only shows some deficiency in the manufacturing line. It might be cause by some unexpected movement in the market, of course, but it seems clear Sailor was not ready for its own success.

Companies, Bob Page, are seldom open to disclose they own problems.

Thanks again. Cheers,

BT

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