Hoffritz as a company has always confused me. I believe they've been around since the 1930's and you see a lot of shaving related products sporting their name - from DE razor and straights to shaving brushes - but I've never understood if they actually made any of these products or if they were just a retail chain (NY based?) re-branding products made elsewhere. 20+ years ago Hoffritz came upon bad times and was bought out and changed name to "Hoffritz Cutlery / International Cutlery/Cutlery World" (it's confusing) (see article here). A few weeks ago I picked up this Merkur MII branded Cutlery World so I guess they kept carrying shaving related products as well. It's still a company/brand that I can't quite wrap my head around having seen it on products spanning many decades. My assumption, unless someone can correct me, is that they were just a re-branding vendor w/out their own manufacturing and that many of their products, albeit branded Hoffritz, were made
Thats my understanding. Ive seen quite a few vintage Merkur razors rebranded with the Hoffritz logo. Simpson brushes too.
Did you see the Hoffritz Nano Scott (Simpson) on the Bay last week? Had I not just bought a Mongoose I would have been willing to spend a lot to get it.
"Can't have nice things" riiight, I have seen some of your beautiful collection. Others, whatever your pocket book or spouse allows is fine.
Warehouse #137B Dang, I was all, like, LOL and could not explain it to DS. (dear spouse. Changing the designation, respecting other people's dear ones.)
Just to confirm what others have said, Hoffritz was a high end retail chain, similar to Macys. Any Hoffritz branded razor will be a Merkur design. Ditto for the Coles branded razors. That being said, Hoffritz did have some nice exclusives. Namely the white (milk) finished slant razors. From what I understand, it is a white nickel finish. When it oxidizes, it turns white.
I've seen these and love the look. I've been eyeing a couple. How do they shave? Would they be considered an aggressive razor? I'm in the process of negotiating for one. The vendor is willing to go down to $50. Not sure if that's a good buy. I read these are the same as the new merkur slants 37c. Here is the one I'm trying to get
Fifty is a good price. I would confirm that there is no pitting or plate loss first, and make that a condition of the sale. As for how it shaves, most people like them. I didn't, and I don't get along with slants at all. I like the concept of a slant razor though.
I'm necroposting to correct this post. The days ago I purchased a 4-piece travel slant with the white handle and it was clearly branded Merkur. So I guess the white handle wasn't a Hoffritz exclusive, although it is likely that there are no Merkur-branded 2-piece slants with white handles. Just fyi. I had never seen one of these before. And by the way, it is an incredible shaver, although I used it with a UFO handle.
