A history lesson in why we moved to "sterilized" badger hair brushes. http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/articles/images/uschs_dome-wallace.pdf
I think that badger may indeed be dominant in the current "upscale" markets and shaving communities, but I think that if you surveyed the shaving population on a world-wide level, you'd find that boar bristle if far and away the most widely produced and used brush. Cost and economics, pure and simple. Most shavers on the planet don't have the bucks, euros, pounds, rand, yen, rupees etc etc to indulge in badger.
The United States market from the 1920s through the early 1960s a larger majority of the sets were sterilized badger (Everready, Rubberset, Rite Made, etc.) Back during that time, badger was not an endangered species in the United States so the cost were lower (adjusting for inflation) simply due to higher supply. Today, China is the only major player in supplying Badger hair. The article discusses the impact in the United States following this incident, not the world markets.
Its not just the current "upscale" market, you forget some of these old world firms have been making badger hair brushes for nearly 100 years, Simpsons being one example. "Alexander Simpson started making shaving brushes in the East End of London in 1919. He soon built up the business and in 1924, moved to Clapham where he established an award-winning reputation for his shaving brushes. In 1941, following the loss of his factory in the blitz, Mr Simpson moved his business to the West Country. In 2008 Progress Vulfix purchased the company and continues the tradition of making the world's finest brushes entirely by hand, using the same techniques which have not changed since the firm was founded. " I understand what you're saying though, in the current 3rd world economy boar is the major seller, although with the influx of Islam I wonder how much horsehair is being sold now.
I recently read on one of these forums that the average brush in China sells for the equivalent of $1. Surely not a badger, and I'm sure that the Chinese domestic market must be huge - even though China is the leader in producing badger hair. For export, no doubt. I suspect that the domestic market in India might be similar. However, I have no idea of the size of the canned goo and disposable cartridge market in either China or India.
According to ThePigSite.com we see the following. This is an uncommon disease of pigs in most parts of the world http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/7/anthrax Iowa State website. http://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdpam/new-vdpam-employees/food-supply-veterinary-medicine/swine/swine-diseases/anthrax-0 Since the U.S. was a major producer of swine at the time, I do not believe this was an issue.
Additional information on badgers based on this question I received elsewhere. "I wonder if certain species of badgers produce better brushes? I feel like this has been under analyzed here, someone feel free to prove me wrong." Today, China is the only major player in supplying badger hair. U.S. badgers are not used since they are on the endangered list. In Britain badgers are protected by the Protection of Badgers Act. In Britain and Europe badgers have been affected by Tuberculosis so they are not in used. So you are really dealing with only Chinese badgers (Meles meles leucurus). Occurs mainly in China and Tibet. http://www.badgers.org.uk/badgerpage...badger-10.html
thought i'd show this as a historical addendum to this thread: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/shaving-b...rber_Shop_Collectables_LE&hash=item4aacf760cc
Just a thought but wouldn't using a boar brush be forbidden to people of Jewish and Muslim faith? I seem to recall that the Jewish don't touch anything that is "unclean" and they might touch a horse hair brush, but I would imagine they would stay away from one made form pig hairs.