The End of Our Kickstarter Campaign: What's Next?
What a ride. We launched our Single Edge 2.0 Kickstarter Campaign on May 16th and have raised over $200,000 to date with 3 days to go! We are overwhelmed with the amazing response we've had and can't wait to bring the Single Edge 2.0 to life.
So what's next? Delivering our razors, a new full-grain leather travel case, and a razor stand - just to name a few. We've been cooking up some concepts over the past couple of weeks while also staying on top of our new manufacturing process as we begin cranking out our production line.
PRODUCTION
This is the most exciting part! We're already in the process of creating some samples off of our production line, and I hope to see them sometime in the coming weeks.
We've already placed a "phased" purchase order for 3,000 of the first razors off the production line. We're "breaking in" our production line and quality control procedures slowly to make sure everything looks great before we scale up. I'm using air quotes because I'm making those terms up - but here's the gist of how it will work.
We'll receive delivery of the razors in phases of 500, 1000, and 1500, beginning in late August. As we receive them, we'll perform quality control and provide feedback to the production line before the next batch arrives. If they look good, we'll ship them out to our Kickstarter backers. If they don't look good, it allows us time to fix any issues before the large majority of razors are shipped.
Why are we doing it this way? Well, it's simple - to ensure a quality final product, delivered on schedule. We've learned through our first Kickstarter campaign that things go wrong all the time in manufacturing, so we're putting practices in place to catch those things before they get too far along. During our first campaign, we ordered a 2,000 unit first run from our manufacturer, and weren't made aware of some critical issues in manufacturing until all 2000 units showed up on our doorstep. We're not letting that happen again.
We're telling you all of this just to give you insight into what's going on behind the scenes and to let you know we should be fully back in stock on our website in September.
LEATHER TRAVEL CASE
This one, we're particularly excited about. We're currently working with a world-class tannery and leather shop to prototype some beautiful, durable full-grain leather travel cases for the razor. Here's a sneak peek at the materials:
We're still working on the design, so we're not ready to show you the full pictures - but as soon as it's finalized you'll be the first to know. This will be a super-premium case, so don't expect it to be cheap. Stay tuned to your inboxes, because you will be some of the first to know all the details.
RAZOR STAND
One of the biggest requests we've gotten in the past has been a custom stand for the razor. We've had one in the works for a while, but due to the high tooling cost, we've not been able to pull the trigger. In the meantime, this is the best stand we've been able to find:
It's called the Solo Stand, by a company called FLYT. The owners contacted me a few weeks ago (they were started on Kickstarter too), and offered to send me a few stands. I can't vouch for the longevity or durability of the stands, since I've only had them a week - but they look and work great!
Obviously, the chrome finish only matches our mirror-polish razor, so that's a negative. But if you don't care about that, grab one! They're $19 on Amazon. If you're willing to wait a bit, we hope to launch a stand later this year.
Other than that, we have one more surprise up our sleeve, but we'll save it for next week's edition of the Field Notes. We'd love to hear all of your thoughts on the travel case and razor stand options. Sound off in the comments below and let your opinion be known.
Until Next Week,
