Editing The Pen Addict 487/transcript (section)

== Fountain Pens and Inks ==


'''Brad:''' Now comes the hard part, and this is why I put them in their own category, fountain pens and inks. This is the conversation we're about to have. It's full of context and full of nuance, and everything can but this, but that. I get that. This is a really complex category, but I think it's important, at least for us, to put it in context with the rest of everything. So the first question I posed, is this market healthy, the fountain pen ink market? It has to be. Like, I feel like it is. You know, I'm not a retailer. I don't know what their numbers look like, but I see the conversation and the product launches and, you know, kind of the rolling through of products and how things are operating. It seems healthy to me as an outsider, even though, you know, I have inside information and context. I don't have, like, business, like, info. Like, again, this is not an analysis. This is a thought process of what I feel, and it feels like it's healthy. Is this market innovative? I would argue no. And that is challenging to say. Yeah, yeah. Like, I'm certainly not certain about it.

'''Myke:''' I think it's way harder to innovate in this category, I think, than some of the others.

'''Brad:''' Right, right. So the key why I think the market's healthy, and then as it relates to innovation, I do think we have a constant influx of new customers wanting to learn about fountain pens, right? I think I see that, like, when I go out to pen shows, even though it's been a couple years, I see that. I see the conversations that I'm having online or in my email and people trying to figure things out. You know, fountain pens do have a barrier to entry, right? Like, it takes a lot of extra to get into it for the first time, but once they get in, people seem to really be attached and taken by what fountain pens can offer. You know, how they improve your writing, how you can customize the writing experience, and I think that is growing. So, like we were just saying, where is the innovation? And I want to be clear in kind of how I describe this because you can yell at your speakers, you know, well, this is innovative and that's innovative. But for this market and this conversation, mainstream fountain pen innovation, where's the mainstream fountain pen innovation that we're seeing? I'm not talking about Myke Stack nibs, right? That's micro. Like, that is on such a tiny fractional level that doesn't move the market as a whole, right? You know, innovative doesn't mean new or different. Innovative means, you know, it has to, like, move the market or be a sustainable business on its own, right? Standing on its own. Stack nibs, yeah, sure, they're innovative, but that doesn't change the market. Does that make sense? So, I am looking at it from a bigger picture, from the bigger brands. It's really who, out of all the big brands that we can name, and we can name 20 or 30 off the top of our head right here, who was moving the needle, right, from an innovation perspective?

'''Brad:''' I came up with the Platinum Curie Dust. I thought that was innovative. Even though retractable fountain pens have been around for, you know, 50 plus years, what they chose to do with that, I thought was innovative. Yeah, I agree. They changed the price point of what that product can be. Now, they may have failed, right? And maybe that goes against some of my sustainable, like, innovation has to be sustainable. It may not be a long-term failure.

'''Myke:''' It just had a bit of a stumble at the start.

'''Brad:''' Like, I think we're still in wait-and-see mode on that. But I felt like that was good innovation. I don't, like, I would love to hear what other people think are innovative. And, like, again, we're not talking about a nib grind, like, or something like that, or, you know, just, I don't know, some of the really, really small niche things. I'm talking about bigger picture fountain pen markets. Like, who is doing innovative things that are making real change? So, the small makers are, I think. You know, this is a different conversation than the big manufacturers, right? The smaller makers are able to be more nimble and just try different materials and different finishes and different pen shapes. And the new ink makers fall into this category, too, right? There's new inks. There's a new ink every week or every day, it seems like, popping up all over the world from the Asian market to the European market to the U.S. market. There's growth, right? And the market's healthy. And there's opportunity. Is there innovation?

'''Brad:''' I don't know. I'm shrugging my shoulders. You can't see me. Maybe. I don't know. Like, who is pushing the boundaries of what we already have? Like, who is on the edge of doing something really unique and different?

'''Brad:''' You know, I look at some of the Pinaferina stuff as one that comes to mind. Like, they're pretty innovative. But it's a really, really high-end market, which we're going to talk about that in a minute. But for the most part, your fountain pen brands that are known, it's generally the same stuff, you know, with different colors, you know, a few different finishes, things like that. And I'm not saying that's bad. Like, I don't think that's bad at all. But if I'm being asked, is Pelican innovative? I don't think they are.

'''Myke:''' No, I don't think so. I mean, one of the issues I think that can stop this kind of thing for brands, say, like Pelican is part of their charm is that they're old-fashioned.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, that's coming up here, Myke. Like, that doesn't mean that they're not the best fountain pen company in the world, right? Those are two different questions. So now we get into, like, the price. And that's where Pelican comes into this conversation and a lot of these other brands. So the cost of raw materials and manufacturing costs are, it's unequivocally rising. Like, it just is. Across the board, no one is immune from this, you know. And how, thinking about what we do and these manufacturers, how does this affect us? What does it mean for the future? I wish I knew. Okay. It's a super interesting question. So here is where I light myself on fire and ruin my inbox, Myke. Because this is the one statement I would like to make, and I'm comfortable making it. I don't know that I have it completely fleshed out. But my gut tells me, Myke, that for the health of the fountain pen industry, nothing over the $200 price point matters.

'''Brad:''' And here's where I'm coming from.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad:''' This is the $0 to $200 price range has been and always will be the driving force in the fountain pen tree of life, if you will. We all go through that range. Which, if someone's starting with a Montblanc 149, they're not necessarily in this market, right? They're not in what is sustaining the fountain pen market. What is sustaining the fountain pen market is the person who buys a Platinum Preppy decides that this is pretty cool. What's next? What can I explore? And then they buy a TWSBI Eco. And then they buy, you know, I don't know, a Pelican M205. And then they buy a Leonardo. And then they're just kind of blown away by, look at all these options now. But that space, I think, is the most important space, right? Because once you get past, like, $200, you're getting into, like, specialty markets and luxury markets. And that's what I was talking about with Pelican before. Right. And I love these markets. I shop in these markets. You shop in these markets. There's nothing wrong with these markets. I want my fancy Nakayas and my fancy Namikis. I want them. But those aren't the things that dictate the health of the market that we're in. Those may dictate the health of the luxury market and the luxury end of these companies. But I think the under $200 price range has to carry the bulk of the weight for these companies, right? From, like, a percentage of sales. Like, that has got to be where the money is made. And I'm willing to be very wrong on this. And I would love to hear any commentary. But this is – that's the way I feel. Maybe it's because it's, you know, just my personal feelings and that's what I believe in. But, you know, for every sailor in Platinum and Pelican that sees their prices increase, you know, these are big companies. Like, take Pelican. If gold goes up in price, do you know how many nibs they have to account for?

'''Myke:''' I don't, but I imagine it's a lot.

'''Brad:''' Same with Sailor and Platinum and Pilot. Like, that is enormous amounts of money. Like, these are all huge operations. And so, as those prices increase, sometimes out of reach, and let me be fair, to no fault of their own, right? You know, there are different ways to look at it. But, you know, if raw materials go up, consumers are going to get charged more. Is that Pelican's fault? Eh, I mean, again, context, nuance, there's lots of conversation. But as these prices go up, we start seeing a backfilling of the places that they used to hang out, right? You start getting Leonardo's or Mayors or Tibaldi's, like, backfilling these vacated price points that I used to – it used to be Sailor, no-brainer, for, like, you know, $140, $180, Pilot the same way, Platinum the same way. Well, they're gone now, right? They're up and out of there.

'''Brad:''' And you get new brands backfilling. Why is that where they're starting, the Leonardo's of the world? Well, that's where I think the most – the biggest impact consumers are in the fountain pen world. So, you know, you have those type of companies. Or you get more established companies like Lamy and Twisby who just double down in that $0 to $200 category all day long, right? Lamy comes out with, you know, 10 different pens that have, you know, one has a different clip from the other one and one has a different section from the other one. It's not innovative, but they are hammering that price range because their competition isn't there anymore, right?

'''Myke:''' They're owning it, like it says.

'''Brad:''' Like, I want an ultra-premium Lamy pen. Lamy says the market is not there. Our market is here, and we're just going to double down on it constantly. So, in five or ten years, there's going to be another rotation, right? There's going to be a rotation. Maybe Sailor and Platinum come up with a new pen once they realize that they're not getting as much impact. They're not getting as many new customers because there's no path for them to get to $0 to $450 like there is for them to get to $0 to $200, which is more comfortable for a lot of people. So, do we see innovation caused by just like a market reset because of the market factors that they're also having to deal with that are causing their prices to raise and for them to vacate their previously popular price points where they used to be the dominant player? So, it's interesting, right? So, like I think about it, like am I sad that I didn't buy a new Sailor pen this year? I don't know, a little? I love that brand, right? But that ship sailed, right? You like how I did that? That was pretty good. I was going to say it.

'''Myke:''' Yep. I didn't explain it.

'''Brad:''' It's no longer a good value proposition for me. Once I start considering spending $450 on a pen, well, I'm wanting to answer a different question than what Sailor has always provided me for, oftentimes much, much less than that. So, I've kind of moved on, right? So, you know, if I'm going to take that money, I'm still going to buy my high dollar fountain pens, but I'm going to explore somewhere else that I haven't been before. Like I bought a Visconti Homo Sapiens this year, right? I've never owned one. They're a very expensive pen. It doesn't necessarily have to do anything with the cost, but Sailor is no longer that value to me that it was previously. So, are they going to do something two, three years from now to get me interested in a $140 pen? I would bet on it eventually, right? Because they can't just cycle out of these price points forever. They're going to have to come back. So, it's just like the life cycle, right? These luxury goods makers, they're just subject to these raw material costs, and that cost is not going to come down, right? No one goes, hey, the cost of gold went down, now our pens are cheaper. That'll never happen. But I don't think there's a shortage of companies that are going to step up and fill that void. So, maybe there's innovation there, but we'll see. And it's certainly slower because of these big behemoth companies that play around here. But I just think we're going to continue to see the change in this sub-$200 market, which I think is great. And then everything else is just, you know, luxury market, and that's its own separate market. All right, before we head to an ad, real quick, I want to follow up on the Pinaferina thing that I mentioned a minute ago. I think they do some real innovative stuff, again, at a real high price point. And hopefully, you know, the goal is, like, these are like concept car type pens, right? That's not the thing that's going to move the broader needle of the innovation, of the market. But it could trickle down to, like, get some better innovation in the lower end, which I think is what really is going to move this market in the end. And see some innovation, figure out how to, you know, reduce the impact of the cost of the raw materials. And I certainly have hope for this category. But I think where the innovation is going to happen is in that sub-$200 price range.

'''Myke:''' You know, I actually do think we have something pretty innovative to talk about in our next ad break, at least something I haven't seen before. Yeah. And that's, so this episode is brought to you by Camero Industries, who are introducing Estabrook's newest Estes, the Pink Sands, which is limited to just 50 pieces worldwide. This exclusive pen is a nod to the natural beauty of some of the most enigmatic beaches around the world, found in places like Greece, Bermuda, and Indonesia. What's more, a pink nib was created in collaboration with Heinz Pens, as H-I-N-Z-E Pens. That's unlike anything else in the market right now. The Estee Pink Sands will feature all the usual bells and whistles that you'll find in the wonderful Estee line. It is blended and turned with a mix of pink sands colors and a highly polished finish. A sleek clip provides a clean accent for the cap and slides easily to your shirt pocket. The fountain pen is also available in a complete range of points for the way that you write, so you can find all the nibs that you're looking for. To add to their mystique, the Estee Pink Sands will be the very first to introduce the all-new Chroma nibs, this time in a coordinating shade of coral. So you need to go and see this pen. It's really stunning. If you want to get your hands on it, you've got to be quick because it's limited to just 50 pieces worldwide. 49 now, because I bought one. As soon as I saw it, oh man, I fell in love with this. I mean, the thing for me that I really love is the pink nib. I've never seen this before.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, so I've gotten to know Jim Hines a little bit over the years. And one of the first, maybe the second time I met him at a pen show, like he didn't have them the first time. And this is like four or five years ago, I'm guessing. Like the second time I met him, he's like, hey, look at all these nibs that I've done. And they were different colors, like red and blue. And over the years, it looks like he's perfected the process of having this type of finish of this coating on the nib. It looks like extremely natural built into this pen. And that's like the highest compliment I could pay. It looks like it belongs there, right? It looks like it belongs on the nib. It looks fantastic. I think it's really, really cool.

'''Myke:''' It's a nano ceramic coating. And they say that even with the most corrosive of inks, it will not use the finish, lose the finish, I should say.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, so this is a great combination. Like I love the pen, you know, like I love the design, you know, I love the bright colors, the pinks.

'''Myke:''' Beautiful pinks and like it's got that crystal-y look. But honestly, what sold me was the nib. I'm like, yeah, I want to see this. Totally. So it's only 49 now. 49 available worldwide.

'''Myke:''' So go check it out yourself at Pen Chalet. Go to friends at pennchalet.com and you can see the new SD Pink sounds from Estabrook. Our thanks to Camero Industries for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.