- Joined
- Jan 31, 2015
- Location
- Hawthorn
Over the last year or so I have acquired an almost full kit of Above the Tie razors. For those of you who don't know much about them, they are an artisan producer of seriously well designed and beautifully crafted stainless steel DE razors.
Aside from the obviously extreme quality of their razors, they also distinguish themselves by taking a rather "modular" approach to DE razors. This is expressed through having different baseplates for Open Comb or Safety Bar configurations, as well as user selectable levels of mildness/aggression (M, R or H). The upside to this great approach is that the same handle and top plate can become a quite different razor just by changing the base plate : from Safety Bar to Open Comb or vice versa in seconds, or from rather mild to quite aggressive in the same few seconds.
It doesn't stop at cool design though - the performance of the different combinations is absolutely stellar, and is accompanied by wonderful audible feedback. It's one of the most vocal razors I've ever tried, which I really enjoy. And the piece de resistance of their marketing is the offer of being able to exchange baseplates free if you happen to choose one that doesn't suit you. No other razor maker offers this level of commitment to customer satisfaction, or this level of confidence in their product.
Relatively recently I bought their newest offering, the S1 slant razor. This is the only razor in their lineup that has a different cap as well as baseplate - the slant is achieved by torquing the blade, not by the very simple expedient of mounting the head of the razor at an angle to its handle. For the first and only time I found myself rather disappointed in the razor's performance : it shaved noticeably worse than the safety bar model, a situation confirmed by both @Lifes a Peach and @alfredus who both tried out the whole suite of ATT hardware.
I emailed Stan Hickam, the principal and visionary behind ATT and outlined my problem and disappointment to him. He replied to me promptly and told me that some of the symptoms were normal, but that he would be happy to make an exchange if I insisted on it. I decided to try the razor out again and have a think about what I wanted to do.
That's as far as I got! In less than a fortnight from my email to Stan, I checked my mailbox the other morning only to find a padded envelope from ATT. Inside the envelop was a replacement cap for the S1 razor, before I'd even had the chance to accept Stan's offer of a replacement.
In a world where quality is often questionable and customer service almost extinct, it's enormously satisfying and reassuring to deal with a company that so obviously cares about its products and about its customers. That's the kind of company Above the Tie is. ATT products aren't cheap, but from every point of view they represent fantastic value for money.
If you haven't put their products on your shortlist, do yourself a big favour and check out their brilliant offerings.
Aside from the obviously extreme quality of their razors, they also distinguish themselves by taking a rather "modular" approach to DE razors. This is expressed through having different baseplates for Open Comb or Safety Bar configurations, as well as user selectable levels of mildness/aggression (M, R or H). The upside to this great approach is that the same handle and top plate can become a quite different razor just by changing the base plate : from Safety Bar to Open Comb or vice versa in seconds, or from rather mild to quite aggressive in the same few seconds.
It doesn't stop at cool design though - the performance of the different combinations is absolutely stellar, and is accompanied by wonderful audible feedback. It's one of the most vocal razors I've ever tried, which I really enjoy. And the piece de resistance of their marketing is the offer of being able to exchange baseplates free if you happen to choose one that doesn't suit you. No other razor maker offers this level of commitment to customer satisfaction, or this level of confidence in their product.
Relatively recently I bought their newest offering, the S1 slant razor. This is the only razor in their lineup that has a different cap as well as baseplate - the slant is achieved by torquing the blade, not by the very simple expedient of mounting the head of the razor at an angle to its handle. For the first and only time I found myself rather disappointed in the razor's performance : it shaved noticeably worse than the safety bar model, a situation confirmed by both @Lifes a Peach and @alfredus who both tried out the whole suite of ATT hardware.
I emailed Stan Hickam, the principal and visionary behind ATT and outlined my problem and disappointment to him. He replied to me promptly and told me that some of the symptoms were normal, but that he would be happy to make an exchange if I insisted on it. I decided to try the razor out again and have a think about what I wanted to do.
That's as far as I got! In less than a fortnight from my email to Stan, I checked my mailbox the other morning only to find a padded envelope from ATT. Inside the envelop was a replacement cap for the S1 razor, before I'd even had the chance to accept Stan's offer of a replacement.
In a world where quality is often questionable and customer service almost extinct, it's enormously satisfying and reassuring to deal with a company that so obviously cares about its products and about its customers. That's the kind of company Above the Tie is. ATT products aren't cheap, but from every point of view they represent fantastic value for money.
If you haven't put their products on your shortlist, do yourself a big favour and check out their brilliant offerings.
