Is Coate's still on the horizon?

[brothers]

Coate's Sold!

by english_barber » Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:00 am
Hi all,
Yesterday Charlotte and I sold our shares and resigned as directors of TGS Products Ltd, owner of Coate's.
This opened the door to a major UK investor who is set to start production of Coate's shaving creams at an industrial scale with volumes to match the three T's.
This is probably the best and definitley most exciting outcome for the future of Coate's and will see it become a major UK brand.
As for Charlotte and myself, it was fun, but we both prefer concentrating on The Gentleman's Shop and I'm looking forward to getting back on the barber shop floor.

All the best, Robert

Charlotte & Robert Johnston
http://www.gentlemans-shop.com

It's been over a year now. I imagine Robert and Charlotte have had a very good year since they sold the famous brand and were free to pursue other endeavors.
Meanwhile, one wonders when/if the enigmatic Coate's of old will rise once again from the ashes.

[Squire]

This one wonders if the roll your own thread might produce more shaving cream experiments.

[brothers]

Probably more likely to happen than a viable and competitive Coate's.

[Squire]

Lots of latent talent around these parts.

[drmoss_ca]

Gary,
You are more likely to make a satisfactory shaving soap yourself in your own kitchen than Coates is likely to rise from the dead and do something similar. Come on, you know you want to do it!

Chris

[brothers]

Yes I do want to. Thanks for the encouragement. It sounds like a challenging and rewarding undertaking. Knowing myself, there will come a day, soon I hope, when I wake up and say to myself, I'm going to order up some ingredients and make some soap. I can't force it, it's going to come all by itself, and when it hits me I'll be obsessed with it. Right now I'm a little distracted by two other projects, long stories, both, and quite boring to everyone else, but nonetheless demanding all of my focus at the present time.

[bernards66]

Gary, Who knows?...although it doesn't seem very likely at this point. But the wheels of major projects like that often grind slowly and I would imagine that that "major UK investor", whoever they are, probably has other irons in the fire. It's probably been at least a decade now since the last Coate's creams were actually manufactured so to expect them to reappear, especially as good as they were before, is to hope for a mini-miracle I think. These classic style English shave creams are clearly not as easy to make as one might assume. Versions I've tried from vendors who contracted firms other than Creightons to make their proprietary brand creams have never been as good, IMO. And we had a gent on the old forum who claimed he had a backround in chemistry as well as soap making experiance who worked for months to try and duplicate the Taylor creams and in the end had to admit that he couldn't do it. He said that he got pretty close but he just was unable to really make a cream that was an equal in all respects.
Regards,
Gordon

[brothers]

Actually, I'm bored with Coate's. The market they once enjoyed no longer exists, except where it's occupied by those who didn't quit when the going got tough. Robert and Charlotte stepped up and tried valiantly, for sure. Now the new owner has just a name hardly anyone knows, and whatever reputation the name may have had at one time has been all but lost. Might as well call it "Acme" and start from scratch, because that's exactly what they'll be doing anyway. I'm over it.

[Squire]

Oh I doubt they were ever very well known (nor is Trumpers for that matter) outside of certain circles. What a new owner can do however is put 'Established in 1847' on the container and write a colorful history for the label. Won't even hafta make stuff up.

[bernards66]

Squire, Well, it would be an interesting history although I'm not sure that it would involve shave cream until near the end. Coate's was indeed founded in 1847 but they were brushmakers. The firm itself closed down and the rights were acquired by David Carter sometime around 1990 I think. We have never really been able to find out if there ever was a 'Coate's' shaving cream before that. There may have been but no one here has been able to definatively say so. John V. thought he vaguely remembered his grandfather using a Coate's shaving product but he was by no means certain. I, for one, wished I'd been mindful enough to ask David Carter this question back when I had some limited communication with him....but I wasn't, and so, I still don't know.
Regards,
Gordon

[Squire]

I liked the story of sharing facilities with Simpsons as a result of bombing in WW11, one would think the actual history of Coates would be sufficient reason for someone to buy the name.

[bernards66]

Squire, Well yeah. Coate's, apparently, was already in the West Country at the opening of WWII whilst A. Simpson was in London and during the blitz their facility was destroyed so they moved out of town also. I found some county records on line once that suggested that the Coate's facility was closed around 1990 which is about the time that David Carter was getting Simpson up and running again.
Regards,
Gordon

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but wasn't the last resurrection of Coate's pretty much of a disaster? There are still tubs of their tea tree cream in clearance all over the internet.

[Squire]

I believe financing was the problem Craig, don't think the product was to blame.

[joe mcclaine]

Finance might have been a contributing factor, but the re-launched Coate's cream was probably the worst shaving product I have ever used and bad reviews on ALL the shaving forums (irritation / burning) will not have helped matters.

If the product had been outstanding then it would have sold and that would have helped the financial situation ... surely?

I said it at the time - that they should have listened to feedback, but the then owner just said something about letting Worldwide sales speak for themselves and he'd show everyone.

D'oh!

[btafan]

Something's going on with the website http://www.coates1847.com. Two weeks ago it didn't exist, and then about 1 week ago it came online and it said Coate's was purchased by an energetic new investor and they were going to reopen the entire product line in late 2013. But today, it replaced that with the following:
"Coate�s has since changed hands twice and has yet to come back as a major force in the shaving industry. However, Coate�s have now restarted the brush making tradition and aim to rejuvenate a classic British brand and create a quality, male grooming company."

A whois lookup says the registrant is TGS Products, the contact is Robert Johnston, and the registry was updated July 06

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Excellent find Andy.

[Squire]

So Robert and Charlotte are back in the game, good show.

[Ken]

The website lists prices for shaving cream, soaps, and brushes. Robert, if you are following this thread, can you enlighten us?

Ken

[brothers]

Finance might have been a contributing factor, but the re-launched Coate's cream was probably the worst shaving product I have ever used and bad reviews on ALL the shaving forums (irritation / burning) will not have helped matters.

If the product had been outstanding then it would have sold and that would have helped the financial situation ... surely?

I said it at the time - that they should have listened to feedback, but the then owner just said something about letting Worldwide sales speak for themselves and he'd show everyone.

D'oh!

So Robert and Charlotte are back in the game, good show.

If I recall correctly there was a soap also. Just a year ago everyone (including Robert and Charlotte) was as pleased as punch that they were out of it at long last, and now it's good news that they're again back in the Coate's brand, and all previous bets are off. I think we need some sense of direction from Robert as to which way today's winds are blowing. Any new products will be judged closely in view of the abuse the brand has suffered since it died the first time.