What We're Doing for the Rest of 2022

We frequently get questions about what we’re planning for the rest of 2022 (and beyond), so, for our first blog post in quite some time, we wanted to lay out some of what is in store from Barrister and Mann between now and the end of the year.

European Export

We have an export order en route to Italy right now for distribution! After nearly a decade of requests, we’ve finally begun exporting the majority of our products to the EU, and Barrister and Mann shaving soaps, aftershave splashes, and aftershave balms will all be available across the continent within the next few months.

Note: We don’t know exactly when. The shipment is in transit and has to be set up and entered into the distributor’s product system. But, once it arrives, you can order it directly from Barbieri Uniti. They’ll begin distribution to the rest of the EU after that, but keep an eye on their social media and website for updates!

New Website

We asked and you answered! A few weeks back, we sent an email asking for some feedback on our new website design and the features that YOU want to see. Now that we’ve combed through all of that info, here’s what’s coming in the next few weeks:

• Wishlist: We’ve actually already installed this one. You can find the wishlist button in the navigation bar (as shown) to allow you to track what you’re interested in and share it with others.
• Descending Nav Menu: Again, this one has already been enacted. There was significant feedback that being able to simply choose a product category from the navigation bar on our site was preferable to the filtering on the shop page, so we have returned that functionality to the site.

• Updated Copy: We’ll be slowly overhauling the copy on our site to attempt to make it more clear what fragrances smell like, which will be bolstered by some of our announcements below. Keep reading for more!
• Fragrance Recommender Tool: This will take a little longer; we have to map out all of the different attributes of each of our fragrances and build them into a system that’s easy to use and not too hard on our website, but it’s coming! Pretty soon, you’ll be able to tell a tool on our website what sort of fragrance notes you like and it will recommend products to you based on your preferences!
• Note: While we’d love to be able to link it to a database like Fragrantica or Try That Soap to allow for recommendations of colognes and other items, it’s just not possible at this time. We’re only going to be able to map our own products for this.
• On the heels of this fragrance recommender idea, we’ll also be offering the ability to filter products by fragrance note directly from the shop, providing easier and better ways for you to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily. Again, this will take a few weeks as we map out the full fragrance tree, but the feature is very much in the pipeline.
• The return of the release calendar: This is a couple of weeks off while we work out a few other things, but we’re going to be adding a release calendar back to our website on a quarterly basis. We’ll lay out what we’re making, the fragrance notes, and what time and day it will be released. There will also be a button to add a reminder to your phone calendar so that you don’t miss out.
• Will is going to attempt to return to reviewing fragrances on this blog, and we’ll be putting up a suggestion box for colognes and perfumes that you want him to review. That may take a bit (only one person, takes time to get samples, etc. etc.), but it’s coming.

That leads us to the really big announcement:

Samples and Refill Bars
Note: None of the things listed in this section will be ready immediately, but they're on the docket for the next few months and should be available on at least a limited basis by November.

That’s right. After seven years, we’re resuming sample production in-house, and samples will be available right on our website. Weight and pricing are up in the air yet, but they will likely be flat squares of at least a half ounce in weight, which can be placed in a container of your choice and should be perfect for optimum latherability. For those who prefer to shop with Maggard Razors, they will retain sample offerings of as many of our products as they choose, and we will also attempt to offer samples to any of our Canadian retailers who want them.

In that same vein, we will also be introducing refill bars! In keeping with our attempts to make production as simple and straightforward as possible, they will be rectangular bars, the same size as our current bath soap bars. Because the soap is soft, even after curing, it will be easy to flatten them against the bottom of one of our shaving soap jars, or into the container of your choice. Bars will likely start off with limited fragrances, wrapped in just plain paper with a generic label, but we hope to scale them up quickly and begin offering all of our fragrances as refill bars with proper packaging before too long.

Things That We Can’t Do

• We’ve heard from some folks that they prefer our older packaging style with the topographic animal silhouettes; many have asked that we return to them on a limited basis, or offer our products in both. While we appreciate the nostalgia, the packaging absolutely could not stay as it was. It didn’t comply with the EU, it was incomplete and cumbersome, and, with the bankruptcy of the graphics firm that designed it, we have no way to create any more such labels, which has been a problem for many years. Our limited edition and seasonal fragrances will still be offered with more individualized and whimsical labeling, but this new packaging scheme for our year-round products is here to stay.
• Quite a few people have asked for a full history of our fragrances and soap bases. While that would take rather too much time for Will himself to compile and display on the site, the nice folks at The Daily Lather keep a fairly updated compendium of our offerings and a link is now available via our FAQ.