Reading this title will probably come as much of a shock to you as it did to me when Itoya (the US Sailor distributor) sent me a letter saying that my company will no longer be an authorized retailer of Sailor products. The reason given was, in so many words, because we don't carry their full line of pens, only their ink.
For any of you who have followed the growth of our company or read up on some of the 'early days' of Goulet, you know that at the beginning we didn't sell any pens. I recall writing this blog post back when I was even questioning if the name of our business even made sense because we only sold ink and paper at that time. We wanted to focus on the fundamentals of what made writing with a fountain pen so unique, which for us, meant and huge focus on the ink (and paper). Pens are great and all, but at the time (early 2010) there was such a lack of reviews, photography, education, and ink swabs available from any retailer, that we felt a strong calling to make this our sole focus. It was only after about a year of this that we very slowly began to hand-pick which pens we wanted to offer on our site. This whole way of thinking for us was a sort of 'boot camp' for us to focus first and foremost on the performance of a pen on paper, rathe than the aesthetics, filling mechanism, etc. that may or may not contribute to how it actually writes. Of course now we love pens and can't imagine not selling them, but at the time it was very important for us to keep our focus on what we considered to be the 'basics', and then build upon that with pen knowledge.
You may recall we did carry the Sailor 1911S and Pro Gear Slim from mid-2011 to mid-2012, and we ended up discontinuing the line because of poor sales and some other reasons that I will not go into detail here. But to summarize the entire experience, we really did everything we could to successfully carry the pens, and it just didn't work out. At this time I'd been talking with our contact at Itoya and we came to the conclusion that the best thing for us to do would be to stop carrying the pens and just carry the ink. And we've been doing that, quite successfully, since then.
There has apparently been some sort of policy change at Itoya that they want their retailers to carry the full line of pens, and despite our history and my appeal that we were still positively representing the brand just with the inks, their decision is final and we are being dropped. I can imagine that we're not the only ones either, that other smaller retailers (especially those with a limited selection of pen offerings) may get dropped as well. I don't know this for a fact, but if it's a blanket change they've made, I imagine it'll surely affect others besides us.
I share all of this with you because I want you to fully understand that I have really fought to try to both represent the Sailor brand well and service you, our fans and customers, in the best way that I know how. This whole experience saddens me to a great degree, but I must respect and honor the decision that Itoya has made. I have no hard feelings towards them and I understand that this is a business decision on their part, and if they were to reconsider, we would be happy to continue to offer their inks.
All this said, I can say now that all of the Sailor inks that we have on our site is all we will have, so it would be wise of you to buy whatever you've had your eye on now if you want to buy it from us. We are not overstocked on everything because we didn't have advanced notice of this decision, so the inks will probably sell out fairly quickly. We do have a good amount of Sky High, because we were going to use that for a future Ink Drop. Clearly, that's not happening now, so we'll change that out. We aren't going to do anymore samples of any of the Sailor inks either, so we'll run out of those relatively soon.
Rachel and I haven't yet decided what to do about the swabs in the Swab Shop; we are leaving them up for the time being. This is kind of a unique situation that we're dealing with as this is the first brand that has ever dropped us from their distributorship, so we're unsure if we should keep the inks in the Swab Shop or not. We're open to feedback on that. We don't normally keep colors in there that we don't sell, mainly because it just generates too many "where can I buy this on your site?" questions. We'll have to think about this one. Maybe overlay some kind of explanation text on the swab.
For the record, I do like Sailor's inks and I am very sad that I won't be able to continue offering them. I will not slight the brand just because they don't want my company to sell them anymore. I do think they are great inks that you should consider when making an ink buying decision.
Ink Alternatives
Due to the circumstances I believe that the best thing I can do for you is to summarize my opinions about each Sailor ink and give you a recommended alternative that I do still carry in my store. So here goes:
Sailor Kiwa-Guro Pigmented (Nano) Black
This is a pigmented ink, designed for brush pens but safe for use in fountain pens if extra care is taken. You don't want to keep this in your pen more than a week or so in between cleanings, because if the ink dries out the pigmented particles will be a devil to clean out. The advantage of using a pigmented ink is that it's permanent, but dries on the surface of the paper rather than absorbing down in the paper and bonding to its fibers (like the Noodler's permanent inks do). This makes this type of ink ideal for watercolor and mixed-media artists who use very thick and ink-resistant sketchbook/watercolor paper, but want a fountain pen ink that dries permanent and can be washed over with another color. It also works really well on postcards and other papers with very ink-resistant surfaces.
The best alternative (and actually more popular) ink for this one would be Platinum Carbon Black. You can check out and compare it to other black inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Sei-Boku (Nano) Blue-Black
This ink is also pigmented, and has all of the same benefits and drawbacks of the Nano Black. It's just a different color. The only other pigmented ink that would be close is Platinum Pigmented Blue. If you're not crazy about the pigmented aspect of the ink, you could always get a more 'conventional' permanent alternative like Noodler's Upper Ganges Blue or Parker Quink Blue Black. You can check out and compare it to other blue black inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Apricot
This is a bright orange color, a conventional ink. It has pretty good shading, and while not a super-practical color, it is fun. It's closest alternatives are Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin, Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake, and Noodler's Apache Sunset. You can check out and compare it to other orange inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Black
Black ink is black ink, right? Well, the hardcore ink fans know that that's just not true….but it kind of is in this case. This is a nice black ink, but doesn't have anything particularly special about it other than it's just a pretty 'normal' black. Alternatives for non-permanent ones might be Lamy Black, Aurora Black, or Sheaffer Black, or go up to a permanent black like Noodler's Black or Noodler's Heart of Darkness.
Sailor Jentle Blue
This is a medium blue that leans a little purple. Some of its closest alternatives include Aurora Blue, Noodler's Polar Blue (permanent), and J. Herbin Bleu Myosotis. You can check out and compare it to other blue inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Blue-Black
This is a nice blue black, with a gray tone to it. Some of its closest alternatives include Noodler's 54th Massachusetts (permanent), Private Reserve Sonic Blue, and Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai. You can check out and compare it to other blue black inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Epinard
This one will be one of the more missed colors, because it is rather unique. It is an forrest green that has a bit of a red sheen to it when used very heavily. There isn't an exact replacement for it, but some possible substitutes would be Noodler's Army Green, Diamine Evergreen, Private Reserve Avacado, or De Atramentis Green Tea. You can check out and compare it to other green inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Grenade
Is it pink, is it red? I don't really know, it's kind of both. Grenade is a neat color, with some cool shading/artsy features to it. Not a super-practical color, but fun to mess around with. Some alternatives for it are Noodler's Ottoman Rose, De Atramentis Dante Alighieri, and Diamine Crimson. You can check out and compare it to other pink and red inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Pêche
This is probably my least favorite of the bunch, just because it's kind of too light to do anything with it. But it is neat for coloring in artwork, I guess. It does have kind of a yellowish sheen when put on heavy. Alternatives would be Pilot Iroshizuku Kosumoso and Private Reserve Shell Pink. You can check out and compare it to other pink inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Sky High
Sigh….this one hurts. I love this color, and I will miss it dearly. However, there are a lot of great alternatives to this one, so it's not a great loss. This is a medium blue that has a reddish sheen when put on heavily, though I've rarely seen it come out in normal writing. Some great alternatives are Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Diamine Royal Blue, Diamine Washable Blue, and Pelikan Edelstein Topaz. You can check out and compare it to other blue inks in the Swab Shop.
Sailor Jentle Ultramarine
This is a nice purple, one of the more popular of the Sailor lineup. Some good alternatives are Aurora Blue, Waterman Tender Purple, and J. Herbin Violette Pensée. You can check out and compare it to other purple inks in the Swab Shop.
So there is it. I'm sorry that all this had to go down, but life goes on. Despite this setback, I will continue to do everything I possibly can to continue to represent the brands I carry well, and help you in every way possible to have a great writing experience. If you have any comments about any of this, please let me know in the comments below.
Write On,
Brian Goulet