CNN Money reports that, apparently, the beard era isn’t as ‘2015’ as we all thought — and it could mean some itchy times ahead for the razor industry.
According to Gillette, studies show that the average number of times men shave per week has fallen from 3.7 to 3.2 over the last decade, resulting in a 5.1% year-over-year sales drop by June 2018.
Consumer research shows that the once professionally taboo look is now more accepted around the office, unleashing a pandora’s box of bushy-bearded businessmen across boardrooms everywhere.
Most popular in men under 45, beards are no longer “considered lazy or disrespectful,” the vice president of Gillette North America told CNN.
Gillette reportedly staged an “intervention” last year, shaving prices by an average 12% and pushing facial-hair-maintenance tools like a beard trimmer (not shaver, they’re different).
This has helped Gillette trim their sales declines as they fight off more affordable disruptors like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, who in February raised $112m to move grow beyond the shaving industry.