Jennifer and Patrick Coddou of Supply
Former Lockheed Martin engineer Patrick Coddou, as he colorfully put it, was sick of his face being left a warzone after shredding off his facial hair with common multiblade razors.
Irritation and ingrown hairs never seemed to elude him — that’s until he dialed his search back a few decades and found the original Schick Injector Razor. Coddou, wielding the original injector razor, takes notes of its many components: a single blade and an apparatus requiring disassembly and reassembly, all boiling down to what he calls “a pretty cumbersome process.” Although effective, he saw room for improvement — inspiration that birthed the Supply Single Edge razor.
After launching the business in 2015, raising more than $250,000 in 45 days on Kickstarter, and landing a $300,000 deal with Robert Herjavec on “Shark Tank” last November, Coddou and his wife, Jennifer, continue to operate the men’s razor company off Stanley Avenue. They’re now shipping around the globe and have expanded into an entire line of grooming products like shaving creams, brushes and the post-shave product.
“Our plans for 2020 are to keep doing what we’re doing,” Coddou says. “But do it better.”
Single blade. Cast from solid stainless steel, Supply’s razor is a thick, weighty blade that effectively wipes away facial hair. The single blade shaves at the skin’s surface without leaving any nicks behind; where multiblade cartridges tug at hair with a leading blade, the Single Edge simplifies the process and yields a smoother shave.
Easier blade loading. An insertion key seamlessly loads the one blade, which can produce up to six shaves, Coddou says. This method helps nearly eliminate hazards from potential cuts, compared to the original injector razor.
Heavy handle. A stainless steel handle makes for a fairly weighty product, but in that weight, shavers are trained to leverage the mass in doing the majority of the work. “When using something this weighty, the inclination and the error is to press hard on razor,” Coddou says. “The advantage to the weight is to let the razor do the work and glide across your skin.”
Engineering and design. Supply wouldn’t exist without Coddou’s background in engineering. Prototype designs were produced via computer drawing technology implemented at Lockheed.
