Certain logos and icons stand for more than a company, they stand for American manufacturing ingenuity, holding a global cachet that represents U.S. culture: The McDonald's arches. The Nike swoosh. The Coca-Cola signature. The Sheaffer White Dot. Globally, these icons represent no less than the American ideas of freedom, creativity, and luxury.
When India's William Penn announced in 2022 that it was the newest owner of the Sheaffer Pen Co., there was no handwringing, there were no worries about an "American" brand being owned by a "foreign" company. These days, brands have their home corporate location, but that is nothing more than a GPS dot on a map. The true home of a brand these days is more conceptual than literal as the web of manufacturing becomes more complex.
William Penn CEO Nikhil Ranjan loves Sheaffer, which is why he became Sheaffer's owner and manufacturer rather than simply a stocker of Sheaffer products in his chain of William Penn retail shops through India. Arguably more than any owner in the last decades of Sheaffer's existence, Ranjan is dedicated to reviving not just Sheaffer's dominance as a global brand that stands for U.S. manufacturing excellence, but bringing a level of writing quality, beauty, and supply-chain reliability that harken to the heyday of the White Dot during the middle of the last century.
Ranjan says, "The goal in the first year was to steady the supply chain and reestablish relationships with as many distribution partners as possible. We are pleased to share that as of today, Sheaffer is available in over 60 countries, with many more in the pipeline. More importantly, we now have a steady supply of product. Our catalog is the largest it has been in the last 10 years, with the lcon, Sagaris, Reminder, and Calligraphy mini kits being relaunched late in 2024 after many years of hiatus."
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Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av PEN WORLD.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Show Your Summer Style
The newest Visconti Homo Sapiens, Iris Garden, is a tribute to the beautiful irises that bloom each spring in Florence, Italy's Iris Garden.
Good Made Better Keeps Getting Better
SUZANNE C. LEE tests Dan Keller's wood and metal reading and writing accessories and finds her childhood dream desk come to fruition.
Layers of Talent: River City Pen Company
With his skills in design and eye for details, Rich Paul crafts pens that are as beautiful as they are functional.
Fathoming the Unfathomable
The new Kanilea Pen Co. Blue Moana fountain pen and Mau Loa cap band are inspired by the ocean's depths and universal interconnectivity.
Truphae: Flexibility Is Key
This young pen shop is writing a new chapter in retail pen sales by finding unique ways to foster community.
"Winter Counts:" Transforming Non-fiction into Fiction
Creative writing typically blends what we know and experience with what we invent and imagine.
Swivodex, Sailors, and the Plastic Revolution: An Overview of Dip-less Desk Sets, Part V
The end of World War II ushered in a new era, with plastics technology opening the way to better and less costly products of all sorts.
The Mystery of the Purloined Parkers
What do G-men, mobsters, and tampons have in common? The two most epic fountain pen heists in history.
The Other Articles of Impeachment
\"Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons are commanded to keep silent, on pain of imprisonment...\"
The Road to Recovery
A recent trip to Wajima, Japan, by TACCIA's Shu-Jen Lin shows tragedy in the present but hope for the future.
