Editing The Pen Addict 223/transcript (section)

== Pilot Pens ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Speaking of making all the money, Pilot is trying to make all the money with these new high-end Arushi pens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Can you explain this to me? You seem to be freaking out a little bit about it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm not totally freaking out on this. I think it's really exceptional and it's wonderful. So, Pilot is making kind of their stock high-end pen right now is the 823. And then they kind of use Namiki as their high-end brand where you can get some Arushi work. I mean, some Makiyi work done on some of these pens and some Arushi pens and some various high-end pens. You transfer from Pilot into the Namiki line. You transfer from Toyota into Lexus kind of relationship.

'''Myke Hurley:''' A lot of vanishing points are sold around the world as Namikis.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So, now the interesting thing about this is Pilot is kind of crossing over into that same price point as a Pilot-branded pen. And I mean, it's no big deal either way. You know, maybe that's the direction they want to take the company. And it's just a really pretty high-end pen. You know, Sailor does this on the high-end as well. You know, they make this style of pen with this type of material, this attention to detail, these larger gold nibs. And they sell between, you know, like $800 and $1,000. So, they're real expensive. And they're just kind of, they're the standard gold trim and, you know, gold banding, gold furniture. But the expense comes from the larger nib and the work done to the barrel to get it this way. So, they're really nice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, it's just plain black, but it's Arushi. Arushi. Yes. Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So, and Sailor has the same thing in their high-end. Like, they're king of pens, Arushi models. Like, I actually, they're plainer than these and I actually like them better. And the one Namiki pen that I've been looking at, but it's so expensive right now, is called the Yukari Royale, which is a red Arushi pen. Like, I would buy that ahead of, like, one of these pens. But these pens are really nice. Like, this is not on a shopping list type of thing anytime soon for me. But I think it's just interesting from a brand perspective, you know, what Pilot's doing here. And it's kind of cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, whoa. I've just found that. The Arushi Vermillion. Yeah, that's the one. Yukari Royale. Yeah. It's even got red feed.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Oh, boy. Like, I would, like, that's one on my dream list. Oh, it must have pens. I keep looking. I've been looking at them. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're expensive. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, go back to Kickstarter.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' For those who don't want to click the link, this is a nibs.com special price of $1,200.