Pils Rasur

Pils Rasur is a German maker of high-end wet-shaving accessories, founded in 1980 in Stuttgart by Werner Pils [2]. Trading under the styling "PILS," the company produces safety razors, shaving brushes, soaps and related grooming hardware by hand, and has built its identity around the line "High-End Shaving | Handmade in Germany." Its precision-machined stainless steel razors are aimed at experienced wet-shaving enthusiasts rather than newcomers.

The company remains active. It runs a direct online shop with worldwide shipping, is stocked by specialist shaving retailers internationally, and has continued to draw coverage in niche wet-shaving editorial. Ownership has passed through several hands since the founder's retirement, and the brand is today operated by a Stuttgart-registered company based in nearby Ludwigsburg.

Werner Pils established the business in Stuttgart in 1980 as a sole proprietorship, setting out to make shaving accessories of a quality he felt the market lacked [2]. According to editorial accounts, he had worked as a sales director in the fragrance and cosmetics industry before turning to grooming hardware, a background the company credits for his sense of what premium buyers wanted [5]. From the outset the products were designed and handcrafted in the company's own Stuttgart manufactory, a practice the brand still describes as central to its work.

The ownership history spans more than one legal entity, and the brand's own sources give differing accounts of the current operator. The About page states that in 2003 Werner Pils retired and transferred PILS GmbH to a successor, Micha Birkhofer [2]. The site's current legal notice, however, names a different company, PM PRO GmbH of Ludwigsburg, with Pasquale Ferraro as managing director [3]. The commercial registration remains at Stuttgart. Taken together, the two records point to a further change of operating company after the 2003 handover, with PM PRO GmbH running the brand today.

A similar split appears over location. The company consistently describes its manufactory and home as Stuttgart [2], while the operating entity PM PRO GmbH is registered in adjacent Ludwigsburg [3]. Stuttgart is the city the brand identifies with its production.

Pils Rasur frames its work around durability and restraint. The company says its goal is to create products that are "not only beautiful, but also practical and durable," and that it makes no compromises in selecting raw materials, processes them to high standards, and favours a timeless design that is tested continually for function. Handmade production is treated as a defining commitment: the company states it places its logo only on products it has developed and crafted itself.

The materials reflect that positioning. Brushes are built from graded badger hair, brass components receive thick layers of gold or nickel plating, and razors are made from stainless steel and acrylic. The badger-hair brushes mean the range is not vegan or cruelty-free. Manufacturing is described as combining machine-made precision parts with manual finishing, so that each piece is presented as individually completed by hand.

The core range centres on double-edge safety razors, offered in model families such as the 101, 104 and 118, alongside razors compatible with Gillette Fusion, Mach3 and Sensor cartridges, badger shaving brushes, soaps, balms, stands and travel items. Prices sit at the top of the segment: a satin stainless steel 101NE was reviewed at USD 245, with gold-plated variants higher still [6]. One trade review described the maker as specialising in "the super high-end side of products" and its razors as artisan pieces made by a small group in a single location [6].

The 104NL razor has become the brand's most recognised product. A ShaveSplash profile called it "one of the hobby's true classics" and one of the longest-standing designs among modern artisan safety razors, noting that Pils Rasur was applying industrial design and precision machining to traditional wet shaving long before artisan razors became common [5]. Reviewers consistently frame the products as suited to experienced users willing to pay a premium rather than to beginners [6].

The company lists several environmental measures: minimised transport routes, reused packaging and recycled outer materials, renewable energy for its operations, and green-electricity hosting for its website. No third-party environmental certifications are documented.

Pils Rasur is an active, long-established German artisan maker. Founded in 1980, it continues to operate through PM PRO GmbH, runs a direct shop shipping worldwide, is carried by international shaving specialists, and has featured in recent wet-shaving editorial.