Indian made Parker ink

[landrover]

I bought some Parker Quink ink that turned out to be made in India. I have some nice pens so that bothered me. I emailed Parker and this is what they said,
"We do not recommend Parker inks manufactured in India by Luxor in the Parker pens nor is this ink backed by our product warranty."
Why would they let them use the brand name then? I suppose none of the other products made in India with the Parker brand and name they would recommend. I dont like happy faces but you can imagine Im not happy.

[s_t_e_v_e]

That is odd.
Maybe Luxor in India got the license contract when Parker was based in the UK. Now that they're based in France, they've changed their policies and are just waiting for that contract to expire??
They're bringing back some old favorites like the Vector and Jotter back in their full glory. Luxor made these models in India and also some more inexpensive models like the Beta which kind of made Parker more accessible in India and around without much compromise in quality. The French don't seem to like that, maybe? They probably want to see Parker as a luxury brand, which means they can charge more money for the same pens. Just guessing...

[pajaro]

Do the French like much of anything done by anyone else?

[s_t_e_v_e]

I don't mean to generalize about the French in any way in my previous comment. All I meant was that the new management probably wants to take the company in a different direction than where it currently is. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

The reason I said what I said, the way I said is because of Waterman, which also happens to be owned by the same parent company as Parker and they're completely based in France. As far as I know, everything 'Waterman' comes from France, be it inks, pens, refills or whatever (correct me if this is inaccurate). And it seems that approach has worked well for the brand so far. They're still in business and are producing decent pens. So may be Parker also wants to follow in Waterman's footsteps, sever ties with all other regional distributors/manufacturers and bring everything together in France. It would potentially give the brand a perception of exclusivity and luxury. That seems to be their goal, I guess.

[pajaro]

I think Newell Rubbermaid still owns these companies. Were any of the pens made in China? I have forgotten who owned these two companies before Newell Rubbermaid.

[s_t_e_v_e]

I think Newell Rubbermaid still owns these companies. Were any of the pens made in China? I have forgotten who owned these two companies before Newell Rubbermaid.

Gillette owned the brands prior to Newell.


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[welch]

I had a bottle of the Luxor-made Quink a few years ago. It's not bad, and might have had something like the great Solv-X ingredient.

Newell / Parker seems to be saying that they have licensed the Parker name to Luxor for the Indian market: "it's not made by us in France". My (vague) memory says that Parker used to be represented by Chelpark, and that Chelpark ink (with an ingredient like "Kleen-X") is close to Quink. Camlin's Camel ink is similar, also with an ingredient suggesting Solv-X.

Parker must be big in India, which still has something of a fountain pen market. It would make sense that Luxor, and Chelpark before them, have an ink factory. Ink is mostly water, and it must have been too expensive to brew the ink in the UK or the US and ship it to India. (Something like beer, which is also mostly water)

[proteus]

Luxor is the brand make for a company called NOLDA based in New Delhi who make pens etc for the India market only.

They have a very unusual contract with the Parker name.

All their products are made cheaply for a very specific local market - India

Some of their products and a vast amount of Parker fakes are exported to Europe and Americas by third parties.