Quattro Razors Relaunches in Europe, China and Oceania

This spring, Edgewell’s Wilkinson Sword Intuition and Wilkinson Sword brands have relaunched their women’s and men’s Quattro range in Europe, China and Oceania. Building on 250 years of expertise in blade-making and Quattro’s long legacy of trusted performance, the popular franchise continues to make waves and deliver precision, comfort, and consumer-driven innovation.

Amidst this exciting roll-out, our Global Vice President, Innovation Transformation, Caroline Mallet and Innovation Manager, Lucie Molas have taken some time to provide insights on the relaunch, from a broader business perspective to a more detailed account of what exactly went into the relaunch.

From a business point of view, what was the motivation behind relaunching the Quattro range across Europe, Oceania, and China?

 

Caroline: Quattro was originally launched in 2004 with a distinctive technology designed to protect against skin irritation. The visually verifiable feature—wires surrounding the blades and manufactured in our German facility—remains a strong point of differentiation.

 

The EU team identified an opportunity to refresh the Quattro range by modernizing the proposition, maintaining its core benefit of skin protection while introducing a new handle design. This update is particularly relevant for younger consumers who are seeking safe and skin-friendly shaving solutions.

 

The strength of the consumer insight, combined with the updated execution, proved compelling for other regions, which subsequently adopted the initiative. Rolling out the relaunch across multiple markets enables clear advantages, including cost efficiencies and faster speed to market.

 

The relaunch positions Quattro as delivering both superior protection and value. How did the team balance engineering high‑performance features while ensuring the razors remain accessible to value‑conscious shoppers?

Lucie: Balancing performance and accessibility was at the core of our relaunch approach. We started from a very clear consumer insight: protection from nicks, cuts and irritation is one of the biggest unmet needs, especially for value-conscious shoppers who don’t want to compromise on performance.

A key decision was to transition from a metal handle to a high-quality plastic handle. By moving to a recycled plastic solution, we were able to maintain quality - thanks to ergonomic design, rubberized grips, and a modern aesthetic - while making the product more accessible to a wider audience. We also optimized packaging by moving to a smaller folding box and tray, reducing material usage and improving overall cost efficiency.

How did Edgewell approach a relaunch happening in multiple markets around the globe? Are there key factors to consider, or benefits to launching in multiple markets at once?

 

Caroline: One of the key advantages of our connected, regionally empowered ecosystem is that innovations are rooted in deep local consumer insight. When a region uncovers a strong insight, established forums allow us to share it across other regions and evaluate its potential for broader scalability where appropriate. In shaving, in particular, we often see insights translate well across geographies, making early and systematic sharing critical to unlocking scale from the outset.

 

This collaborative approach enables us to move faster, driving scale, accelerating time to market, and maximizing the impact of our innovations across multiple markets.

 

Quattro has a long legacy, dating back to 2003 for women in Europe. How does the new relaunch in Europe, Oceania and China preserve the heritage of the brand while expanding its reach?

Lucie: Quattro is an iconic franchise, with over 20 years of history, and preserving that heritage was and is essential to ensure consumers continue to recognize and trust the brand on shelf. We’ve stayed true to what made Quattro successful, its safety blades and the precision, reliability, and strong protection credentials. At the same time, we’ve modernized the range through a redesigned handle, and updated packaging and claims to meet today’s expectations.

The relaunch also enables us to expand beyond Europe into regions such as Oceania and China, where there is growing demand for high-quality yet accessible shaving solutions.

What role did consumer feedback play in shaping the final product?

Lucie: Consumer feedback was absolutely central throughout the development process. Our research clearly highlighted that protection from irritation is one of the biggest unmet needs, which directly shaped our focus on safety blades and protective features.

We ensured continuous feedback throughout the development process so that every key improvement, functional or aesthetic, was grounded in real consumer needs. For example, nearly four in five women found the new handle more protective, modern, and aesthetically appealing. Among men, 72% agree the razor helps prevent irritation, and over half believe it provides a quicker and safer shave. These insights were key, in shaping the final product.

Edgewell is constantly looking to get closer to the consumer and deliver on their demands. This relaunch is one such instance, but how do you think this will position Edgewell amongst its industry competitors?

 

Caroline: We have fundamentally transformed the way we approach innovation. Today, innovation is rooted in deep local consumer insight and led by our regional teams. These teams work in close partnership with Research & Development to develop distinctive solutions that address real consumer needs. This is combined with a strong focus on scalability, enabling us to drive both efficiency and speed to market across regions.

 

Looking ahead, our innovation pipeline is very exciting and has the potential to become a true competitive advantage, strengthening our position in the market.

 

What part of the relaunch are you most excited about? Is there anything you are hoping will resonate the most with consumers, or are excited to see on the market?

Lucie: What excites me most is how we identified a consumer demand and translated that into a tangible product that delivers a meaningful shave experience. I’m particularly proud of the handle design. Our engineering team developed a solution that not only improves design look and feel but also brings a distinctive feature to the market with its ability to stand upright.

It makes a real difference in everyday use, and that’s exactly where innovation matters most.

Looking ahead, how do you see the relaunch of Quattro shaping Edgewell’s approach to innovation in the shaving category, overall?

 

Caroline:  We now have multiple real-life examples of successfully scaled innovations—Quattro being one of them. Our ways of working are well established: innovation starts within the markets, driven by consumer needs, business priorities, and commercial insights. Close collaboration across regions, combined with strong partnerships with R&D, enables us to identify opportunities with global relevance and scale them effectively.

 

The Quattro relaunch also demonstrates how we can leverage proven technologies, refresh them with meaningful consumer benefits, and deploy them across markets to maximize impact. This approach will continue to shape how we innovate in shaving- focusing on scalable ideas, faster execution, and a consistently consumer-centric mindset that puts their needs at the heart of everything we do.