Hello, everyone, I really hope you’re all doing well today. I want to talk about the Moleskin quality in 2020. Where is it at? Has it gotten better or worse? Where’s, the paper quality at, and just my personal opinion on the brand and how it has evolved over the years, and most of you probably don’t know this, but what actually got this blog started was me getting really disappointed with moleskin notebooks about five, six years ago.
Six years ago, and trying to explore other notebook brands and options as a great alternative to a then declining brand. In my opinion, and I found a lot of great journals and I’ve been journaling, my entire life, but moleskin was the first time I actually fell in love with a notebook. I remember purchasing was back in 2003 and I just loved using it. I carried it everywhere. It’s a companion that you know, I just put all my thoughts and ideas in there and it kind of felt this bond with a notebook in a way to have never felt before before. I just put my thoughts on the paper, but there was never like a connection that I felt an actual notebook, and was the first time I just really loved using a notebook, and it was my favorite brand, is pretty much the only journal I used, even though It’s expensive even at the time
And then the moleskin quality really started to climbed back in two thousand thirteen or fourteen, and that was, incidentally, when the company went public. So it might be coincidence. Maybe not, but maybe the quality really went downhill when they try to improve the profit margin margins, because there were, you know, traded at a stock market. And just wanted to look good in the eyes of their shareholders, at the expense of paper quality and just manufacturing a cheaper product.Â
And then I made a video about this journal right here, that has really atrocious paper that it uses is really dark Wine, seems like something that should be in a journal that costs two or three dollars, but not fifteen dollars at the time and just also fell apart right there, just really poor quality product, and I became really disappointed with the brand, and I switch to other brands for a while, has stopped purchasing moleskin.
The only thing I also want to say about this notebook. Several people commented on that video that this is a counterfeited product. it’s not a genuine, Moleskin, but I purchased at a store in person and that store is a authorized moleskin to retailer. So that is definitely a genuine moleskin product and also remember going to a moleskin store in new york city in 2014, and the paper quality was very inconsistent in the journals most of them had kind of cheaper feeling paper in them and not the original moleskin Paper that i fell in love with many years ago.
So to the paper quality moleskin has never been a fountain pen friendly paper. Even when the original company that was found in 1997 moto&moto made the first moleskins. They never had great paper quality in terms of it being fountain pen friendly, and i can prove that to you. I have here one that I purchased in 2007, I can show you, it still says: moto&moto here, name change to moleskin in 2006, so this has probably been made 2006 for prior and I start using it in 2007.
And I have a writing sample in here, because I didn’t use like the last few pages here and, as you can see in the back here, there’s definitely even it back in the old days bleed through with the fountain pen.
It was never great with fountain pens and probably never will be, but the reason why I absolutely loved his paper is somebody who doesn’t use fountain pens very often moleskin paper has a softness to it that I have not seen in any other brand, except maybe Moist to use a similar paper, it is like velvet when you touch, and that gives you a nice smooth riding experience and that softness of that paper, in my opinion, is unique to moleskin.
So I purchased several notebooks more recently. I have here a daily planner for 20/20 enlarged. Then I have an extra-large professional planner and then I’d purchased these two types of the notebooks, a pocket one and then the large regular-sized one.
So, let’s check out my writing samples. We have pocket one hardcover, one blank as you can see, and the back there is pretty much bleed through all them with the fountain pens, but the paper quality, Is that really lovely soft moleskin paper that they used many years ago and started to use them or consistently again, And then it’s the same paper as well in this daily planner right here that I’ve been using quite frequently daily
Then here we have the only one in a slightly different paper, and it is this XL planner interesting enough. This paper feels a little thinner and not quite as soft and little flimsier than the other papers, but then we look at the writing sample. It does not bleed through as much as the other paper I’ve been using, even it feels like cheaper paper. 
So these three are consistent with the really signature, moleskin paper, this XL one has slightly different paper in it, but none of them are like this awful paper they used back in 2014 went  just like cheap paper from a truck store. So I think they are getting more consistent again with the paper they use in their notebooks.
As I said, if you are a fountain pen, user, you’re, really bad off trying a different brand like Brody or Claire frontin, dingbats, there’s great companies that make slightly heavier paper that are excellent for fountain pens. But if you do not use fountain pens, I just use a ballpoint pen or gel pen. You can be really happy with a moleskin and I’m I’m gon na make a second entry. Where I talk about more about the history of moleskin in the 20 years of or just over 20 years now have been development to show you some old, older journals as well, but yeah, I’m pleasantly surprised. I have been using moleskin more again lately, especially with my planners, because I really loved their format and I haven’t found a different planet that I like quite as much so I started using moleskin again on a more consistent basis.
I still use a lot of other journals, but moleskin was my first notebook love and I was going to acknowledge that and it’s also the company that brought back a notebook culture and kind of revived people using notebooks and whether you love or hate moleskin, they were definitely influential in creating this whole notebook culture and community that’s around these days, so yeah definitely an important brand to be aware of and yeah.
 Please let me know how you feel about moleskin. What are your experiences are, so I think the paper quality is better. I don’t know if I’ve just got lucky with my purchases or, if they’re, really more consistent again on the paying more attention to their quality, to you know justify their high price tag. Is it overpriced? Yes, it is, you pay for the brand you pay for the name, but you still get a nice notebook.
So please, let me know, do you love moleskin? Can you hate it? What are you experiences with it? I really curious to hear from you. If you’ve enjoyed this entry, please give it a thumbs up subscribe to my Blog and yeah. Thank you so much for Reading.
