OPEN SESSION: The Moleskinerie Open Thread Discussion

Welcome to OPEN SESSION:  The Moleskinerie Open Thread Discussion.

Moleskinerie invites you, our visitors to share your thoughts on a special topic.

Today it is "WHITE MOLESKINE"

For the first time, Moleskine has created a white-covered Moleskine. Your thoughts.

The first entirely white Moleskine notebook -- created exclusively for yoox.com, 240 pages, Hardcover, 2010 in English. 

Product link

(via Johnny Gamber)

VIEW ALL OPEN SESSIONS HERE.

Comments

[Heather]

Heresy!

[Jack]

Hmmmmm?...

[Red Rex]

The Moleskine brand is becoming ridiculous. I miss the days when Moleskines were simple and didn't have all of the gimmicks they have now.

[john Harrigan]

I like it...

[Colin Edwards]

At £19 UK they are surely having a joke? Visit a shoe repair shop and buy a can of white leather dye for a couple of pounds and apply it carefully to your standard moly. Or, simply get a life.

[melanie]

What attracted me to the Moleskine in the first place was its simple style - plain black!
I agree with the above comment - ridiculously gimmicky.

[Harry Dean]

I agree with Red Rex. This thing of ours, the moleskine, it used to be exclusive, now its becoming too common, too commercial.

[Alex]

I think with the release and popularity of Apple I find that products that come in white appeal more to the target market for Moleskine. It was going to happen I just didn't know when. But it is limited edition so it wont be around for a while.

[Harry Dean]

Think about the ink and coffee stains this moleskine will get.

[Macus]

My first thought was "looks like an Apple". I like it, but I will stick to black, simply because the Moleskine is with me all the time and in white ... it would be dirty pretty fast.

[Lanzman]

All I can think of is "unclear on the concept". Moleskine is supposed to be the quintessential little black notebook. If you want to make a white one, don't call it a Moleskine.

[Superpooky]

I agree with most of the other comments. It's an Apple Moleskine and ridiculously overpriced in much the same way as those other white products. What does your notebook say about you? More money than sense....

[Gabrielle L.R.]

funny comments on this upcoming product, yes the moleskine changes colors, OMG! but i think it stays the same thing, and they brought the red moleskine before, were there the same offended reactions? i don't get it, you come on a beautiful website like moleskinerie and complain about the price of the product this website is talking about... you can always find deals on the internet, and moleskines were going to become popular soon enough, this is not the end of the world, it is just a white moleskine! my answer to this new product is that dirty white is not pretty, and i don't like what looks like an embossed Y on the cover, and if i would be to buy this i would rather have it plain or sketchbook.
apple moleskine? wow.incredible. fast association!

[AndrewSpano]

I agree with some of the other comments. White is going beyond the brand. A white molly reminds of Pat Boone, white patten leather shoes, a white belt, and ridiculous duck tailed hair. Thank goodnes that trend passed by the wayside too.

[range]

Although I agree that it's a bit of a gimmick, I wouldn't mind having a few different colored Moleskines. The reason is simply. I use quite a few at the same time and unless I start customizing the covers, which I won't, I have to open the MS up to find out what's inside. It's bit annoying. I'm sure that I could come up with a hack to deal with this, but simply having Moleskines of different color would solve this.

I use Moleskines daily to take notes in classes.

[Brandon]

The white moleskine is simply the latest step in all the steps that moleskine has gone to far in...they should have stuck with simple black pocket notebooks, just like what they were originally designed from.

[Harry Dean]

Agreed. There's nothing wrong with other colors but moleskines have been distinguished for being small black notebooks, not to be a traditionalists here, but its one of the features that sets it apart from other journals and sketch books.

[Anthony]

Moleskine jumps the shark. This is its white flag surrendering to the bland wont of the disposable fickle masses.
Ugh.
Bile-producing.
Butt-ugly.

[Roman Garcia]

Hi everyone,

This is Roman from Moleskine, but most people call me RG. This comment is 2 part, one to introduce myself and also to participate in the discussion(s).

Changes to something iconic will always create strong reaction, remember "New Coke"? Part of my job is to take your thoughts and opinions and apply them to our decision process with future product and activities. Without going off on a tangent, the new color notebooks were actually a result of feedback from the community. You asked, we tried to accommodate. Some of us are going to LOVE the new White Notebook, and others will not. That's OK, that's why we're a community. If we all agreed; there probably wouldn't be any real discussion.

I welcome comments and suggestions. In addition, if you want to share your Moleskine story, please submit them, this site is more about you than anything else.

Thanks,
RG

[commenter]

I like new colors of existing notebook styles, as limited editions.
Teal/aqua, dark purple, eggplant, and pink would all be options. As some have said on here before, why not make the special editions benefit some charity? (Green for environmental stuff, pink for breast cancer.)

When it comes to the recent year or so of the Moleskine brand, I, too, feel that it is becoming diluted and commercialized. It is too gimmicky with the Passions and similar product varieties that are cookie-cutter, not tools for inspiring creativity.

[commenter]

I'll clarify: Limited edition colors in existing product styles are fine. Special editions for charities or holidays keep some excitement about new products. It is the excessive product style variety that has caused a dilution in the brand (tons of types of calendars, Passion series, etc.).

[commenter]

$29 for an ugly dirty white notebook? Really? No thanks. If it was "normal" priced, I'd consider it. It would be $40 after shipping, for a product from some store I've never heard of.

[Peter Brady]

Like many have said, the white would only look dirty after a while and so not something I would go for. Something I would like to see is a regular black Moleskine with ruled, squared, and plain paper in equal portions inside. I think those three formats are the ones I most use, and if they were all in the same notebook, I wouldn't need several different ones. Maybe that idea is as gimmicky as this white one, but no more so than the crazy "Passions" line that's coming.

[Roman Garcia]

Peter,

I like that idea, the 3 formats in one. I'll pass it on, and not sure if I'd use "gimmicky" to describe it ;-)

RG

[Amber]

The problem with New Coke, was that it tasted horrible and didn't last. Coke also had a bit of a hard time recovering from that poor decision. A white moleskine is all fine and good, but when does a moleskine cease to be the icon we all know and love?

I'd suggest that if you wanted to try out colors, why not the Navy blue that cahiers currently come in? Or a deep royal purple? White? Not so much.