Information about Goulet Pens

[lunabee34]

Everyone, it's come to my attention that the controversy involving Goulet Pens might not be as widely known as I believed.

I'm posting a link to the megathread on the fountain pens subreddit so that you can read it for yourself, but the gist of the story is that the Goulets posted a video about how they are part of the core team founding a church that's an offshoot of their current church. Then a podcast featuring the pastor of this new church emerged in which he says some truly vile things about LGBTQ people; internet sleuths also uncovered a contract that church members must sign which contains the typical hard right, evangelical attitudes toward women. The Goulets posted an incredibly mealy-mouthed apology that doesn't involve them leaving the church.

I will no longer be purchasing from them, and I thought you all should be able to make an informed decision.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1fizugz/goulet_pens_megathread/

Comments

[seleneheart]

Oh, wow, thank you for the information - I had no idea! I visit them when I am looking for something specific, but otherwise they don't cross my mind. Hopefully people will post other resources for fountain pens.

[lunabee34]

I mostly buy from JetPens, but there's also Vanness Pens and the Gentleman Stationer now has a shop, too.

[grayestofghosts]

I also mostly buy from Jetpens when I buy online. My partner likes Atlas Stationers, and I've also had good experiences with Goldspot which actually has sales every so often.

What I would also recommend is to look locally. Even if there's not an actual fountain pen or stationery store, in my experience a good amount of independent art supply stores will also carry a decent amount of fountain pen supplies.

Goulet doesn't seem to offer much unique except their social media presence.

[lunabee34]

Yes! Local is always better. Unfortunately, there's no stationer's or even craft store within two and half hours of me. I'd have to go to Atlanta to find something like that. But Barnes and Noble and Books a Million are carrying higher quality notebooks now that they didn't in the past. (Not that I need any more notebooks OMG; I probably have a good fifty or more notebooks in my stash, spread between home and office, waiting to be used LOL).

[grayestofghosts]

Yeah it's just kind of upsetting that now that Lamy is all over the place even in mainstream stores like BN, they partnered with Harry Potter for a special release, which is going to put a lot of people off.

[lunabee34]

Yeah. :(

Lamy is my favorite pen brand, but I won't buy any more of their pens. I've got an F, M, and B nibbed pen, so I was done there anyway.

I'm not a real pen collector. I don't want more than I can reasonably use. If I do buy more pens, they will likely be Pilot or Platinum.

[grayestofghosts]

It's annoying because Lamy has its own cartridge shape, so even if you have the pens you still need the carts, or if the converter breaks (which they do) you need to get one from them. I know Monteverde also makes Lamy shaped carts, but again, because Lamy is everywhere it's easier to just grab Lamy carts than order Monteverde. I dunno, it sucks.

I like Pilot and one of my favorite pens is a Pilot, but both Pilots and Platinums have their own cartridge shape as well.

[lunabee34]

I just rinse out the cartridges and refill them from bottled ink with a blunt syringe.

[amphobet]

Thank you for sharing this info. I was not aware.

[lunabee34]

You're welcome!

[grayestofghosts]

Ugh. Good thing I mostly buy from Jetpens. They will not be getting any more of my money.

[lunabee34]

I mostly buy from JetPens, too, but I was really disappointed when I found this out.

[chelseagirl]

Thanks for posting this.

I bought my couple of Lamys . . . last year? the year before? But got frustrated that my Moleskine datebook is not fountain pen friendly. A colleague introduced me to a cheap but really good Pilot, and I will pull out my Lamys -- because I found a Leuchterm datebook with the same sort of layout as my Moleskine. (1 week on one side, lined on the other.) Hurray!

[lunabee34]

You're welcome!

Moleskine paper is so terrible, which is a shame because the aesthetics and form factor are nice.

I love Leuchtturm so much. Midori might also have something in that general layout.

JetPens has a recent article comparing planners you might find fun to look at:

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Planners-for-2025/pt/97

[asenathwaite]

The Goulets have never hidden that they're part of right-wing American Christian culture. Did people really not notice?

[lunabee34]

Apparently not. I think a lot of people don't watch youtube videos. I'd never watched any of their youtube videos either until I watched the apology video. I think a lot of people just bought things from the website without engaging with their social media.

[teaotter]

Oh. Yeah. I had no idea. Thank you for posting this!

[lunabee34]

You're welcome.