The Sailor Pen Professional Gear Slim Mini, also nicknamed Sapporo Mini, was discontinued from the North American 10 years ago. Limited quantities were later produced exclusively for the Japanese market, and in 2019, Sailor Japan reintroduced them back with 6 new modern colors. The Professional Gear Slim Mini is a shorter version of the Professional Gear Slim. When capped, the Slim Mini is 106 mm in length - or 18 mm shorter than the Slim. However, when posted, it is only 11 mm shorter. This pen is perfect for those compact size pen to fit a small purse or shallow pocket, and want the quality and feel of a slim-sized Professional Gear for pure writing performance. Due to its shorter size, this pen is not suitable for use with a standard converter and therefore does not come with one. Use only standard Sailor cartridge.
- Sailor Professional Gear Slim Mini
- Nib: Medium Fine
- 14K Gold Nib
- Fill Mechanism: Cartridge (Sailor proprietary) Note: Standard converter does not fit due to it's size
- Sailor Mini Converter
- More Sailor
- Comes with two cartridges in black
- Note: this series has been discontinued. You can find the updated redesigned Sailor Mini here
Sailor was founded in 1911. The founder Kyugoro Sakata was given a fountain pen by a friend returning from the UK after studying at the Royal Navy. He was inspired and determined to start making fountain pens in Japan. Sailor became the first fountain pen company in Japan, and earned many more firsts in Japan -- first ballpoint pen in 1948, first ink cartridge in 1954 and first brush pen in 1972, etc.
In the 1970's, Sailor made a popular beginner fountain pen, "Candy," that sold more than 15 million within a few years. However, the number of the fountain pen users were declining as ballpoint pens became more mainstream.
In 1981, Sailor decided to go in the opposite direction from their "Candy" pen and began focusing on producing a higher standard series, which is the 1911 series we see today. Their focus on making a higher standard provides a great foundation for their later series of pens. Today, Sailor makes one of the most diverse lines of nibs, some of which are designed for specific writing purposes such as writing musical notes to one that is best for character writing.