Have you used a Foray pen? They are a pretty interesting brand that you may have ran into recently but not recognized. That same thing happened to me, so I started looking around. Here’s what I found.
Foray sells their pens as “Advanced Ink” products and, at least in the United States, distributes them through major office supplies channels. Foray is an in-house brand of Office Depot, just like Tul is. Where Tul generally is associated with higher-end, more stylish products, Foray generally is for the budget-conscious audience. Foray pens and the brands other stationery goods are aimed at the small office, back-to-school, and similar buyers.
The Foray brand isn’t just used to sell pens, it also sells dry erase boards, cork boards, dry eraser markers, and more.
Foray Pens Basics Facts
- Made In: India
- Sold At: Amazon.com, Walmart, Office Depot, Staples, Sears, and more
- Parent organization: Office Depot
- Company Contact: 866-795-8481
Foray Models
Foray models follow established trends in the industry and their products closely follow the path that’s been established by players in the same niche, like Bic, Paper Mate, and Pentel. The offerings match the lure of technology (for instance “tungten carbide tip for smooth writing”) with reasonable prices and a selection of comfortable looking grips.
And then most products have clear counterparts that are already big sellers. This isn’t to say copies, but pens that have the same properties as established best sellers.
- Advanced Ink Retractable Ballpoint Pens (Needlepoint)
- Sold in: 0.7 mm Medium; 1.2 mm Bold
- Advanced Ink Retractable Ballpoint Pens (Standard ti[)
- Sold in: 0.7 mm Medium; 1.2 mm Bold
- Stylemark Porous Tip
- Felt tip, thin marker
- Tungsten Carbide Retractable Ballpoint Pens
- Premium look with metal parts. Needle-tip
- Sold in: 0.7 mm medium
- Super Comfort Retractable Ballpoint
- 1.0 mm Medium
- Super Comfort Grip Ballpoint (Capped)
- 1.0 mm Medium
- Soft-Grip Retractable Ballpoint
- 1.0 mm Medium
- Soft-Grip Retractable Gel Pens
- Sold in: 0.5 mm Extra Fine
- Liquid Ink Rollerball
- Embark Retractable Ballpoint
- Gel Stick Pens With Soft Grip
On the whole the names are incredibly vague and while they do describe the product being sold, they do not make the pens in any way memorable or able to be differentiated from one another.
Some of the best pens in the line-up are the Advanced Ink Retractable Ballpoint (normal tip) and the Foray Stylemark porous point marker.
Foray and Zebra Pens
Some of the models appear to be rebranded products, which is to say pens made by another manufacturer that Foray licensed to put their logo on. For example look at the Zebra Z-Grip and the Foray Soft-Grip Retractable Gel. They appear to be the same pen…
Another pen that Foray seems to have worked with Zebra to produce is the Advanced Ink ballpoint, which seems a very close match to the Z-Grip Flight Ballpoint Retractable.
And here is the Soft-Grip Retractable ballpoint, which is a close match to the Paper Mate Profile.
If you look through the link you’ll see some other models that are closely linked to Zebra and Paper Mate pens. We point this out only because it’s interesting, not in order to impugn either business or Foray’s capabilities.