
















Phil - I have wondered about the Chinese factory situation. Like you say some of the knives by different companies look a lot alike. I figure it is like Bulldog and Fight'n Rooster both made in the same place by the same people. Or maybe like in America where, if I understand correctly, various companies like Camillus and Schrade used to sub out orders to each other when things were busy.philco wrote:I bought an e-toe made up very similar to your knife here a few years back. It looks very nice, quite similar to yours as far as handle material, fit and finish, etc. Like you I have never put it to work and doubt seriously I ever will, so I can't attest to it's durability. I found it to be very similar to some Colt brand knives I have, and suspect they may well come from the same factory.
I think there are a few hatchets, one made in Canada, and I think they might have some made in El Salvador, but that's probably all that's not made in China.Kloe's human wrote:So what happened to Marbles being made in the US? Are all the new ones being made in China now?
As a consumer, the risk you run here is the Brand decides to switch vendors (for what ever reason) and the new vendor doesn't make the product as well as the old vendor. It's all a crap shoot.TwoFlowersLuggage wrote:Mel - I'm pretty sure the Chinese knife factories are just like all the rest of the Chinese manufacturing plants in other industries - they are typically not owned by the brand - they are contract factories that will make for anyone with a set of specs. They might have some in-house designers and "stock" products that they can put anyone's logo on, or the customer might start with a stock design and ask for changes and tweaks, or the in-house designers might create entirely new products for a customer, or the customer might come to the factory with a complete set of specs and the factory just builds to those specs. All are possible and common in the industries I know about.
It is also not unusual for a successful contract manufacturer to eventually decide they have the chops to sell products under their own brand name. That's risky because now they are competing against their own customers, and there is a big difference in the cost of support between being a contract manufacturer and actually doing wholesale or retail sales.
It is really hard to tell what brands are just importers, which are designers & importers, and which actually own designs and the factories.
At the end of the day, I'm not sure it matters anymore. I think we just have to evaluate the products for what they are - regardless of how they were produced or who produced them.