Anybody want to explain the Starlingear Striders to me?

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45stops-em-quick

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Aug 8, 2008
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I'm trying to figure out the whole Starlingear thing. I've seen the Starlingear skull beads dangling off lots of production Striders, and now whole SLG themed customs. What is Starlingear, and what makes their stuff so coveted, pricey, and in demand?
 
Starlingear is a metal design and casting house based out of Japan that is wildly popular with fashionable hipsters and those that wish to be(hip and fashionable). Starlingear has a history with Strider Knives, and is often seen at knife shows, sharing the space. The guy that works the Starlingear side is Jade, a very cool and hip fellow himself. The silver beads that everyone desires are $100.00+ and not easy to find.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
As Les would say they are feeling the fanboy "Love Fest".

They make unique silver jewlery mostly for the japan market. they have caught on with the tacticool knife folks as well as some celebs here in the states. what goes better with tacticool knives than skull rings? from what i know the owners are good guys and they do make some very nice stuff and awesome leather too.
 
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I'm almost embarrassed :o to admit that I'm not sighted in on this subject.
Can someone post some photos on what's being discussed?
 
I had never heard of them before Blade, when a friend (who could not make the show) asked me to proxy buy a couple things for him...

I met Jade, who did seem like a nice guy, and I saw a few of their products. Here's a pic my friend posted of the two beads (grenade and goat beads, very hard to come by I'm told.) They were $125+ per bead...

IMG_3936.jpg



They seemed pricey to me, but then again, someone laughed at me recently for what I spent for my newly acquired Dean El Diablo. And I thought I got a bargain :)
 
Being a tacticool knife company Strider saw this popularity and Strider/Starlingear seized the opportunity to do limited edition collabs at very exorbitant prices. Cool stuff but excessively expensive. They are making "Kamikaze" tribute knives which seems very out of line to me.
 
xaman said:
They seemed pricey to me, but then again, someone laughed at me recently for what I spent for my newly acquired Dean El Diablo. And I thought I got a bargain :)
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This is a good point. I don't think we should be too judgemental about the price/value ratio someone else might see in their collectibles.

To each his own.
 
I thought the $125 beads were a bit pricey - than I saw the $820 key chain. Different strokes....

Roger
 
Like Xaman, I picked up a Gasser bead at Blade for the same fellow.

I went ahead and got one for myself and later thought why did I pay $110 for a bead I won't use on a knife??? Don't have a strider and don't think it would go well with a sebbie.

Some one wanted a pic of a BM210TK I had just got, so I put the bead in pic and also posted it in the Sterlingear room at another forum.
One person posted he wanted a Gasser bead really bad, but when the one on the Bay got to $300 he quit bidding. I was supprised to say the least!

I didn't know much about them, and untill this thread I thought Jade made the stuff,lol.

I'm now glad I bought it, and can't really explain what it is I like about it??? No fan boy stuff, I just like it. Not going to start collecting the stuff though.

Not that anyone wants to see the bead, but just in case here's the pic I posted over there.
IMG_3690.jpg
 
Wow! There really is a niche market for everything! If he can get those sorts of prices for beads in this economy then more power to him! :thumbup: Those guys must have one heck of a marketing angle, I'm impressed.
 
Triton said:
Wow! There really is a niche market for everything! If he can get those sorts of prices for beads in this economy then more power to him! :thumbup: Those guys must have one heck of a marketing angle, I'm impressed.
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It isn't just marketing, it is the product, imo. They hit on designs that people find compelling.

Price wise, there is a big, big spread for jewelry out there in the market. I have seen big chunky silver rings go from $250.00 to $2,500.00 and more.

Last year, I found a skull ring that I wanted very much made by a company in New Zealand called DeadRinger, named Yorick...it is a half skull. The ring which is a bit more than an ounce of sterling silver cost me at the time $400.00...when I asked about having it cast in 14k gold, the quote was $3,200....so I got the silver ring. Figure that the cost in silver is about $15.00 and the rest is labor.....a LOT of skilled labor with a relatively high failure rate until you become highly proficient...somebody has to pay for that expertise, and labor rates in New Zealand, Japan and even the U.S. for skilled metal casters is at an all time high.

Very similar to when a maker takes wood and metal costing perhaps $40.00 and uses incredible technical and artistic skills to make a knife for $4,000.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Kohai999 said:
...somebody has to pay for that expertise, and labor rates in New Zealand, Japan and even the U.S. for skilled metal casters is at an all time high.
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Yeah. Small detailed castings like that are really tricky and skilled labor intensive or require a very large investment in automated machinery that most small jewelry shops can not afford.

Not my cuppa but I do admire the skill required to do detail work like that.
 
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