Exclusives

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RugerNurse

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Jul 13, 2019
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Is anyone else getting sick of seeing all these exclusives offered by online knife retailers? It’s cool to see some variations on knives with new steel or handles but it’s starting to feel like the retailers are calling the shots instead of the knife makers. Why doesn’t Spyderco release a model based off customer feedback? I’m sure there is a financial component for them to do exclusives but it’s starting to feel excessive.
 
Man, Spyderco does release stuff based on feedback... a lot of the models offered have been asked for, for a long time. M4 Shaman? Yes, I've seen videos ten years old asking for that. Where are you getting this from? This feels like complaining at it. What's the problem? They have regular models in stock, along with all these cool versions of stuff. I just got a Rex 45 Native 5 LW, M4 Shaman before that, M4 Dodo, I mean man, I had to stop myself from buying more, so I guess in that way, yeah, slow down Spyderco! My poor wallet!

You're gonna complain about somebody, complain about GEC! Every knife they have, has that "drop" culture around it, at least you can get a reg. Crucarta PM2 most days of the week.
 
No, not at all. That's what makes this hobby so interesting. It's the hunt for a limited made knife that is only made for one company. That in itself is exciting. Sooner or later these exclusives that are sold on the secondary market are priced reasonably and can be had. That's part of the hunt.
There's nothing that gets your blood pumping more than trying to score a knife that will sell out in minutes, nor is there anything more aggravating/disappointing at the same time not getting one.
 
Srtr said:
Exclusives are awesome until I find out I cant get them anymore and the secondary price is msrp x 300%
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They only knife I am hunting is one of those.
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OP
As for exclusives, its they only way most of these combos will ever see the light of day. Customer feedback, really? Retool for a few dudes on the internet? Just no way to make that profitable. The dealers order 50-100, there’s the money.

Im all about the exclusives and carry one everyday.
 
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I disliked them before but now that I know to look for them it's much easier. I think aside from a few real specific ones they seem to be making more of them recently.
 
I don't really understand the complaint. What would you rather they be doing instead, cranking out a bunch more standard versions? They can only design and release a certain number of new models at a time anyway due to costs and manufacturing capacity. Spyderco listens to the input of their customers more than any other major manufacturer and has upgraded existing models or released new ones based off of feedback from users many times.

Exclusives are fun and allow for versions that the manufacturer would never make on their own. On top of that, unlike sprint runs the dealer can order as many as they want and restock if they choose to.
 
Spyderco contracts exclusives years in advance of a drop. When Covid hit, they had to halt new exclusive contracts and favor the preexisting contracts over regular production. That's why there was such a huge surge of exclusives through 2020 and 2021, and why you couldn't find standard S30V stuff in stock for much of that period.

About a year ago, they said that they had mostly caught up on the exclusive backlog and were going to focus more on regular production, which has happened. Exclusive drop rates have slowed significantly in the past year, and you can occasionally find a S30V PE Shaman or S110V Millie in stock. AFAIK, Spyderco is still not accepting new exclusive contracts.

Dealers don't necessarily get to pick any steel/color combo they want. Spyderco often offers combos in steels and colors that they want to push, and the dealers can take it or leave it. Exclusives are a way of giving dealers a piece of the ecosystem. Spyderco could just as well release everything as sprint if they wanted.

Spyderco makes many decisions based on user feedback. I'd say they are the all-time champions of listening to user feedback, even to a fault. The Ayoob resurrection sprint that was formally announced in the newest catalog update was the direct result of a user campaign on the Spyderco forum (the real forum, not the BF subforum). Spend some time over there, and you will see users make requests which are directly addressed by Sal, then prototyped and put into a production wait list (even Sal doesn't get to simply dictate production schedules).
 
dannyp said:
Spyderco listens to the input of their customers more than any other major manufacturer and has upgraded existing models or released new ones based off of feedback from users many times.
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Very good point (and agreed).
 
RugerNurse said:
Is anyone else getting sick of seeing all these exclusives offered by online knife retailers? It’s cool to see some variations on knives with new steel or handles but it’s starting to feel like the retailers are calling the shots instead of the knife makers. Why doesn’t Spyderco release a model based off customer feedback? I’m sure there is a financial component for them to do exclusives but it’s starting to feel excessive.
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They release a huge number of models based on customer feedback. That's why there's an Ayoob Sprint run in the latest reveal.

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I guess that exclusive can give smaller retailers an edge versus the big companies like bladehq or knife center.
 
Not a bid deal to me. I rarely dip my feet into the exclusive runs tho. I did buy the DLT Endela 20CV ($110) and KnifeJoy Endura 20CV. ($115) . I was very glad to see of my favorite knives get 20CV. Prices were very reasonable too imo.

PS. I've never paid more than $160 or so for a knife. So I dabble at the "lower end" of the knife world.
 
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