My views on China's outdoor knife production
Between 1970-1999, Japan dominated the OEM market for knives. This was mainly because the cost of production in West Gernany had risen to the point that it was no longer competitive. And like Solingen, Seki had a long history of knife making. The knife makers of Seki benefited greatly, some growing from small shops into big factories. During this period China (PRC, Red China. Communist China) worked towards correcting the total economic mess that their communist/socialist programs had made since 1949 when they came to power. In 1978 the Premier of China visited Japan and met with the Chairman and founder of Panasonic, and convinced him to open an electronics factory in China. This was a landmark event that set the path for China's future as a massive manufacturing power. In the 1980s the Chinese government created 3 state owned companies to produce cutlery, and they chose the city of Yangjiang in Guangzhou Province. The factories grew in size and number and as early as 1994, Chna surpassed Japan in cutlery export volume to the United States. By 2015 there were at least 1500 factories in Yangjiang, today probably more, dwarfing the production capacity of any other country in the world.
China's rise in the knife industry is the result of not just extremely low labor costs but careful well thought out planning. They emulated Seki Japan's pattern by dominating the OEM contracting market through low cost mass production. But the Seki makers had agreed with the American importers not to enter the US market themselves so as not to compete on their own "turf". Hence a company such as G.Sakai which has made knives for Gerber,Pacific Cutlery(Benchmade),Al Mar, Spyderco,Cold Steel, SOG and countless lesser known importers never sold their brand directly in the U.S.
The Chinese factories saw this as a failure on the part of the Seki makers and once having established market dominance as an OEM maker jumped to market their own brand names in the US and elsewhere. these are the WE, CIVVI, Reates, Kizer etc that are available today. The US importers who helped the Yangjiang factories get a start in the industry just a couple of decades ago are now competing with them.
But quality control issues haunted China production and by 2005 many US importers began to shift away from China production in favor of Taiwan. And while Taiwan factories had been doing very limited OEM contracts since the late 1980s, it was really in the mid 2000s that they came into full force. And their quality has improved greatly in the last 15 years or so. Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945 and having very good political/trade relations with Japan and the US has easy access to both countries' steels. While Taiwan itself has a steel industry they don't make the kind used in cutlery. This contrasts with China which has eagerly developed it's own steel industry to cover cutlery needs and is another target of market domination. However there have been considerable quality and representation issues that have arisen over the years and few knife makers outside of China itself appear willing to use them. The Russian maker Kyzlyar seems to be an exception.
For a US knife maker while "all US made" may be the ideal, the reality of controlling costs is part of business. So OEM production outside of the U.S. may be a neccessity to be economically viable. I remember A.G.Russell giving a heartfelt explanation (practically an apology) to his customers as to how he had no economic choice but to contract in China for some models like 20 years ago. But for those who actually follow international news and global events, China of 2005 (Peaceful Rise) and 2021 is a different animal. And they would be geopolitical, strategic and moral differences. US makers could OEM contract with factories in nations that do not poses these issues. Or at least are US allies, not adversaries.
There are some who say "Japan also used to make crap and they improved, and China is the same". This is an overly simplistic view. There is no issue with quality of MIC knives anymore, they have the experience and resources to produce anything from low end to high end. But can one name any major US knife company whose top level models are MIC? Most US knife companies allocate MIC production to their lowest end models.
In constrast , in the 1980s-90s the top models of Al Mar, SOG, etc were made in Seki Japan. I believe this is just another reason why Chinese brands have entered the US market on their own. I am not sure of why this may be the case, it may be anything from issues of quality or consumer image, to fear of copying/counterfeiting.
And this brings us to another notable difference; China is the world's biggest counterfeiter of all manufactured products, not just knives. And all countries, the US, EU countries and Japan are victimized. And the Chinese government, an unelected one party dictatorship won't do anything about it. Knives that were made in Japan in the 1980s that were copies of other existing models, were made to the order of the contracting US importers. For example Guttman;s Gerber copies or Taylor-Seto's CS Tanto copies. And none were true counterfeits (label copied) to my knowledge.
Returning to the OP's post, it is outdated. It asks about US makers going to China production. That already happened two decades ago. And today in 2021, the trend is changing. In my opion, companies like the new owners of Al Mar and GSM etc are taking a gamble by continuing what has worked in the past. Between the geopolitcal standoff in the Indo-Pacific, rising costs in China and tightening of autocratic rule and Covid19, I am seeing more of a trend in general among business' and consumers to move away from China production. This of course does not necessarily mean that all China OEM manufacture will end, just that other countries will be considered and contracted as a source, especially with essential products like semiconductors and anything even remotely connected to national secirity/
Some put inordinate weight onto a "cultural difference" between the US (west) and China. There isn't as much a difference as one may think. The real difference comes from the form of government China has, one which did not even allow private ownership of land/property until 2004. As recent;y as 5 years ago it was estimated that 80% of business' in China were SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) either directly or indirectly. It's a pretty good bet that the best, worst, copies, and counterfeits are all comming out of the Yangjiang factories, where nothing can happen without either government approval or low level corruption. The latter of which is quite rampant.
The probabilty of a change in governent in China which has been ruled by the CCP since 1949, and where the mere existence of any other poltical party is illegal, is very low. It would take an internal revolution within the CCP itself, something that the current leader-for0life isn't going to let happen.
I realize this lengthy diatribe will only make any sense to some of the older folks here who have seen all this happen. Or at least follow current events.
And that some of the younger guys are simply seeing today's high end Chinese knife offerings and none of this will make any sense or difference.
Just my opinion.
R Who knows which countries will be the world leaders in a decade? Buy knives because you want them, because unless you’re contributing billions of dollars to a company, you’re not going to make a difference in the long run.
