GSM Outdoors acquires SOG Knives

GSM doesn't look like it's the bottom of the barrel as far as the brands they manage, not the top, but not the bottom either. It really depends on who they keep on and how they run it. The fact that SOG has survived as many buy-outs as it has and still has managed some interesting and new stuff is really kinda incredible to me. I may not be all that interested in what they have going at all times, but other legacy brands have been strip-mined far worse. As much as I don't like the fact that many marketplaces are just the territory of a few managed brand behemoths, it is sort of the nature of most of the commodity market. To the average consumer that doesn't matter. It makes no sense to chase the enthusiast market for them at this stage, their competitor isn't Spyderco anymore, it's Gerber or Ka-bar (both brands that tick along just fine under brand management). So a solid Meh from me, and maybe someday if they come out with something that is what I'm looking for, I'll probably buy it. But then I like to think I'm brand agnostic.
 
Man I sure hope Cold Steel finds their groove.

I have bought five Tuff Lites, two Finn Wolf folders, and an American Lawman that I am sure are new stock under new management. I am happy with them, and they seem just as well built.

The warranty (or lack thereof) is concerning, as well as the substandard steel choice for a few flagships.

The knife world needs Cold Steel. A wide range of products, wide range of pricing, and well made across the board.
 
DocJD said:
Just judging from what happened to Cold Steel flagships , you SOG fans might expect your precious favorites to reappear with 4034SS !

And not for too cheap , either . :mad:
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Um, that might be an upgrade for quite a few models.....

SOG cheaped out long ago.
 
kreole said:
Have you tried any current models (with the XR (axis-y) lock and S35vn), or is that based on the old stuff?
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I have not owned any of the new stuff but have looked and handled some of the recent XR stuff. They have a smaller XR lock folder that I handled that was really good. Import of course but I was impressed. Price was okay on that one, just too small for me. The rest of their new stuff that looks like it would be quality is overpriced, IMO. I have had the USA made S35vn SOG Pillar (review here: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/sog-pillar-usa-s35vn.1652346/ ). It was really good but priced out of the market right now.

The new XR lock stuff like the Flash and the more expensive USA made folders seem okay, if not a little mall ninja-ish, but are way over priced. Import D2? Should not cost that much.

At one time I was a pretty heavy collector of the late 90's and through the 00's SOGS, mostly Seki made fixed blades. I have had one variant of most of them at one time or another.

The current direction SOG is in started in the early 2010's. This is the natural evolution of the path they made.
 
I'm not a Cold Steel person so haven't been paying attention so can someone explain to me what all GSM has done in the last year to ruin them?

I remember everyone saying last year when they purchased them how Cold Steel was going to become cheap Chinese garbage so has that happened?
 
DustinK said:
I'm not a Cold Steel person so haven't been paying attention so can someone explain to me what all GSM has done in the last year to ruin them?

I remember everyone saying last year when they purchased them how Cold Steel was going to become cheap Chinese garbage so has that happened?
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Wouldn't say they've been ruined yet, but one big issue seems to be horrible customer service/warranty. They also don't seem to be sending lefty clips anymore.

So far, since the acquisition, I've only bought a Mini Recon 1 and a AD15 Lite. Both have been great.
 
DustinK said:
I'm not a Cold Steel person so haven't been paying attention so can someone explain to me what all GSM has done in the last year to ruin them?

I remember everyone saying last year when they purchased them how Cold Steel was going to become cheap Chinese garbage so has that happened?
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Pretty sure you don't really care enough to understand this from a serous CS fan perspective and it's not a happy progression , anyway ! :(

But for me it kinda starts here : https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/a2-steel-update.1742924/
 
jlauffer said:
To be fair though, the A2 debacle started well before GSM.
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I don't mean just A2 and other end stage CS problems . This is where we learn about 4034 .

I suspect sale negotiations were in progress even then and this was all part of it .

The fan response was overwhelmingly negative and has continued to be .

GSM has proceeded anyway , not caring anything for the fan base here .

Not caring to even communicate , except with one way ads .
 
DocJD said:
Pretty sure you don't really care enough to understand this from a serous CS fan perspective and it's not a happy progression , anyway ! :(

But for me it kinda starts here : https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/a2-steel-update.1742924/
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You are right in that I do not care but I am curious if all the doom and gloom talk actually came to fruition.

And I'm not about to read a 34 page thread but that link starts with a statement from Lynn before GSM took over so it's irrelevant to my question.
 
DocJD said:
I don't mean just A2 and other end stage CS problems . This is where we learn about 4034 .

I suspect sale negotiations were in progress even then and this was all part of it .

The fan response was overwhelmingly negative and has continued to be .

GSM has proceeded anyway , not caring anything for the fan base here .

Not caring to even communicate , except with one way ads .
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Just as sale negotiations may have been underway, so too supply and production contracts may have already been in place.
 
jlauffer said:
Just as sale negotiations may have been underway, so too supply and production contracts may have already been in place.
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I think that is a fair take on where GSM is currently at. I think some more time needs to pass before we see what's going to happen.

I see a few logo changes, some wonky pricing on flagships in inferior steel, and customer service issues. I would expect we will see more changes for better or worse as existing contracts come to an end.

I am hoping for the better. I want GSM to see BladeForum members supporting Cold Steel and wanting them to innovate and thrive. I really don't want the brand to fade out.

I also want to buy a Trailmaster in a quality carbon steel, with a leather sheath, for around $150.00. 😁
 
Joshua J. said:
Stick Man has been doing a great job chopping pigs in half so as far as I can tell Cold Steel is in good hands.

The SOG brand has a lot of history but arguably they don't make anything of value to enthusiasts today.
I give it a 50/50 chance that either SOG was bought just to be the lower value knife brand to sell below Cold Steel, or SOG was bought because the brand has de-valued as much as it ever will and now they give it a premium re-launch to market with Cold Steel.

The worst that could happen is SOG stays as it is now, and it's equally likely that the products will improve.
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I would say I agree with Joshua comments above.

The recent CS videos take me back a few decades & are interesting to watch.
Female that knows how to wield a tool, Lynn still kickin', right & left handed demonstrations ...

 
Wanted to notify the people who may only read the Cold Steel thread of another high profile acquisition by GSM. Thread got merged by the powers that be. My intention was to not start another thread on the same subject. That is why I only put a link to this discussion.
 
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For anyone that is into firearms, and that may have followed the Remington Arms saga during the past so many years, this GSM buying of so many companies situation, is very similar.
Remington Arms was bought by an investment group, and was only a part of that investment group's plans for continuing to move forward and buying other firearms firms.
They ended up with a good accumulation of these firms, Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin, and many other firearms industry names were all owned by this investment group.
It didn't end well... Bankruptcy.
Again, this whole GSM thing seems to be following the same game plan.
 
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