historical questioning

[Âchillepattada]

Hello my friends ,

Digging into the pocket knives history I realized that a period going from, let's say, 1995 to 2000 had been a real disaster for the numerous American knives companies which closed or moved their production to Asia . Do you have an idea of the reasons of this sad ending of century ?

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[afishhunter]

Economy (hard recession), unemployment, mismanagement, unions demanding 25% or more in pay increases during a hard recession and going on strike, NAFTA, and high corporate taxes, among other things.
We lost a lot of industry in that time frame, not just cutlery companies.
The first Government bailout of the auto industry was in that time frame, too.

 

[Will Power]

The answers are largely politico-economic: take off of globalization and many industries not just knives being moved for ever larger profits elsewhere. Plenty of that visible in Europe too in household electronics and many other things ...

But there was also a change in tastes in the knife market towards Moderns or even Tactical styles which obviously more Traditional style manufacturers were not well placed to respond to. Also, the QUALITY of a lot of these famous marques was shall we say , debatable & inconsistent. I've some Schrade OT and Camillus Yello Jakets from the end era and the quality is frankly low.

The time period you mention also corresponds to a still fairly low level of Internet commerce and it is this, the expansion of the Internet as a way of buying knives & other niche items that has boosted interest in Traditional knives. The ease of availability has led to a Renaissance in Traditional knives and an awarenesses of many International styles of knife. Moreover, this awareness of other countries' traditions and style has I believe, boosted artisan activity and helped to spur interest in Modern/Contemporary traditional from say Lionsteel/Viper using the latest techniques to give a superb quality alternative that is inspired by older styles and roots.

There are many answers to this question, this has been just my personal review.

 

[lambertiana]

It was simple economics. The American buying public became fixated on cost and ignoring low quality if the cost was low. And then competition from overseas manufacturers who had lower overhead (labor, taxes, environmental regulations, etc) took its toll. And then the American brands decided that if you can't beat them, join them, and moved their production overseas.

 

[waynorth]

It was simple economics. The American buying public became fixated on cost and ignoring low quality if the cost was low. And then competition from overseas manufacturers who had lower overhead (labor, taxes, environmental regulations, etc) took its toll. And then the American brands decided that if you can't beat them, join them, and moved their production overseas.

Sad but true!! Modern "black" knives and traditional knives alike, have suffered from off-shore competition!! When an 'image/copy" of a $150 knife can be imported for $10 to $20, many people cannot discern the quality difference, or just don't care!!
And knives are not the only goods that have fallen prey!!

 

[knarfeng]

Economics is outside the discussion parameters of the Traditional Knife Forum.
Here, we just discuss knives.

Thread closed.