Knife companies getting ahead of themselves?

[Kyle_4]

While I am not new to knives, I am new to the higher end/collecting part that occurs on here. I am just seeing if this is typical. I have noticed that some manufacturers have not even started shipping knives that were due out in 2013 and they have now released all their new products for 2014. I have a knife that is on pre-order and was supposed to ship back in the fall. Maybe they are getting ahead of themselves??

Thoughts?

 

[RamZar]

It's a regular occurrence. No biggie once you get used to it.

 

[00ChevyScott]

Its annoying. I know it takes time to produce the stuff and work out any final issues, but when you show me cool stuff I'm gonna want it now.

 

[The Mastiff]

I have noticed that some manufacturers have not even started shipping knives that were due out in 2013 and they have now released all their new products for 2014.

I can't say I've seen that yet. Are you talking about publicizing them and showing them around at Shot show? If that is what you refer too than note that they aren't released yet and won't be for a while.

 

[Sentinel641]

Do you mind telling us which knife you had on pre-order that had not shipped yet?

 

[shawn_ray]

Imho it's really annoying. Introduce new stuff when it's ready to ship. What's the point of showing models and having no ETA ("could be a few month, could be 3 years")? Imagine Apple would do the same with their new iPhone...

 

[TheModernNeanderthal]

Same thing as a concept car at an auto show. They show you something fancy to get you hooked in.

And it really depends on the model. Regular production models IMO shouldn't take more than 6 months to hit shelves. Limited edition pieces are a different story, that is something they have to move other jobs out of the way to produce, jobs that make the company a profit that allows them to release such limited editions.

 

[22-rimfire]

Stuff commonly gets announced early in the year and often shown to the public at the Shot Show. Many of these knives will not be available until around June or about the time of the BLADE Show.

Announcing early is a common thing and I would probably do it myself as it potentially gives the manufacturer an idea of interest.

 

[Bob6794]

This is pretty common in everything. Knives, airsoft, cars, motorcycles, computers hardware (though their a bit consistent as the game changes fast so ETA's are close enough) and the list goes on.

Take Mazda's Skyactiv they aren't even rolled out on all models yet, no where close in fact and I already heard a little bit about whats going to be in their next major design. But a better example is actually computer hardware as they give your a roadmap on what they are planning to do several years in advance, it's just more technical. By the time the part hit's shelves we are already wondering how the next gen part will fair against it, in fact when I help people build computers or I build one myself that is a big factor in if I wait or build now.

 

[Kyle_4]

I can't say I've seen that yet. Are you talking about publicizing them and showing them around at Shot show? If that is what you refer too than note that they aren't released yet and won't be for a while.

Do you mind telling us which knife you had on pre-order that had not shipped yet?

ZT 0770CF. As far I can tell it was shown at shot show 2013...

 

[Gavin S.]

ZT 0770CF. As far I can tell it was shown at shot show 2013...

That's kinda depressing. I guess I'll just be pleasantly surprised when my 0562CF ships in a year and a half.

 

[RevDevil]

ZT 0770CF. As far I can tell it was shown at shot show 2013...

There was an announced change to the design, from Aluminum to CF, so that would also partially explain what happened there. I don't think it's fair to say that knife companies get ahead of themselves, but rather the knife retailers. They are the ones that oversell their allotment of knives through preorder, list items not yet in production as out of stock, or continue listing knives long gone mixed in with the regular and available items. I find it highly annoying when a store lists several items as potentially available, when they are long done and discontinued. The other issue is the customers entitlement attitude, "don't show me nuthin till I can buy it." Lame and childish at best.

Back to the knife companies themselves, there is a production schedule that is worked out and must be adhered to. A couple specific runs are made at a time for a specific amount of time. Once that time is up, they move onto another model. It's industry wide and allows for better flow of product from manufacturer to retailer. Also, many people assume that knife companies have hundred and hundreds of employees working in multiple shifts. Not the case across the board.

 

[jac_solar]

Same thing as a concept car at an auto show. They show you something fancy to get you hooked in.

And it really depends on the model. Regular production models IMO shouldn't take more than 6 months to hit shelves. Limited edition pieces are a different story, that is something they have to move other jobs out of the way to produce, jobs that make the company a profit that allows them to release such limited editions.

Good point. As a production company becomes larger and more successful, they get the capability to produce limited edition runs of knives with extremely high end materials that they can sell at a cost that is nowhere near as much as it would have cost in any other scenario - but, obviously, this heavily depends on whether or not the company values their image with, mostly, knife-enthusiasts (But this image tends to become their general image I think.), as they could just continue making the "profit models" and, probably, more or less earn the same. Producing limited editions is most likely much more about learning new production methods (Materials, design, etc.) and such, which could lead to increasing the production efficiency and/or cost of their "profit models", offer unique materials and combinations that let them stay ahead of their competitor, and so forth.

Which companies do this, though? Selling limited edition knives that would have cost twice as much in any other scenario.

 

[Bill_Mead]

A good example is the Stainless Izula, which was slated for summer of 2012. Esee announced new models at Shot Show 2014 and has yet to deliver on past announced new products.

 

[Bob W]

Same thing as a concept car at an auto show. They show you something fancy to get you hooked in.

And with cars, inevitably the generic piece of crap that finally ends up at the dealers' lots is nothing like the car show example.
At least knife makers aren't often guilty of that.

 

[bld522]

It's a regular occurrence. No biggie once you get used to it.

This^^^. But it does take awhile to get used to it.

 

[bdmicarta]

It is annoying to me too. I think they should arrange their production to have products available in a timeframe that is closer to when they are announced. I can't think of any other hobby or interest I have that you have to wait so long before the products are available for purchase.

 

[Scurvy092]

ZT 0770CF. As far I can tell it was shown at shot show 2013...

Nope. The regular 0770 debuted at Shot Show last year. The 0770CF wasn't announced until Blade.

It's funny that this is the knife you have an issue with since it should be THE POSTER CHILD for why companies shouldn't just release knives right after they were announced.

ZT announced the 0770 in aluminum at Shot Show as a prototype. After a few months of looking at it, seeing people's reactions etc, they decided they wanted to dress it up a little bit and do a carbon fiber version. Since they were already gearing up for the 0770 by then, they decided to do a run of the aluminums and then switch over to the cf permanently afterwards.

No one expected the 0770cf to come out in the fall.

 

[whitty]

On the retailer side I feel your frustration. We try not to even list a knife until it is in hand. We have pre ordered lots of limited runs, but were too far back on the list to get them, lucky for us we don't promise something we don't have. As for the makers, I also see their side. They have grandiose plans but they do not always work out. Machining, equipment, people and time all get in the way. Sometimes a knife that looked good as a prototype becomes a nightmare to mass produce. The whole cycle can become frustrating but you just have to sit back relax and hope what you want comes out soon!