I'm sorry to jump in out of nowhere with this. I haven't been on the forums as much lately. But I've still been very involved with GEC and the knife world.
I don't typically have much criticism for GEC. I think they often receive undue criticism. I am obviously a big fan of their knives and, having been fortunate enough to meet and talk with Bill William Joan Mae Sue Chris etc. several times, I think they're nice people who try make the best knives they can and run the business the best they can. Things are tough right now for small businesses, and I understand that covid and the resultant restrictions were a serious blow to them and I'm very glad they've managed through it so far.
That said, I don't like how this run of #15s was handled on the communication front. Historically, they have almost always announced all the versions of a pattern that are coming on a run (excluding certain SFOs). This is also a normal industry practice, even in modern knives, to announce a new model or series ahead of time. They also have typically announced the runs with at least a little advance. This run of #15s was not announced basically until the first version was finished (sepia sawcut). Then another version was announced (glitter gold). Then again more were announced (rose gold and osage). Then yet another version (cocobolo). And I suspect at least one more will be announced. All separately.
I don't know if this is intentional or just from how production has worked on this run. But I think it makes purchasing more difficult in a time when that's the last thing that's needed. If it seems that they're only making one or two versions, you might think you have to choose between those and get one (and therefore do buy one) when if they had announced all versions at once you might have actually preferred a different version.
I think this is detrimental for several reasons. First, at least for me, it is more taxing financially. I know some people just buy all the versions of a pattern that they like, and that's fine, but I don't (or at least never have until this month). Yes, I know you could sell the ones you don't like and not lose money and keep the ones you do. But that brings me into the second problem, and that is that I think this can make more people try to get each version of the pattern than would if they were all announced ahead of time. This makes it more difficult to get each version and possibly helps keep the secondary market as high as it is. Again, I don't know if this was done intentionally on this run or if it has been done in the past and I'm not recalling. People often accuse GEC of "marketing" by creating artificial scarcity. I have argued against that idea many times, in my videos and in Facebook groups and here. Again I don't know if this run was done this way in an actual intentional attempt to create artificial scarcity, in fact I highly doubt so, but it is the first thing that I can recall that I think could even be reasonably argued as such (even if in reality it isn't such).
I think (please correct me if I'm wrong Mike) that
@knifeswapper said Bill said his intention was to make some really big runs with the goal of knives being on dealers' shelves for 60-90 days, and the more I think about it the more I would be okay with that. Sure, it'll mean long stretches between new knives. That probably won't be good for my channel, but it'll sure be good for my wallet and the time I put into the chase.
I am certainly still a huge proponent of GEC and their knives. I recommend them to people constantly (btw, I like the #06 and #97 and they're both still on dealers' shelves 90+ days after release). I carry them pretty much daily. I will still stop at the factory when I can. I still am really looking forward to the Rendezvous. My point is, please don't take this too negatively. I just wanted to point out this aspect of the #15 run that the more I think about the more I am not happy about.
