The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Perspective and understanding go a long way in discussions like this.
I’d like to address the short runs with new designs, and the variations/boutique production with existing product, along with some history and generality.
The ZT brand is a fairly young brand that currently has a limited amount of patterns that are available. It becomes challenging when you are trying to grow and produce a new brand like ZT while maintaining and evolving a mature brand like Kershaw. Throw in Shun, Pure Komachi, and the Houswares side, and mix it with our URI (Old Spice, Noxema, Kasho, etc…beauty care portion of our business, and it gets complex very quickly.
With this complexity comes expectations from the consumer. Zero Tolerance is our smallest brand, and produces the least amount of profit within the organization. At the same time, it, Shun, and Kasho (http://www.kasho-usa.com/), are the most difficult and time consuming to produce. This is important for your understanding.
When it comes to ZT design direction, the intention was never for it to be a specialty brand that played in one genre. Originally we felt that the overbuilt folder genre would be a good category to use in launching the brand. In many cases, to be successful with a new brand you have to invest heavily on the launch, and hope popularity will eventually take over. The overbuilt folders did what we hoped they would do, and ZT became a brand in our little marketplace. We were happy, as that in itself can be a lot of time, effort, and money, with no guarantee.
With the foundation in place, we were now able to better concentrate on taking the ZT brand and filling it out to our vision. Our vision was not to be CRK’s and/or Strideresque like with our identity. No, our vision was much wider and diverse in what we could deliver, and how we wanted to be identified as a brand. Our vision was to have a wide variety of flavors, makers, genres, etc. so that we could share and have interest from users and enthusiasts from all walks to enjoy. This is how we felt we could expand and leap past those that specialize, and capture the true variety that the spectrum of the knife world has to offer.
Zero Tolerance the brand will never produce itself into a corner and be known for just one style. It will blossom into and be known for many strengths with design. We only need but more time so to carry out our vision. [Emphasis added.]
As of today, there are both collector pieces and there are users. in both cases there can be limited production. Some folks like to use there knives in either case. They are both designed to do so. With the brand popularity secondary prices are starting to move. Discontinued product, as well as LE are seeing strong movements. This is a good thing for the brand. Again, there will be diversity within the brand. Each piece we produce wont always be for you, but they will be for someone. Try not to confuse our direction with your preferences. We understand that there are those originals out there that want more overbuilt, and while we've fed you in the past, you're looking for more. To that I say give it time. We have not, and will never abandon that genre.
The brand is still establishing itself, and the best is yet to come.
Thanks for the understanding.
