I mostly go by design, build quality, materials, and general consensus on QC-- I will buy anything from anyone, pretty much. But to answer the question, my collection as of now favors Cold Steel and Kershaw-- I've started getting into Spyderco recently as well. I also really like Fox Knives (FKMD) for their unique designs and good build quality. Can't go wrong with Victorinox either; I've never had a bad knife from them, ever.