ZT 0301 Cancelled?

Gideons said:
Yes, but the issue with this change is the new knives suck. If you produce "high quality military" knives you cannot expect high turn over as the knives are supposed to be built to last people. ZT 0301 was the highest selling ZT on amazon etc. so clearly people were stilling buying it, and also the ZT 0560 was a great knife but idk how well it sold.
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Exactly. They are built to last and there is a finite number of people who need them. There is no built-in obsolescence so everyone needs to buy a new one every 3-5years.

So once you sell the knife to as many people who want them, your sales slow to a crawl as the only people buying are people new to the brand/market etc.

So do you keeping making the same piece knowing that you're only going to sell a few hundred a year because you've saturated the market completely, or do you dedicate all those resources to a new model that is going to sell thousands or tens of thousands per year.

They don't have unlimited production capacity and it takes a lot of time and money to stop producing one new high selling model, retool and start producing one old slow selling model, then stop and retool again to keep going with the new model.
 
There is also the fact that Ken Onion doesn't work with them anymore, and they've added new designers to their crew of collaborators, so there will be motivation to make room in the lineup for the knives newly designed for them by the current/new crew (Sinkevich, Anso, Rexford, Les George, etc).
 
Scurvy092 said:
Exactly. They are built to last and there is a finite number of people who need them. There is no built-in obsolescence so everyone needs to buy a new one every 3-5years.

So once you sell the knife to as many people who want them, your sales slow to a crawl as the only people buying are people new to the brand/market etc.

So do you keeping making the same piece knowing that you're only going to sell a few hundred a year because you've saturated the market completely, or do you dedicate all those resources to a new model that is going to sell thousands or tens of thousands per year.

They don't have unlimited production capacity and it takes a lot of time and money to stop producing one new high selling model, retool and start producing one old slow selling model, then stop and retool again to keep going with the new model.
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Exactly. And there will always be the folks that didn't want one, until they couldn't get one.
 
Not surprised ZT discontinued the 030x product line. They're big, bulky and no doubt eat up a lot of resources to make, hence the price. Buuuut... I kinda miss the ones I owned. I liked the design and heft. I might go for a 0300BW just to have for when I start roughing the Adirondacks again, someday.
 
Glad to have picked up a 0301 when I did. It was actually my second ZT. Fantastic knife. Even though it's bigger and bulkier than my typical EDC preferences, it is such a great knife that I'll still make a place for it in my EDC rotation now and again.

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RamZar said:
The last batch of discontinued ZTs (not carried from the 2015 to the 2016 catalog) were: 0560BW, 0301, 0350SWCF and 0010TI.

Check the ZT 2016 CATALOG for the latest catalog / regular production models.
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I purchased my first ZT (ZT 0560BW) last year and loved the black wash effect. I've spent the past couple of months trying to get a ZT 0300BW to no avail. When I read here that the 301 was discontinued I dashed off today to the 'local' knife store and bought their last 301. I was bound and determine that I was not going to add another ZT to my grail list.

The 301 I got wasn't particularly sharp when I got it home but a bit of time with the 1000 grit hone and a bit more time stropping and it's now shaving sharp. It's actually a bit shorter overall than the 560, which was a surprise to me. The positive action speed safe opening was no shock at all, as I've got a few Kershaws with speed safe in the armoury now. The only thing that disappointed me is the knife does ride a bit high in the pocket so it's a tad less discrete than I'd prefer. There are a few after market clips available to remedy that though. In addition to the work up on the blade I also changed the clip to a tip up carry.

I can see and feel that the 301 is going to be quite a fast seller in the resale market now that ZT has retired this model. That being said once I get past the novelty of handling this knife I'll get back to the task of trying to get hold of a 300 black wash to complement the 560BW. You just have to handle a 301 for a short time to appreciate the rugged and very solid feel of the knife.
 
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