While Buck moved a number of its lines overseas, in many cases offering the same models at different price points, one US made, one China-made, they have been moving the majority of that back to the U.S. this past year with a goal to move most of it back.
Blackjack did the same thing in the early 90s. Right before the company went under. I always wondered if the money they squandered moving operations overseas and back again had anything to do with that.
A lot of knife manufacturers have shifted production overseas for many reasons. Some (but certainly not all) are
1) No unions
2) Less or no benefits for employees
3) Cheaper labor (partly the result of points one and two)
4) Less environmental restrictions
5) Less taxes
6) Cheaper to manufacture (the result of all of the above)
Combine this with adequate quality control (CRKT took the lead in this) and you can produce a $200 knife with a $50-$75 price point. The quality control is the key. Without it you have just another crappy foreign-made over-priced piece of junk. FWIW and YMMV.
Previous Topic
Index
