Zaydok Allen
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2011
- Messages
- 13,274
In my perusing I see many knife designs from custom knife makers being produced by major manufacturers. But I also see that many of them have their own small batch custom knife making business. There's lots of examples of where you can get a Les George, or RJ Martin, or Hinderer designed knife from a company like ZT or WE, but you can also get the real McCoy from the designer themselves.
I'm curious if selling or licensing their designs is how these folks make the majority of their money, or if maintaining a small production element on their own is. The genuine articles usually command much higher prices. Obviously each deal made can influence the outcome, and I doubt they'd be making small batches of knives if they weren't making some money doing so.
The reason this question came up in my mind is I've been thinking about buying a few designer made knives rather than buying a production company copy. It seems a better way to support the designers I like. But I also realized if I buy designs produced by production companies, I'm obviously helping create a demand for the designer's work, which leads to supporting them as well.
Just curiosity really.
I'm curious if selling or licensing their designs is how these folks make the majority of their money, or if maintaining a small production element on their own is. The genuine articles usually command much higher prices. Obviously each deal made can influence the outcome, and I doubt they'd be making small batches of knives if they weren't making some money doing so.
The reason this question came up in my mind is I've been thinking about buying a few designer made knives rather than buying a production company copy. It seems a better way to support the designers I like. But I also realized if I buy designs produced by production companies, I'm obviously helping create a demand for the designer's work, which leads to supporting them as well.
Just curiosity really.