I didn't know Ariat had a knife line. I tend to through a knife or two in when I buy jeans from westernwear retailers, and this is no exception.
I noticed a knife line introduced by Ariat in 2020 or 2021 looks very Byrd-like. They even have the trademark "Bird's Eye" opening hole and the "8Cr13MOV" mark is in the same spot.
Link to other examples:
https://www.cavenders.com/search/?q=ari ... ng=default
I suspect Spyderco wasn't involved. Apparently, Ariat wasn't exactly involved either. These are listed as being distributed by Nocona, so presumably, they licensed the Ariat name for assorted leather goods like wallets and knife sheaths.
I also noticed that it appears these were replaced with models that had triangular and oval-shape holes, so I'm guessing something wasn't exactly legal and production was stopped. Made in the same factory, or straight-up bootleg?