How to increase Spydercos profits

Discuss Spyderco's products and history.
Mikael Andersson
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How to increase Spydercos profits

#1

Post by Mikael Andersson »

1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
Last edited by Mikael Andersson on Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#2

Post by demoncase »

Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
1.To your point on holes- not everyone has a flipper fetish.
;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.

2.The hole is the Spyderco legal trademark- thus it needs to added to all of their products to maintain that trademark.

3. Yuk. Not to my tastes and would turn me off. Spyderco's coatings are all functional, technical, coatings like DLC- not cosmetic nastiness like certain brands use.
Warhammer 40000 is- basically- Lord Of The Rings on a cocktail of every drug known to man and genuine lunar dust, stuck in a blender with Alien, Mechwarrior, Dune, Starship Troopers, Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars, bathed in blood, turned up to eleventy billion, set on fire, and catapulted off into space screaming "WAAAGH!" and waving a chainsaw sword- without the happy ending.

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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#3

Post by Mikael Andersson »

demoncase wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
1.To your point on holes- not everyone has a flipper fetish.
;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.

2.The hole is the Spyderco legal trademark- thus it needs to added to all of their products to maintain that trademark.

3. Yuk. Not to my tastes and would turn me off. Spyderco's coatings are all functional, technical, coatings like DLC- not cosmetic nastiness like certain brands use.
1. Obviously remove the hole in the blade on flipper knives.

2. Really? That sounds really, really crazy to me... so for Benchmade to maintain the trademark of their axis lock they must put the axis lock on every knife that they make or they lose that trademark?
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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#4

Post by demoncase »

Mikael Andersson wrote:
demoncase wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
1.To your point on holes- not everyone has a flipper fetish.
;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.

2.The hole is the Spyderco legal trademark- thus it needs to added to all of their products to maintain that trademark.

3. Yuk. Not to my tastes and would turn me off. Spyderco's coatings are all functional, technical, coatings like DLC- not cosmetic nastiness like certain brands use.
1. Obviously remove the hole in the blade on flipper knives.

2. Really? That sounds really, really crazy to me... so for Benchmade to maintain the trademark of their axis lock they must put the axis lock on every knife that they make or they lose that trademark?
"Really Really crazy" it might be- but that's the way trademark law is.

Differentiate between a patent on a function and a trademark.... Benchmade's axis lock is not a trademark- it's a functional part of the product.
Benchmade's trademark is their butterfly, which is added to all of their products, axis lock or not.

For the Spyderhole to be part of the Spyderco trademark it has to be part of all of their products. Spyderco fell foul of this early on when their early fixed blades didn't have an opening hole- there was a legal challenge on folks using the legal trademark round hole without permission.
It came out to be a trademark it has to be on (or part of) the product even when it serves no function....

(Consider by way of example: Coke's trademark 'swoosh'- that sinuous curve under the word Coke- is part of their registered trademark. It's from the silhouette of their original glass bottles. However, that swoosh has to be added as part of the logo on ALL of their products, even big plastic 2l bottles or normal cans. Indeed, it's only on the original glass bottles, that have this shape intrinsically, that are considered to have this trademark without having to print it on the label....As a result, there have been court cases won by Coke for various infringements of the use of this 'swoosh' on competitor's products and, notably, legal proceedings in the UK on Coke sub-contracted delivery company who had mispainted the 'swoosh' so it didn't meet the trademarked requirement on the side of their van. )

I'm sure someone with a clearer and more full legal understanding of these things will be along shortly to explain it. ;)

Also- I noticed you skimmed over the fact that adding a flipper to a lot of the models means they don't have a stop pin any more and will require a major redesign ;)
Warhammer 40000 is- basically- Lord Of The Rings on a cocktail of every drug known to man and genuine lunar dust, stuck in a blender with Alien, Mechwarrior, Dune, Starship Troopers, Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars, bathed in blood, turned up to eleventy billion, set on fire, and catapulted off into space screaming "WAAAGH!" and waving a chainsaw sword- without the happy ending.

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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#5

Post by Mikael Andersson »

demoncase wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:
demoncase wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
1.To your point on holes- not everyone has a flipper fetish.
;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.

2.The hole is the Spyderco legal trademark- thus it needs to added to all of their products to maintain that trademark.

3. Yuk. Not to my tastes and would turn me off. Spyderco's coatings are all functional, technical, coatings like DLC- not cosmetic nastiness like certain brands use.
1. Obviously remove the hole in the blade on flipper knives.

2. Really? That sounds really, really crazy to me... so for Benchmade to maintain the trademark of their axis lock they must put the axis lock on every knife that they make or they lose that trademark?
"Really Really crazy" it might be- but that's the way trademark law is.

Differentiate between a patent on a function and a trademark.... Benchmade's axis lock is not a trademark- it's a functional part of the product.
Benchmade's trademark is their butterfly, which is added to all of their products, axis lock or not.

For the Spyderhole to be part of the Spyderco trademark it has to be part of all of their products. Spyderco fell foul of this early on when their early fixed blades didn't have an opening hole- there was a legal challenge on folks using the legal trademark round hole without permission.
It came out to be a trademark it has to be on (or part of) the product even when it serves no function....

(Consider by way of example: Coke's trademark 'swoosh'- that sinuous curve under the word Coke- is part of their registered trademark. It's from the silhouette of their original glass bottles. However, that swoosh has to be added as part of the logo on ALL of their products, even big plastic 2l bottles or normal cans. Indeed, it's only on the original glass bottles, that have this shape intrinsically, that are considered to have this trademark without having to print it on the label....As a result, there have been court cases won by Coke for various infringements of the use of this 'swoosh' on competitor's products and, notably, legal proceedings in the UK on Coke sub-contracted delivery company who had mispainted the 'swoosh' so it didn't meet the trademarked requirement on the side of their van. )

I'm sure someone with a clearer and more full legal understanding of these things will be along shortly to explain it. ;)

Also- I noticed you skimmed over the fact that adding a flipper to a lot of the models means they don't have a stop pin any more and will require a major redesign ;)
I don't think that the redesign would be that major.
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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#6

Post by demoncase »

Mikael Andersson wrote:
demoncase wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:
demoncase wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
1.To your point on holes- not everyone has a flipper fetish.
;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.

2.The hole is the Spyderco legal trademark- thus it needs to added to all of their products to maintain that trademark.

3. Yuk. Not to my tastes and would turn me off. Spyderco's coatings are all functional, technical, coatings like DLC- not cosmetic nastiness like certain brands use.
1. Obviously remove the hole in the blade on flipper knives.

2. Really? That sounds really, really crazy to me... so for Benchmade to maintain the trademark of their axis lock they must put the axis lock on every knife that they make or they lose that trademark?
"Really Really crazy" it might be- but that's the way trademark law is.

Differentiate between a patent on a function and a trademark.... Benchmade's axis lock is not a trademark- it's a functional part of the product.
Benchmade's trademark is their butterfly, which is added to all of their products, axis lock or not.

For the Spyderhole to be part of the Spyderco trademark it has to be part of all of their products. Spyderco fell foul of this early on when their early fixed blades didn't have an opening hole- there was a legal challenge on folks using the legal trademark round hole without permission.
It came out to be a trademark it has to be on (or part of) the product even when it serves no function....

(Consider by way of example: Coke's trademark 'swoosh'- that sinuous curve under the word Coke- is part of their registered trademark. It's from the silhouette of their original glass bottles. However, that swoosh has to be added as part of the logo on ALL of their products, even big plastic 2l bottles or normal cans. Indeed, it's only on the original glass bottles, that have this shape intrinsically, that are considered to have this trademark without having to print it on the label....As a result, there have been court cases won by Coke for various infringements of the use of this 'swoosh' on competitor's products and, notably, legal proceedings in the UK on Coke sub-contracted delivery company who had mispainted the 'swoosh' so it didn't meet the trademarked requirement on the side of their van. )

I'm sure someone with a clearer and more full legal understanding of these things will be along shortly to explain it. ;)

Also- I noticed you skimmed over the fact that adding a flipper to a lot of the models means they don't have a stop pin any more and will require a major redesign ;)
I don't think that the redesign would be that major.
Then I'm afraid you don't appreciate exactly how intrinsic the location and design of the stop pin is to the function and design of blade, liners and lock.

On compression or liner lock models: Every component barring the pocket clip would need to be changed, redesigned and retooled for at significant cost.

Likewise- the most popular models in the Spyderco line are probably the Delica, Endura, Military, PM2, Police, Native and Dragonfly.
- The Military and PM2 have a stop pin as we've discussed.....No dice.
- The Delica, Endura, Native, Police and Dragonfly are all back-locks......Double no dice.

Frankly: I don't think you've thought this through fully.
Warhammer 40000 is- basically- Lord Of The Rings on a cocktail of every drug known to man and genuine lunar dust, stuck in a blender with Alien, Mechwarrior, Dune, Starship Troopers, Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars, bathed in blood, turned up to eleventy billion, set on fire, and catapulted off into space screaming "WAAAGH!" and waving a chainsaw sword- without the happy ending.

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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#7

Post by twinboysdad »

Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
Kershaw called, they said your rainbow Leek is ready
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#8

Post by demoncase »

twinboysdad wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
Kershaw called, they said your rainbow Leek is ready
Ah- now the Op's name comes back to me.....Apologies all. I've been wasting my time, I'll wager ;)

But if the Leek's not got a hole in the blade, then how'd they get that thumbstud/ stop pin to stay put?

Must be magic..... :D
Warhammer 40000 is- basically- Lord Of The Rings on a cocktail of every drug known to man and genuine lunar dust, stuck in a blender with Alien, Mechwarrior, Dune, Starship Troopers, Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars, bathed in blood, turned up to eleventy billion, set on fire, and catapulted off into space screaming "WAAAGH!" and waving a chainsaw sword- without the happy ending.

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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#9

Post by apollo »

I know you are trying to do the goodthing with youre ideas :) but i guess the ones you came up with are all pointing to a direction spyderco will hopefully never go to. Because if they do they will lose the spirit they have of making working tools build to be the best in there own field.

Now the flipper idea i can get but still i think it is better a no go.
First of all flippers are illegal in more countrys then you can think off because well to the cops they look like automatics...
Second of all you need to have the option of making the knives even if the redesign is possible.
Lets face it spyderco is having trouble keeping the knifeflow up for years now.
Yes they have a bigger building now in colorado but that is only a small step forwards there are still a ton of investments need to be done before the factory really can make more knives. And i think the flipper fans already have bin given a good part of the line up and they will be more models in the future so spyderco is doing just fine in that point and many others.

But i can sence you love spydies so never stop trying to help the company we love we all do.
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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#10

Post by apollo »

Mikael Andersson wrote: ;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.


1. Obviously remove the hole in the blade on flipper knives
:confused: these words sound to me like spyderco needs to stop making spydercos and become something like all the others.
Without a hole it would not be a spyderco so something as sacred as the spydercohole should be kept at all costs!
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#11

Post by anagarika »

I really wish the forum software allows for choosing the format when viewing. A desktop version will allow me to see who is the OP to decide if a thread worth reading. Something I always do over BF and on previous/old forum engine.

I'm on Opera Mini over iPhone, Desktop Mode On. However, only on iPad Landscape mode the forum software decides to let me see the OP.
:(
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#12

Post by akaAK »

Kershaw called, they said your rainbow Leek is ready[/quote]

Hilarious but dead on.
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#13

Post by Bodog »

The hole in the blade is a pain in the *** and useless for the fixed blades. I agree. Doesn't mean there's much spyderco can do about it in a country where what's right is less important than what's technically legal.

I'm neutral about flippers. My favorite pocket knife is still the military and it functions perfectly without a flipper or ball bearings or any other silliness. Sure, some knives it's a cool little addition but most of the time it's useless and gets in the way of something that could've been a good design, similar to a large choil in a fairly small pocket knife blade. Just give me something that works better than the competition at a better price. I don't want trinkets. I want functional tools.

Rainbow anodizing looks terrible, IMO. A nice solid blue or green is another story but I could see that narrowing the market. People are usually fine buying a design they want if the colors are neutral, like grey or black or tan. Start getting into specific colors and people may think it looks gaudy. Again, for the most part I just want something that's the best bang for the buck and if I want something different or just to look cool I can modify it myself or send it to a professional.

Having said that, I wish Spyderco would license certain craftsmen to do aftermarket modification work where the work doesn't adversely affect the warranty.
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#14

Post by ejames13 »

Here we go again...
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#15

Post by Skaaphaas »

As a newbie to Spydies I read the OP with some trepidation. As in, is this really what people want? As the absence of most of those things is exactly what drew me to the brand. Sure a flipper here and there is nice, I won't lie. But the thumbhole works equally as well for me.

The responses reassured me no end. I hope to buy quintessential Spydercos for years to come.
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#16

Post by Skaaphaas »

As to holes in fixed blades, I would love to see a Mule with custom scales somewhere in the wild, and the hole would identify it immediately.

Even if it wasn't for legal compliance, I would keep it purely for the sake of the brand.
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#17

Post by PayneTrain »

I have dog pictures ready. Just say the word...
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Re: How to increase Spydercos profits

#18

Post by Mikael Andersson »

twinboysdad wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote:1. Put a flipper on all of the big sellers and no this doesn't mean to stop making the same models without flippers.

2. Stop putting holes on fixed blade knives... not everyone have a hole fetish.

3. Put on rainbow colored coatings, bronze colored coatings in three different shades (not on the same blade) on select knives.

This is what I came up with for now.
Kershaw called, they said your rainbow Leek is ready
The Kershaw Leek is a great knife and the best thing about it is that if you should lose it it's not a big deal.
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Re: How to increase Spyderco's profits

#19

Post by Mikael Andersson »

apollo wrote:
Mikael Andersson wrote: ;) Further: with the Military and similar models (as was pointed out to me when I suggested it would look cool with a flipper) you've got a stop pin in the way of the flipper bar. It ain't as easy as you'd think- plus getting a flipper to work well in a blade with a hump-backed Spyderhole is (I'm told by Eric) difficult to get to balanced.


1. Obviously remove the hole in the blade on flipper knives
:confused: these words sound to me like spyderco needs to stop making spydercos and become something like all the others.
Without a hole it would not be a spyderco so something as sacred as the spydercohole should be kept at all costs!
It would be a Spyderco even without the hole and the spyderhole is not sacred.
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Or perhaps bankrupt them

#20

Post by The Deacon »

Why would Spyderco want to take business advice from someone who has a thread on this forum stating that they want to become a competitor?
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