Spyderco: Name Recognition

[JD Spydo]

Why is it I can go into REI and buy a Benchmade but not a Spyderco? That's the sort of thing that's missing, that's why the average outdoors enthusiastic may not know about Spyderco.

Iirc there was a time Spyderco sold, i believe, Delica's and Endura in blisters in Wallmart

Don't know exactly when... 2004/2005?
Wasn't a real succes i guess.

Yes that's absolutely true. I distinctly remember our local Rip-Mart ( my affectionate name for Wal-Mart) having the Native model in S30V in a Clam Pack and Blister packs both at different times. Yep your memory is absolutely correct!!

[Evil D]

Why is it I can go into REI and buy a Benchmade but not a Spyderco? That's the sort of thing that's missing, that's why the average outdoors enthusiastic may not know about Spyderco.

Iirc there was a time Spyderco sold, i believe, Delica's and Endura in blisters in Wallmart

Don't know exactly when... 2004/2005?
Wasn't a real succes i guess.

They had a Walmart Native LW and I believe still sell the Tenacious. Walmart may not be the ideal market even for a ~$50 knife compared to the $3 Ozark Trails knife.

When you're at a stop light and the Jeep in front of you is plastered with stickers, Yeti etc, Spyderco isn't one of them because Spyderco aren't being sold in the same place as Yeti coolers.

[JD Spydo]

It wasn't until 2005 that I first heard of Spyderco, and I've been a casual knife guy since I was about 6. The problem is sometimes just exposure, I didn't grow up with any sort of influence related to knives and it wasn't until my late teens that the internet became a thing, and even then the idea of searching for knife brands wasn't something that occurred to me. I suspect a lot of people are like this, they may have a casual interest but not really pursue it. Most everyone has heard of Buck or Case or Victorinox but Spyderco is a bit more of an AFI brand.

That's really interesting David and probably a lot of truth as well. Another item we need to consider is how jaded most American men are with the older, more established "Americana Type Brands" like BUCK, CASE, Ka-Bar, Schrade, Queen and even Kershaw to a lesser extent. And a lot of these guys are buying out of name recognition alone. I was a BUCK fanatic when I was in high school in the early 70s. And it was like a "Rite Of Passage" type of deal with younger American boys to get their first BUCK Knife>> and if you had a fixed blade ( big BUCK Hunting knife) BUCK you were really taken seriously. And that was stuff you bragged about at the Barber shop.

So I guess it's fair to say that Spyderco has some really very well established companies to go up against that have by tradition alone been in the dreams of many young men growing up. I learned about Spyderco, Benchmade & Boker all at the same time. And when I got my first Spyder that very same week I got my very first Benchmade and Boker models too. OH and I have had people tell me that they knew of Boker's name but not Spyderco's>> I find that odd for some reason.

[Doc Dan]

Spyderco simply does not advertise like a lot of companies do. I've pointed this out several times in the past. If you pick up an outdoor, hunting, or gun magazine you will find all sorts of knife advertisements, but nothing from Spyderco. Spyderco is almost a boutique knife. I know a lot of gun people, many who have nice knives from BM, Buck, etc., and they had never heard of Spyderco until I introduced the brand to them (one just last week!).

I am sorry "Doc Dan" but I vehemently disagree with you about Spyderco's overall exposure to the marketplace. When I first started making "Knives" into a serious hobby back around 1992 it was at that time I started reading 3 of the major Knife magazines. I used to have subscriptions to BLADE, Knives Illustrated and Tactical Knives and I had all 3 of those subscriptions until about 2015 when Tactical Knives went out of business. Spyderco's ads have been in virtually everyone of those publications that I can remember in at least since the early 90s that I know of for a fact.

I also used to see several Spyderco ads in some of the older survival magazines like "American Survival Guide" ( In the Peter Alan Kasler days). And I see Spyderco's ads in many of the newer survival/prepper magazines. There have been a wide range of different advertisements in all kinds of different magazines for Spyderco over the years and in a few specialty publications as well. Heck I remember seeing them in "Shotgun News" back in their heyday ( early to late 90s). But only my most avid hunting & fishing buddies who used knives a lot were the only ones in the early going ( the 1990s) that were aware of the name at that time>> and knew that Spyderco was a fledgling commercial knife company gaining momentum in the marketplace. But both of those hunting/fishing buddies told me that they had learned of Spyderco in Sporting good stores ( posters and advertisements) and other specialty stores that sold Spyderco items. Heck we've got a high end tobacco shop on the Plaza here in Kansas City that also sells Spyderco and William Henry knives ( For Full Flaming Retail I might add).

But for the exposure Spyderco has had over the years I feel that many more people should at the very least know who they are and what they do by this juncture in time. Doc I'm sorry but I have to kindly and respectfully disagree with you>> and I fully disagree that Spyderco has had meager exposure in the advertising arena over the years as well. Maybe it's different where you live I suspect. But I'm sure the company themselves will back me up on that one.

Again those are magazines that are small market niche publications.

[Evil D]

Knife magazines are already going out into the hands of knife people who probably already know about Spyderco. They aren't increasing recognition to anyone except the chance encounter of someone who has an interest in knives but doesn't have a subscription. Besides, periodicals are unfortunately a practically dead format.

[JD Spydo]

Knife magazines are already going out into the hands of knife people who probably already know about Spyderco. They aren't increasing recognition to anyone except the chance encounter of someone who has an interest in knives but doesn't have a subscription. Besides, periodicals are unfortunately a practically dead format.

That's not completely true. Because our local Barnes & Noble Store has a massive news stand and they sell a lot of different specialty publications as well as magazines on almost any subject you could think of. Also there are certain special interest magazines like The Backwoodsman, Off Grid and American Survival Guide that are all enjoying increased circulation.

And in all of those magazines I've mentioned I've seen Spyderco ads in them before. When you got retailers like Cabelas, Bass Pro, Dick's Sporting Goods and about 4 others I could name here locally I've seen Spyderco blades in all of them mentioned.

Now I will admit that the percentage of people who like knives and sharpening gear as much as we here on the Forum do is not all that big.

[aicolainen]

I asked my wife if I could replace the signal with a knife with a cool blade steel that would equate to never needing to sharpen the knife on me (I wasn’t too good at sharpening at that time.) the knife was a Maxamet Native 5… I remembered the company with holes in their knives… little did I know I bought an ergonomic piece of art. YouTube brought me to Spyderco, because nutfancy or someone in that genre recommended it…

Maybe I'm colored by my own experience, but I wouldn't be surprised if Nutnfancy is responsible for just as much Spyderco name recognition as all their advertising efforts combined.

A polarizing personality for sure, but a net positive for Spyderco I'm convinced.

Even though I'm only 5 years into my knife illness, I don't quite remember the path that led me to Spyderco, but I'm pretty sure nutnfancy played a role in that.

[Evil D]

Knife magazines are already going out into the hands of knife people who probably already know about Spyderco. They aren't increasing recognition to anyone except the chance encounter of someone who has an interest in knives but doesn't have a subscription. Besides, periodicals are unfortunately a practically dead format.

That's not completely true. Because our local Barnes & Noble Store has a massive news stand and they sell a lot of different specialty publications as well as magazines on almost any subject you could think of. Also there are certain special interest magazines like The Backwoodsman, Off Grid and American Survival Guide that are all enjoying increased circulation.

And in all of those magazines I've mentioned I've seen Spyderco ads in them before. When you got retailers like Cabelas, Bass Pro, Dick's Sporting Goods and about 4 others I could name here locally I've seen Spyderco blades in all of them mentioned.

Now I will admit that the percentage of people who like knives and sharpening gear as much as we here on the Forum do is not all that big.

About 23 years ago I worked for Borders, and even then magazines were slowly dying. Maybe that's changed now, I haven't really paid attention but the internet and social media really did a number on periodicals for a while there. I used to be really big into the Mustang car scene and all of the mags that I had subscriptions to went under. Then some time later Borders themselves went under but that may have more to do with Amazon and what they did to book sales in general.

[JD Spydo]

Knife magazines are already going out into the hands of knife people who probably already know about Spyderco. They aren't increasing recognition to anyone except the chance encounter of someone who has an interest in knives but doesn't have a subscription. Besides, periodicals are unfortunately a practically dead format.

That's not completely true. Because our local Barnes & Noble Store has a massive news stand and they sell a lot of different specialty publications as well as magazines on almost any subject you could think of. Also there are certain special interest magazines like The Backwoodsman, Off Grid and American Survival Guide that are all enjoying increased circulation.

And in all of those magazines I've mentioned I've seen Spyderco ads in them before. When you got retailers like Cabelas, Bass Pro, Dick's Sporting Goods and about 4 others I could name here locally I've seen Spyderco blades in all of them mentioned.

Now I will admit that the percentage of people who like knives and sharpening gear as much as we here on the Forum do is not all that big.

About 23 years ago I worked for Borders, and even then magazines were slowly dying. Maybe that's changed now, I haven't really paid attention but the internet and social media really did a number on periodicals for a while there. I used to be really big into the Mustang car scene and all of the mags that I had subscriptions to went under. Then some time later Borders themselves went under but that may have more to do with Amazon and what they did to book sales in general.

And that's an interesting observation>> especially being that you worked for one of the bigger booksellers at that time. All of the Borders here in the KC area all went belly up from what I was told.
Now the magazines that are enjoying an increased sales at this time are a select few that I know of. Because there are more that are dropping in sales overall. I think with the advent of the internet most of your mainline magazines like Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and various others I could name all suffered lower sales because of online information being available. Most of those mainline magazines weren't very good to begin with.

But here lately anything that deals with "survival" or "prepping" seem to be getting a spike in sales of late. I've tried buying certain back issues of the Backwoodsman directly from the publishers only to find out that most of their back issues have been sold. I was also shocked that the American Survival Guide made a comeback as it did.

It would be interesting to know how specialty magazines like BLADE, Knives Illustrated and Knife World ( if they are still in business) are all doing now a days. BLADE must be doing enough to keep the lights turned on because they still have their big knife show in Atlanta every year ( the BLADE Show). I think it's Krause Publications that own them. When Tactical Knives went out of business that might have helped the subscriptions of the ones who were remaining.

There are some certain publications enjoying increased sales>> but you are probably right that most of the big name magazines like TIME, Newsweek and other big name mags are surely going downward because of the internet. But I think specialty magazines will be around for a while anyway. But again my friend who is a manager of a business tells me that he sells out of the Backwoodsman every issue. It is a cool magazine and I read every issue. So is Off Grid.

[standy99]

Funny as I have been a Spyderco guy since the 90s but never heard of Gerber until Bear Grylls started flogging them.

So sometimes you get a brand you like and stop looking at others.. only other folder I own besides a Spyderco is a Chris Reeve Mnandi

As mentioned before about Scandinavia Leatherman is the multi tool most recognised in Australia

[JD Spydo]

Funny as I have been a Spyderco guy since the 90s but never heard of Gerber until Bear Grylls started flogging them.

So sometimes you get a brand you like and stop looking at others.. only other folder I own besides a Spyderco is a Chris Reeve Mnandi

As mentioned before about Scandinavia Leatherman is the multi tool most recognised in Australia

That's a really interesting observation "Standby99". Because I can remember times I've had "tunnelvision" myself and was totally unaware of my options.

Take my favorite fishing reels for instance. They are German made fishing reels with the brand name D.A.M. Quick. My late favorite uncle turned me on to those reels way back in the late 60s and I've never wanted anything else. I bought two more of them in the 70s and several more since then. And it's rare when I meet up or get to chat with anyone here in the USA that are aware of that brand. However there have been several serious write ups on the world wide web testifying to the impeccable quality of these German made fishing reels. I've got two favorite models ( 1202 & 3001) that I still fish with that are over 30 years old and they still work like new. I've had several of my fishing buddies check them out but only one guy in five years I've met that ever previously heard of them. And just like Spyderco you would think with that level of quality their brand name would be more well known by now.

I think it's a case of the brand being popular in Germany, Australia and other parts of the globe but for whatever reason they never really got much attention or market share here in the USA. My uncle was a total perfectionist and I picked up on some of his traits as I got older. I was actually closer to him than I was with my own dad. Because his uncompromising desire for "quality" left me with a taste for quality items that never left me. Probably why I gravitated to Spyderco in the first place.

[standy99]

Funny as I have been a Spyderco guy since the 90s but never heard of Gerber until Bear Grylls started flogging them.

So sometimes you get a brand you like and stop looking at others.. only other folder I own besides a Spyderco is a Chris Reeve Mnandi

As mentioned before about Scandinavia Leatherman is the multi tool most recognised in Australia

That's a really interesting observation "Standby99". Because I can remember times I've had "tunnelvision" myself and was totally unaware of my options.

Take my favorite fishing reels for instance. They are German made fishing reels with the brand name D.A.M. Quick. My late favorite uncle turned me on to those reels way back in the late 60s and I've never wanted anything else. I bought two more of them in the 70s and several more since then. And it's rare when I meet up or get to chat with anyone here in the USA that are aware of that brand. However there have been several serious write ups on the world wide web testifying to the impeccable quality of these German made fishing reels. I've got two favorite models ( 1202 & 3001) that I still fish with that are over 30 years old and they still work like new. I've had several of my fishing buddies check them out but only one guy in five years I've met that ever previously heard of them. And just like Spyderco you would think with that level of quality their brand name would be more well known by now.

I think it's a case of the brand being popular in Germany, Australia and other parts of the globe but for whatever reason they never really got much attention or market share here in the USA. My uncle was a total perfectionist and I picked up on some of his traits as I got older. I was actually closer to him than I was with my own dad. Because his uncompromising desire for "quality" left me with a taste for quality items that never left me. Probably why I gravitated to Spyderco in the first place.

Like a Ray-Ban wearer usually doesn’t know much about any other sunglasses company.

[James Y]

I saw my first Spyderco knives (a Police model, and an Endura) in movies, sometime around 1993, but I had assumed they were some type of weird prop knives. Until later, around 1996 or 1997, when I saw a Delica in a movie, and then I realized they must have been by the same maker. Then I assumed they must be some type of special military issue knives because of the thumb hole. I still didn’t know the name of the company.

Then, oddly enough, in 1997 I received an unsolicited glossy knife catalog in the mail from some dealer located in Bremerton, WA. I still don’t know why I received it. But that catalog was my introduction to modern knives, introducing me to Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw, SOG, and a bunch of other companies and their knives of that time. I remember thinking, “So the company that makes the weird knives with the thumb opening hole is called Spyderco.” A couple months later, I got my first Spyderco, an AUS-8 Delica.

I’m wondering if some of the lack of knowledge of Spyderco among non-knife afis has partly to do with cost. A lot of people will spend to get the very best of equipment, but skimp on their knife and buy the cheaper ones, like the lower-end, no-name Chinese-made knives sold at places like Harbor Freight, Wal-Mart, etc. For many people, anything much over $30 or $40 is too much for a knife.

In other cases, some may simply prefer to stick with what they’ve always used; Buck 110, Gerber Gator, Case knives, etc.

I also think the opening hole may turn some people off, because they think the knife looks weird. We even see this posted here a lot, where people say they didn’t like Spydercos initially because of their looks, until they actually handled one and tried it out for themselves.

*Edited for spelling mistake caused by auto-correct. It had spelled “Kershaw” as “Keyshawn”.

Jim

[Naperville]

I remember seeing ads for Spyderco in the Soldier of Fortune magazine. I didn't pay it any attention at the time because I was in to Randall Made Knives. We all come around eventually.

[SpyderNut]

I’m always a bit surprised when I interact with folks who have never heard of Spyderco—especially in the day and age of high-speed internet we live in. (Then again, I live in a small-town area where Stanley box-cutters are what most folks carry in their right front pocket). When I mention Spyderco, people say something polite like, “Um, I think I’ve heard of them.” There are a few knife nuts in my area and of course they’ve heard of Spyderco, but we’re definitely in the minority.

[yablanowitz]

Well, I've skimmed this thread, but not read every word, so I could have missed it, but Spyderco is a small company. It's a lot bigger than Sal ever planned for or wanted, and they still can't keep up with demand. He never wanted to be the biggest, just the best. His target market has never been "Joe Average". His target is the aficianado. Those who know carry Spyderco. The rest don't know what they're missing.

[Josh Crutchley]

I'm wondering if you many of you all have experienced this as well? You would think that by now any avid working person or outdoor enthusiast or anyone in the survival/prepper communities would have at least be aware of the name SPYDERCO by now?
Or am I living in another dimension???? ( sorry I got it wrong the first time on my first Spyder>> the first one I got was a Mariner model) So that's what I edited.

I grew up in the Appalachian Mtns of West Virginia and have been surrounded by hunting and fishing my whole life. The big knife brands I knew of back then were Buck, Schrade/Old Timer, Kershaw, and Victorinox. I was 33yrs old when I first heard of Spyderco.

[JD Spydo]

Well, I've skimmed this thread, but not read every word, so I could have missed it, but Spyderco is a small company. It's a lot bigger than Sal ever planned for or wanted, and they still can't keep up with demand. He never wanted to be the biggest, just the best. His target market has never been "Joe Average". His target is the aficianado. Those who know carry Spyderco. The rest don't know what they're missing.

That's something to consider for sure. Maybe just maybe Sal & Co. might just have all the name recognition they ever wanted to begin with.

But still as long as they have graced the pages of several different periodicals, magazines and internet ads you would think that more folks would at least be mindful of the name. But to this day I'll have someone I work with that will want to check out one of the knives I carry>> then they'll ask me what brand it is>> then when I say "SPYDERCO" the look on their face says it all.

To this day it's still not often I meet up with someone who is aware of the Spyderco company. It could be the geographical region I live in. Because I'm sure there might be areas of the country that are more aware of them.

[aicolainen]

That's something to consider for sure. Maybe just maybe Sal & Co. might just have all the name recognition they ever wanted to begin with.

That is not beyond the realm of possibility.
But I also think there are a lot of knife users out there that would have preferred to use a Spyderco, they just haven't heard of it yet.

That's how I think of it at least. I did a lot of field work up until 2011-2012, and I obviously got by with what I had, but I certainly wish I knew about Spyderco specifically and quality (work) knives generally back then. It's not like I would have done a better job, but using good tools that you appreciate for what they are, brings another dimension to the job experience that makes it more enjoyable.
Discovering Spyderco after you transfer to an office position is like being handed a fishing rod when you get back to shore. Sure you can fish from shore, but it's not the same.

[Chuck James]

Growing up for me...it was Old Timer, Schrade, Uncle Henry and Buck.

I heard about Spyderco probably 15 years ago but only started trying them about a year ago.