Exclusive wave 2022

[crazywednesday]

Moving the exclusive chat from the "Delivered and Upcoming" thread to here.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=91459

The reasons Exclusives are not selling out in minutes is more than increased quantity produced. Look at the recent Fradon Para3 with just 600 produced and it took 8 hours to sell out. Other reasons are so many Exclusive & Sprint variations of each model has been tried and now the prices are also a big factor. There are many Exclusives which were released weeks and months ago which are still in stock.

Exclusives are very popular with dealers and Spyderco due to financial reasons.

Quite frankly, I am loving all the exclusives. So many choices, good ones too!

[RamZar]

Here’s the full context to that from today:

All these exclusives my head is going to explode lol.

I thought Spyderco was going to slow down on the Sprints & Exclusives (per Sal on June 22nd, 2021, 7:37 am) to produce more new & old regular production models. Instead we have a record number of Sprints & Exclusives in August 2022 (there could be more and the last 4 below haven’t dropped/shipped yet):

1. Massad Ayoob CPM-Cruwear PlainEdge Gray G-10 C60GPGY Sprint Run (Japan) - AUG 2022
2. Massad Ayoob CPM-Cruwear SpyderEdge Gray G-10 C60GSGY Sprint Run (Japan) - AUG 2022
3. Para3 Elmax Marbled Carbon Fiber C223MCFLMXP Fradon Lock (USA) - Run of 600 - AUG 2022
4. ParaMilitary2 CTS-XHP Wharncliffe Satin Blade Orange G-10 C81GPWCOR2 Cutlery Shoppe (USA) - AUG 2022
5. Shaman CTS-204P Satin PlainEdge Forest Green G-10 C229GPDGR KnifeWorks (USA) - AUG 2022
6. Shaman Elmax Gray G-10 C229GPGY BladeOps (USA) - AUG 2022
7. ParaMilitary2 CPM-S90V Black DLC Blade Teal G-10 C81GPTLBK2 MGE Wholesale (USA) - AUG 2022
8. Manix2 CTS-204P FDE PVD Blade OD Green G-10 C101GPODFDE River's Edge Cutlery (USA) - AUG 2022

Hi Ric,

At this time, Eric just announced that we will be cutting back on exclusives until we can catch up with regular production.

sal

to be fair, they did slow down for a short period. they didn't stop, but they did slow down. now it's full force again and more than half the production inventory is out of stock.

Lots of popular regular production models are out of stock at some dealers and some new models from way past Reveals have yet to show up.

Sprints/Exclusives have been going at a fairly good pace since June 2021:

1. JUN 2021: 8
2. JUL 2021: 4
3. AUG 2021: 7
4. SEP 2021: 3
5. OCT 2021: 6
6. NOV 2021: 7
7. DEC 2021: 11
8. JAN 2022: 4
9. FEB 2022: 3
10. MAR 2022: 8
11. APR 2022: 2
12. MAY 2022: 4
13. JUN 2022: 3
14. JUL 2022: 4
15. AUG 2022: 8

Crazy amount of exclusives all the sudden. Poor new guys don't know what to do with themselves

Don't let that fear of missing out get ya...you'll be ok!

The lead time for exclusives has been at least a year plus for a while now, so the exclusives we are seeing this year were most likely ordered before Spyderco put a freeze on allowing dealers to order exclusives. As far as I know, that freeze is still active and dealers are still not allowed to order exclusives.

Around this time next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see people asking about where all the dealer exclusives have been because there will be so few.

The dealer exclusive freeze was preceded by an increase to the minimum number of pieces per order. This increase was the result of customers complaining that these limited runs were selling out too fast. That increased minimum per order could be a direct reason why we are seeing some of the more recent exclusives stay in stock longer than they have in the past.

Seems like they’re now playing catch up with regular production after getting a little bit ahead of themselves with dealer exclusives.

The reasons Exclusives are not selling out in minutes is more than increased quantity produced. Look at the recent Fradon Para3 with just 600 produced and it took 8 hours to sell out. Other reasons are so many Exclusive & Sprint variations of each model has been tried and now the prices are also a big factor. There are many Exclusives which were released weeks and months ago which are still in stock.

Exclusives are very popular with dealers and Spyderco due to financial reasons.

[apollo]

As a Spyderco fan from Europe i am not that overly excited about the exclusives as i rather want to see stock from regular production. Which is on an all time low at the moment. Now offcourse i do not want to rain on you're parade and i think it is very nice that these dealers do that for you US citizens but i hope the hype will be slowing down a tiny bit and everything returns to a more smoother and normal production plan soon because spydies slowly are turning mor rare then water in de dessert down here. And i know this is the plan of Spyderco with freezing there exclusive orders (which i do not want for you guys) but as long as i see no improvement in the stock its hard to feel anything else then confused. Who knows maybe the current list for exclusives that they still need to make is 5 years long so regular production can be low end unthil then. But i am still glad for you guys. Enjoy them fellas!

[Ric]

Same here.
For non US it’s hard to get hands on exclusives. Timezone, latency, add. tax, …
If some dealers ship international (only few do) you have to pay much more, or it’s at your own risk, like with the latest Para 3.

I want to buy in a shop and hold the knife in my hands before the purchase.

This slowed my purchases down to nearly full stop.

It’s good Spyderco is back to normal production. Hope they will focus a bit more to international customers again.

Anyways, I am enjoying my collection now and looking forward to increasing it.

[Jim Malone]

Same here, i'm also in Europe and the "exclusives" are almost unobtainable. Been waiting for a P'kal in Europe for months if not years. I'm on the waiting list on the largest Spyderco sellers in Europe. The only thing that changes is not the stock but the price. Seeying al these rehashing of the same model in a slightly chemically altered steel is nice for US steelsnobs but not for the average global buyer.

[JRinFL]

It might be worth the effort to start a campaign to get some of the larger EU sellers to order their own Exclusives. We know Heinnie Haynes has done it, more than once, but did any other seller try? Even one of the forums in the UK had an exclusive made.

[apollo]

It might be worth the effort to start a campaign to get some of the larger EU sellers to order their own Exclusives. We know Heinnie Haynes has done it, more than once, but did any other seller try? Even one of the forums in the UK had an exclusive made.

I respectfully disagree friend because that would only would make the problem worse.
Exclusives are not important regular production is…
God knows how many amazing designs are in the pipeline that are now not going to be made as long as those dealer exclusives keep holding up everything. I know Spydernut has at least one design waiting i really really want with no clue of a date just because that “wave” of exclusives does never seem to end.
Dont you guys rather like to see some new spydies? Spyderco was the king of bringing out new models. That seems age’s ago now.

[RamZar]

I had not been keeping track of Sprints & Exclusives prior to 2017 but from the yearly data since (see below) you can see that they have become a significant portion of newly released models (data for 2022 is only year to date). As an example of a model with Sprint & Exclusive models, if you look at ParaMilitary2, there have been 41 variations just since January 2019 which is almost one a month. Also, there have been restocks of some past Dealer & Distributor Exclusives.

Spyderco New Models/Exclusives/Percent:

1. 2015: 58
2. 2016: 60
3. 2017: 96/38/40%
4. 2018: 93/56/60%
5. 2019: 98/43/44%
6. 2020: 100/54/54%
7. 2021: 126/74/59%
8. 2022: 64/36/56%

[apollo]

I had not been keeping track of Sprints & Exclusives prior to 2017 but from the yearly data since (see below) you can see that they have become a significant portion of newly released models (data for 2022 is only year to date). As an example of a model with Sprint & Exclusive models, if you look at ParaMilitary2, there have been 41 variations just since January 2019 which is almost one a month. Also, there have been restocks of some past Dealer & Distributor Exclusives.

Spyderco New Models/Exclusives/Percent:

1. 2015: 58
2. 2016: 60
3. 2017: 96/38/40%
4. 2018: 93/56/60%
5. 2019: 98/43/44%
6. 2020: 100/54/54%
7. 2021: 126/74/59%
8. 2022: 64/36/56%

Thx RamZar it is amazing you have been keeping track all this time!
Those numbers seem insane to me. If you look at 2022 now with 56% you just know that number is going to rise above 60% and how hight it will be who knows. Sal said so long ago that the exclusive program was going to be frozen. But like i said earlier nobody knows how long that list still is. Some of those “Exclusive junkies” are already freaking out that there will be a time that there will probably be no exclusive for a while. Probably it will even be a short while knowing the easy money those are. But that there are almost no stocks around the world for normal production models for so so long now that does not matter to them. That is what i miss on this forum unity. A few years ago we were all hyping together around the world for a model to come out. Remember the fun times of the 1th gen Rubicon ? The Southard ? Or the Nirvana? I hope those come back. I miss those days and some of the members from back then.

[WilliamMunny]

I had not been keeping track of Sprints & Exclusives prior to 2017 but from the yearly data since (see below) you can see that they have become a significant portion of newly released models (data for 2022 is only year to date). As an example of a model with Sprint & Exclusive models, if you look at ParaMilitary2, there have been 41 variations just since January 2019 which is almost one a month. Also, there have been restocks of some past Dealer & Distributor Exclusives.

Spyderco New Models/Exclusives/Percent:

1. 2015: 58
2. 2016: 60
3. 2017: 96/38/40%
4. 2018: 93/56/60%
5. 2019: 98/43/44%
6. 2020: 100/54/54%
7. 2021: 126/74/59%
8. 2022: 64/36/56%

With those numbers it looks like we might see another 20 this year. Hopefully some will be Manix 2… really hoping for a REC Coyote Manix.

[JRinFL]

I do remember the old days and would prefer to see more new models versus so many Sprints. However, Spyderco needs to make a profit in a very, very crowded market. New models are expensive to design and engineer whereas Exclusives are far less costly to get to market. There is no free lunch as they say, so what do you want to give up to get what you want? Sal has asked this many times.

[RamZar]

There’s limited production capacity and most of the exclusives come from the U.S. factory (ParaMilitary2, Para3, Native5, Shaman, Manix2, etc.). Apparently, the U.S. factory will be expanding.

In the meantime, there should be some priority on how to use that production capacity.

For instance, priority in this order:

• Current regular production models
• New regular production models
• Sprint Runs available at multiple Dealers
• Distributor Exclusives available at multiple Dealers
• Dealer Exclusives
• Sprint Runs available only directly through Spyderco

[ZrowsN1s]

I like the sprints and exclusives, as I usually wait for one before I buy a new model. That way I don't end up with all the same color and steel knives. I understand there needs to be a balance though.

[apollo]

I do remember the old days and would prefer to see more new models versus so many Sprints. However, Spyderco needs to make a profit in a very, very crowded market. New models are expensive to design and engineer whereas Exclusives are far less costly to get to market. There is no free lunch as they say, so what do you want to give up to get what you want? Sal has asked this many times.

Easy start doing the balancing now instead of making only exclusives and then only production?
They will have to do it later on so why not now from day 1 ?
And yes new models are expensive… but why change a winning team? Spyderco grew from a small company to nr 1 in the market thx to these new models because it made them famous WORLDWIDE. Then it is like at one day they woke up in the morning and decided to go in an entirely different direction. I mean you guys are flooded with exclusives would you not rather have them “drop out instead of tsunami out”? Unless all of you exclusive fans are ridiculously rich in this day and age i can not see how you could even afford every single one of them you like when they release anyway.
So in words everyone can understand water down the wine and everything will be fine…

Ps. please do not call Exclusives and sprints the same thing they are completely different.
The number of sprints are the same or maybe even a small bit less then every other year. Its the exclusives that are messing up normal production not the sprints.

[apollo]

There’s limited production capacity and most of the exclusives come from the U.S. factory (ParaMilitary2, Para3, Native5, Shaman, Manix2, etc.). Apparently, the U.S. factory will be expanding.

In the meantime, there should be some priority on how to use that production capacity.

For instance, priority in this order:

• Current regular production models
• New regular production models
• Sprint Runs available at multiple Dealers
• Distributor Exclusives available at multiple Dealers
• Dealer Exclusives
• Sprint Runs available only directly through Spyderco

I wish i could make my case as good as you can. You nailed it again with this post.
Also the exclusives indeed come from the US facility but thx to covid and other troubles the other facilities are also not properly producing that is why the US facility is to important to only be fixated on the Exclusives.

[JRinFL]

I do remember the old days and would prefer to see more new models versus so many Sprints. However, Spyderco needs to make a profit in a very, very crowded market. New models are expensive to design and engineer whereas Exclusives are far less costly to get to market. There is no free lunch as they say, so what do you want to give up to get what you want? Sal has asked this many times.

Easy start doing the balancing now instead of making only exclusives and then only production?
They will have to do it later on so why not now from day 1 ?
And yes new models are expensive… but why change a winning team? Spyderco grew from a small company to nr 1 in the market thx to these new models because it made them famous WORLDWIDE. Then it is like at one day they woke up in the morning and decided to go in an entirely different direction. I mean you guys are flooded with exclusives would you not rather have them “drop out instead of tsunami out”? Unless all of you exclusive fans are ridiculously rich in this day and age i can not see how you could even afford every single one of them you like when they release anyway.
So in words everyone can understand water down the wine and everything will be fine…

Ps. please do not call Exclusives and sprints the same thing they are completely different.
The number of sprints are the same or maybe even a small bit less then every other year. Its the exclusives that are messing up normal production not the sprints.

Yes, I understand the difference, but often make the mistake of calling Exclusives Sprints.

Also, I'm not a super fan of Exclusives. I'd rather have the color & steel combos come direct from Spyderco. Please do not make me the target of your anger about Exclusives. I'm just trying to explain why they exist and why they are important to Spyderco and the dealer network.

[JRinFL]

There’s limited production capacity and most of the exclusives come from the U.S. factory (ParaMilitary2, Para3, Native5, Shaman, Manix2, etc.). Apparently, the U.S. factory will be expanding.

In the meantime, there should be some priority on how to use that production capacity.

For instance, priority in this order:

• Current regular production models
• New regular production models
• Sprint Runs available at multiple Dealers
• Distributor Exclusives available at multiple Dealers
• Dealer Exclusives
• Sprint Runs available only directly through Spyderco

I do not disagree with any of that. In fact, it is how I would order the priorities. However, Eric and the management team have a different perspective on things and access to 100% of the information. We have to accept that maybe they are doing what is right for Spyderco at this time, even if it isn't what we want.

[WilliamMunny]

I probably fall somewhere in the middle. They do need to meet the need of standard models but exclusives can be a lot of fun and bring in the demand. Everyone should be able to get a PM2/Manix/Shaman/Native/etc. with black scales and a standard steel (S30V/BD1N/VG-10/8Cr) any time they want. While we still need exclusives and/or spirt runs. I have a basic Manix I want to replace. I am not going to buy the same black/S30V but I am very excited about the possibility of a Manix Coyote (Tan G-10/ Black DLC 10V blade) from REC.

In my humble opinion Spyderco knows the numbers, knows the demand, knows where the profit is and knows where there are short comings. With their current production model they are producing that works for them to stay profitable and get a great product in the hands of their consumers. With the current COVID shut downs, labor shortages, shipping delays and geo-political issues I think they are doing a great job.

[apollo]

I do remember the old days and would prefer to see more new models versus so many Sprints. However, Spyderco needs to make a profit in a very, very crowded market. New models are expensive to design and engineer whereas Exclusives are far less costly to get to market. There is no free lunch as they say, so what do you want to give up to get what you want? Sal has asked this many times.

Easy start doing the balancing now instead of making only exclusives and then only production?
They will have to do it later on so why not now from day 1 ?
And yes new models are expensive… but why change a winning team? Spyderco grew from a small company to nr 1 in the market thx to these new models because it made them famous WORLDWIDE. Then it is like at one day they woke up in the morning and decided to go in an entirely different direction. I mean you guys are flooded with exclusives would you not rather have them “drop out instead of tsunami out”? Unless all of you exclusive fans are ridiculously rich in this day and age i can not see how you could even afford every single one of them you like when they release anyway.
So in words everyone can understand water down the wine and everything will be fine…

Ps. please do not call Exclusives and sprints the same thing they are completely different.
The number of sprints are the same or maybe even a small bit less then every other year. Its the exclusives that are messing up normal production not the sprints.

Yes, I understand the difference, but often make the mistake of calling Exclusives Sprints.

Also, I'm not a super fan of Exclusives. I'd rather have the color & steel combos come direct from Spyderco. Please do not make me the target of your anger about Exclusives. I'm just trying to explain why they exist and why they are important to Spyderco and the dealer network.

I am sorry that you think i am angry. I am not angry at you i am not angry at anyone.
I fear you have misinterpreted my post. I know my english is not what it should be but i try to be as clear as possible all the time. So sorry if it maybe seems that i was angry I assure you everything is fine between us. Btw I am not hating those exclusives have them as much as you guys want and can dream about that is fine by me. I make my own exclusives and those are only numbered 1 of 1 in the whole world. But i just do not like the consequences of those Exclusives being made non stop without keeping an eye on regular production anymore. Because what happens with everything in this world that is rare my friend? Prices go up and never go back down again.
2 years ago i bought 2 standard g10 manixes 2 for 125 euro a piece. Now if i wait for the time it is on sale and i am lucky they have stock its a 170€ at the very very best my pants fall off type of bargain. Most dealers have it on 200€ + already. And i am sure labor and materials and shipping is also a part of that increase yes but not by that much. And the longer the situation takes the worse it will get ( And that is only one model as example but i meen for dozens of models )
So the only thing i would like to see is Spyderco returning to there balance they always had before. Then everything will work out for everyone. I hope you can understand me a little better now and you see my point a tiny bit and also see that i have nothing against the exclusives. And especially that i am not angry at you in any way because you seem like a nice person!

[JRinFL]

<clip>
I know my english is not what it should be but i try to be as clear as possible all the time. So sorry if it maybe seems that i was angry I assure you everything is fine between us.
<clip>
And especially that i am not angry at you in any way because you seem like a nice person!

No worries, we are fine, you and I. Your english is very good, better than many native speakers.