Any interest in the return of models like the pingo?

[mikey177]

^ Very nice.

[bulgingpockets]

I’m interested the pingo is one I missed out on getting

[apollo]

Do any of you guys also find this situation strange ? Did giant mouse or the makers ever do something to Spyderco in a bad way?
Sal being so stone cold about them being "the compeditors" is strange for me as he normally is such a positive guy and in the end lion steel are massive competitors and they seem to be welcomed with open arms.

If there is any news i do not know of that happend please enlighten me.
Because it makes no sence to me at the moment why not to work with them again.

[wrdwrght]

Do any of you guys also find this situation strange ? Did giant mouse or the makers ever do something to Spyderco in a bad way?
Sal being so stone cold about them being "the compeditors" is strange for me as he normally is such a positive guy and in the end lion steel are massive competitors and they seem to be welcomed with open arms.

If there is any news i do not know of that happend please enlighten me.
Because it makes no sence to me at the moment why not to work with them again.

May well be that Sal does not have Voxnaes’ and Ansø’s permission to bring the Pingo back because Spyderco is their competitor, and that Sal does not want to throw shade on them

[Mushroom]

In the past, Sal has spoke about about some designers “using Spyderco” for personal clout to advance their own knife making career. Spyderco has shown reluctance to work with some designers because of this.

Sal actually expanded on this in the past, in the thread Spyderco Collaborators You Would Love to See Again? It’s a very informative post and worth reading.

-

There are a number of reasons that we try to keep our designers with us:

We did a collaboration with a well known custom maker. After we introduced the design. The designer did a very similar design with a competitor. The competitor made their knife in China at 1/3rd the price of ours and ours died.

We did a collaboration design with another designer. Once the contract was signed (yes we used contracts) he sent letters to many of our competitors saying that he was designing for Spyderco and he wanted to design for them as well. One of them built one of his designs, again, made in China, which killed our model.

We also learned that if we advertise and promote a maker and then they begin designing for other factories, it no longer paid to promote the designer as we were in fact promoting our competitors, most of which were much less expensive.

We've had several collaborations with designers that were just very difficult to work with. we felt they were being unreasonable so we dissolved the relationship.

We did one design with a designer. He told us we'd have to make thousands more than we had panned because he had sold the design to a famous gun training company and they would need thousands. The deal never was true. Then he hired away our factory manager, knocked off the design we were making for him and competed against us. No, we won't bring back some of these designs even if our customers ask for them.

Our royalties to a collaborator for a designer are 5% of our sales. We had one designer that was being represented by another dealer between us. He felt that his client was way better than the likes of Michael Walker and Bob Terzuola and wanted a higher percentage. We didn't think that was fair so we dropped the project.

We had one custom maker nagged us to make is model that he said was selling like crazy and he couldn't make enough. We eventually made his model. He had lied about their demand. We closed them out at a loss.

Yes, we are a business, but we do have integrity and try to be fair. Sometimes there is more going on than might seem evident.

sal

[Duncan]

YES. The Embassy. Please!!!!!!!

[Doc Dan]

I think that Spyderco can give us a knife with a slightly longer sheep foot blade and a more neutral handle that would make us happy. I don't know. Sheep foot was the hot seller two years ago and last year, but what about next year? Will they still be in demand or will the style fashion move on to something else?

[PaloArt]

In the past, Sal has spoke about about some designers “using Spyderco” for personal clout to advance their own knife making career. Spyderco has shown reluctance to work with some designers because of this.

Sal actually expanded on this in the past, in the thread Spyderco Collaborators You Would Love to See Again? It’s a very informative post and worth reading.

-

There are a number of reasons that we try to keep our designers with us:

We did a collaboration with a well known custom maker. After we introduced the design. The designer did a very similar design with a competitor. The competitor made their knife in China at 1/3rd the price of ours and ours died.

We did a collaboration design with another designer. Once the contract was signed (yes we used contracts) he sent letters to many of our competitors saying that he was designing for Spyderco and he wanted to design for them as well. One of them built one of his designs, again, made in China, which killed our model.

We also learned that if we advertise and promote a maker and then they begin designing for other factories, it no longer paid to promote the designer as we were in fact promoting our competitors, most of which were much less expensive.

We've had several collaborations with designers that were just very difficult to work with. we felt they were being unreasonable so we dissolved the relationship.

We did one design with a designer. He told us we'd have to make thousands more than we had panned because he had sold the design to a famous gun training company and they would need thousands. The deal never was true. Then he hired away our factory manager, knocked off the design we were making for him and competed against us. No, we won't bring back some of these designs even if our customers ask for them.

Our royalties to a collaborator for a designer are 5% of our sales. We had one designer that was being represented by another dealer between us. He felt that his client was way better than the likes of Michael Walker and Bob Terzuola and wanted a higher percentage. We didn't think that was fair so we dropped the project.

We had one custom maker nagged us to make is model that he said was selling like crazy and he couldn't make enough. We eventually made his model. He had lied about their demand. We closed them out at a loss.

Yes, we are a business, but we do have integrity and try to be fair. Sometimes there is more going on than might seem evident.

sal

I would say Sal was meant Mr. Wegner in this particular case (can be wrong though). With Pingo, I do understand that decision but it is shame as Pingo is fantastic knife. I am always regretting not purchasing some knife that is nowadays discontinued and I could have bought it at the time when Spydercos were more affordable - Pingo, Spy DK, UK PK in G10 and drop point in GIN1 etc.

[Mushroom]

In the past, Sal has spoke about about some designers “using Spyderco” for personal clout to advance their own knife making career. Spyderco has shown reluctance to work with some designers because of this.

Sal actually expanded on this in the past, in the thread Spyderco Collaborators You Would Love to See Again? It’s a very informative post and worth reading.

-

There are a number of reasons that we try to keep our designers with us:

We did a collaboration with a well known custom maker. After we introduced the design. The designer did a very similar design with a competitor. The competitor made their knife in China at 1/3rd the price of ours and ours died.

We did a collaboration design with another designer. Once the contract was signed (yes we used contracts) he sent letters to many of our competitors saying that he was designing for Spyderco and he wanted to design for them as well. One of them built one of his designs, again, made in China, which killed our model.

We also learned that if we advertise and promote a maker and then they begin designing for other factories, it no longer paid to promote the designer as we were in fact promoting our competitors, most of which were much less expensive.

We've had several collaborations with designers that were just very difficult to work with. we felt they were being unreasonable so we dissolved the relationship.

We did one design with a designer. He told us we'd have to make thousands more than we had panned because he had sold the design to a famous gun training company and they would need thousands. The deal never was true. Then he hired away our factory manager, knocked off the design we were making for him and competed against us. No, we won't bring back some of these designs even if our customers ask for them.

Our royalties to a collaborator for a designer are 5% of our sales. We had one designer that was being represented by another dealer between us. He felt that his client was way better than the likes of Michael Walker and Bob Terzuola and wanted a higher percentage. We didn't think that was fair so we dropped the project.

We had one custom maker nagged us to make is model that he said was selling like crazy and he couldn't make enough. We eventually made his model. He had lied about their demand. We closed them out at a loss.

Yes, we are a business, but we do have integrity and try to be fair. Sometimes there is more going on than might seem evident.

sal

I would say Sal was meant Mr. Wegner in this particular case (can be wrong though). With Pingo, I do understand that decision but it is shame as Pingo is fantastic knife. I am always regretting not purchasing some knife that is nowadays discontinued and I could have bought it at the time when Spydercos were more affordable - Pingo, Spy DK, UK PK in G10 and drop point in GIN1 etc.

He may be one of the designers Sal mentioned, among others, but I don’t think the “who” is all that important. It’s the principle of the post that I was highlighting.

One quote of particular importance is

“We also learned that if we advertise and promote a maker and then they begin designing for other factories, it no longer paid to promote the designer as we were in fact promoting our competitors, most of which were much less expensive.”

[vivi]

No.

[Flash]

Tried to like the Pingo, twice - owned a K390 version and a nice orange N690 version but found the ergos of this model to be all wrong for me. Did like the blade shape and its ease of carry though.

[Michael Janich]

Dear Flash:

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.

Stay safe,

Mike

[zhyla]

The collab royalty cut is 5%? For the record I am willing to do half of that if Spyderco produces my design .

While I do appreciate a few designers out there including the ones that worked on the Pingo, I think some guy named Glesser designed all of the Spyderco’s I currently own.