China

[Actinolite]

I try not to buy Chinese products for all the reasons people have listed. On the other hand, I understand the need of Spyderco to have lower priced products.

At this point, I want to thank Spyderco for being upfront about where their products are made. The last thing I want is a stealth Chinese product.

[SG89]

From wikipedia:
“A roadster (also spider, spyder) is an open two-seat car with emphasis on sporting appearance or character.”

I would say the answer is in the name. Spyderco.

[Aladinsane]

I have given this a lot of thought since I first read the post a couple of days ago. My thought is this, I am happy that Spyderco offers options of different price points and still high quality for those who cannot or don't want to pay $100+ for a knife. However, if Spyderco were to go ALL China production, I really think that I would, sadly, no longer be collecting Spyderco knives.

[spydergoat]

I don't avoid buying products made in China, I mean I'm typing this on some made in China tech. But knives are sort of a hobby/collectors item for me, and not just a tool where I want to maximize specifications for dollars. When it comes to knives, I'm a Spyderco enthusiast because your designs and brand identity speak to me, and have never let me down with the quality. I have always been willing to pay the premium for the USA-made or Seki Spydercos. One exception is the Bow River, where I bought one upon release as I really liked the idea of a budget Phil Wilson. I was gifted a Resilience, which is a good knife. I rarely buy other brands' knives, a few Hogues over the years but those were also USA-made. I have zero issues with Spyderco continuing or exanding its production in China, but unless a really compelling design comes out of there I'm likely to stick with Golden or Seki factories. Nothing against Taiwanese Spydercos either, they just aren't the usual designs I like to carry.

[Bolster]

From the survey I ran in 2023. Responses from here, and also the BladeForum Spyderco subforum, total n=379:

[Fattires]

Hi Sal,
Thanks for taking the time to solicit opinions.
I have been out of the knife game for a while, I have 15 or so folders that I like and rotate through and have not bought anything new for a couple years. So I am not serious about knives like a lot of the guys here and haven't posted here in a few years.
I saw the new ButtonUp this morning and for the first time in a while I was ready to buy a new knife, until I saw it was made in China, I was very disappointed.
When I buy a knife I am wanting to buy a quality tool that I can take pride in, while a Chinese made knife may possess quality it will always lack that factor of being a product I am proud to own and use. This is simply the result of decades of cheap, inferior Chinese made products flooding the markets in nearly all sectors. No matter the improved production practices there is a stigma for many of us with Chinese made products that cannot be overcome.
I have never bought a Chinese knife and plan not to. I remember before I really got into knives I carried a US made Kershaw all the time, I remember seeing Sypderco Chinese made knives at WalMart and writing off the whole brand in my mind at that point as Chinese made stuff, I did not know the rest of the products available, and it was years before I bought a Spyderco because of it. So having these Chinese products may attract a certain customer it may also push others away.
I would encourage less Chinese production, not more and honestly to me having anything branded Spyderco that's made in China lowers the prestige of the brand a bit.
If you build a ButtonUp in Golden I will buy one.

[ladybug93]

From the survey I ran in 2023. Responses from here, and also the BladeForum Spyderco subforum, total n=379:

it's like mcdonald's. there aren't many people that would actively go out of their way to choose it, but if you're on a road trip and it's the most easily accessible when the kids are whining, you're gonna buy it and it's going to get the job done just fine.

[Paul Ardbeg]

Nothing wrong with Chinese knives. I had/have anything from Civivi, Bestech to Reate models. Bestech and Reate OEM work is great in my book. It depends on the model and what Spyderco is aiming for in terms of the end line user. The Mantra 4 is definetly a knife I would like to see either made in Taichung or to the level of Taichung models. Looking at e.g. the GB1, GB2, Mantra 2 and Kapara are good examples of what I want to see in a Mantra 4. Well made contoured scales (CF/G10 laminate), a full flat or hollow ground blade and S30v steel. All to the standard of Taichung. To quote Nick Shabazz "It's about quality, not geography".

[The Mastiff]

I will not buy PRC made products when I can avoid it. I used to have some Spyderco Byrd knives but no longer buy them or have any real use for them.

It's tough not to bring politics into it and give all the reasons for my choices but it's wise to remember they consider us their enemy and constantly prove their intent to do much more than do business with us. ............

The rest has been deleted by me out of respect for Sal and Kristi. :)

[JoviAl]

I try to buy ethically made products irrespective of where they are manufactured. China is a big and diverse place with as broad a spectrum of manufacturing ethics as the rest of the world, so for me I just do a bit of background digging on the specific place or factory that made the item and decide from there. I think the perception of China as a homogeneous entity is as misrepresentative as the assumption that the Americas are homogenous or Europe is homogeneous

As for Spyderco, all I can find on your Chinese manufacturing partners is positive, so if I see a model from you made there I don’t hesitate (and haven’t hesitated). It is difficult to honestly address this question without addressing the underlying geopolitical connotations.

[Red Leader]

I remember before I really got into knives I carried a US made Kershaw all the time, I remember seeing Sypderco Chinese made knives at WalMart and writing off the whole brand in my mind at that point as Chinese made stuff, I did not know the rest of the products available, and it was years before I bought a Spyderco because of it.

First of all, welcome to posting on here! Hope you stick around and post more.

Most of us (forumites) recognize that we are in the extreme minority and a very slim part of the pie of knife users (I'm grateful Sal & Co continues to consider our opinions even though we are such a small % of the customer base).

You bring up an interesting point. Most of us can only hope to speculate on what a normal, 'non-knife' view is on knives, unless we were recently there ourselves. Most of these folks probably only shop at places like Walmart or Home Depot for tools, and might occasionally go to a place like 'Sportmans' or Cabelas for specialty outdoor stuff. Most probably have no clue that there are specialty knife retailers. This is probably why Benchmade is as popular as it is amongst normal, non-knife people when they do interact with knives. They may know nothing about knives, but then see a $350 folder in the glass case with 'Benchmade' written on it, assume that it is the best knife money can buy, and that imprinting sticks, and expands the Benchmade customer base - which is funny, because if you only paid attention to what enthusiasts say about them, you'd wonder how Benchmade is even still in business with their pricing insanity. Perception.

The inverse is true as well. If the only interaction that 90% of people have w/ Spyderco is to go to a Sportsmans or a Walmart or whatever and see an import Spyderco in a blister pack, that starts the imprinting.

I tallied up the offerings - 9 out of the 19 offerings in the latest Reveal are Chinese knives, almost half.

I see a few different questions raised in this thread, and elsewhere, like in the Reveal thread:

1) Is Spyderco releasing too many Chinese knives, which could possibly dilute the perception of brand quality?

2) Are the Chinese Spydercos on par with other companies' Chinese offerings at those specific pricepoints?

3) Should Spyderco continue to look to China for production capabilities, or could there be alternatives that help to avoid some of the issues raised in this thread and others?

I believe it is not easy to be a company like Spyderco in this day and age, where you lead with certain values and ethics in a world that is increasingly normalizing extreme low price, at all cost. Even the ultra high quality import offerings are cheap, which I believe also jeopardizes Spyderco's premium offerings, because now that same quality is 1/2 to 2/3 the price. If the 'why not?' mindset continues, there is nothing to insulate the USA made products either. There has to be a distinction drawn somewhere, because it sure can't be drawn on quality - China has the capability to make some of, if not the, best production knives on the planet.

Yet...there are still people out there that believe it is important to have things made by the home team. Spyderco needs these people as customers, because others will be swayed by the quality/price ratio, and be okay jumping ship. These people will not. Would Spyderco survive or still be Spyderco if the Golden factory shut down and the only Spyderco knives we knew were all foreign? The size of Spyderco, I believe, should roughly match that loyal contingent. Anything else is icing on the cake. They don't need to be the Amazon of knives. I don't want to carry a Civivi, I want to carry a Spyderco, and I want that to mean something different. And you don't, and will not ever, get that with the China offerings.

[GarageBoy]

There's a few different points being made here, but they can basically be broken down into three categories -

1. The geopolitical aspect of not wanting to support the Chinese government
2. The perceived quality of Chinese made goods (I feel like the anti Chinese government bias can put blinders on consumers - it's 2025, Chinese manufacturing can be very good whether or not you believe it)
3. The value of Chinese spydercos vs. their competitors

[bleasure]

Echoing sentiments of others; regardless of its circulation as an ideological tenet, 'made in the usa' as a purity litmus or consumer value is to me at best incoherent and at worst, empty. There is almost nothing that, supply chain and externalities considered, is entirely 'made in the usa.' "Made in the usa" is not the same as saying 'I value the production of commodities that employs people in the US and/or generates tax revenue for the country,' but one tends to stand as a cipher for the other, even though they largely have at best a tangential relationship in a situation of heavily globalized capitalist investment and production systems. When price is arguably the most significant mechanism governing consumer behavior, and in an economic situation where a for-profit business regardless of public/private status *must* continue to increase productivity, reduce costs, and persistently grow in a competitive capitalist marketplace, an additional layer of incoherence arises when consumers demand low prices, while also demanding production conditions with higher labor and overhead etc. costs in the name of nationalist consumption identity coordinates.

I care far more, far more, about the working conditions, environmental costs, and ideally worker ownership of and hand in governance of the labor they undertake regardless of where they are working, than the often relatively specious marketing sticker "made in the USA" (specious because, like "natural" and unlike "organic," until 2021 there was no governing standard or oversight of this label, and it basically meant whatever someone wanted it to mean, and not necessarily what one would reasonably assume it means - which seems still kind of true even post-FTC labeling rule). On the other hand, I'm no fan of Jack Welsh to put it mildly, and corporate 'outsourcing' of labor to avoid unions and maximize profit/returns as an engine of the 70s & 80s decline in domestic manufacturing/spike in outsourcing is a key if overshadowed/misrecognized cause for people's enthusiasm for products made in the US, and one I have a lot of empathy for - my dad was laid off by GE in the 80s when they closed their Syracuse facilities to outsource, and it seriously affected our family. Its a tricky, complicated thing.

unfortunately for businesses, consumer incoherence is sort of the law of the land, markets are not perfect truth engines, and the firms best positioned to take advantage of impressions tend to have a leg-up in contemporary business. at the same time, quality will out - it may not be enough to save a business in the long run, but high quality and high performance are self-evident in a way that also really matters. hopefully, 'market corrections' post 'knife boom' will change conditions and minds favorably again

[RustyIron]

China, as a country, has a problem with their brand recognition. They make some super-high end products, but their image is tarnished because of all the low-end garbage that consumers in Western countries gobble up faster than half-price Big Macs on Ray Kroc's birthday. The negative experiences with Chinese junk is what people remember.

I imagine some of the challenges of some Western knife manufacturers are figuring out how to create a product at a price-point that is appealing to consumers, continuing to produce high-quality products, and differentiating themselves from the sellers of junky Chinese products.

[Pacu0420]

China as a whole reminds me of the guy wearing a treanch coat with a bunch of fake luxery watches inside selling them out of a dark alley. Just out to scam us out of our money.

Yes, there are some reputable Chinese companies, but they are drown out by the flood of cheap crap and fakes. (That the Chinese government does NOTHING about)

I cannot, in good conciousness, willingly send my money to ANY country that cheats and steals from mine.

[Bolster]

There's a few different points being made here, but they can basically be broken down into three categories
1. The geopolitical aspect of not wanting to support the Chinese government
2. The perceived quality of Chinese made goods (I feel like the anti Chinese government bias can put blinders on consumers - it's 2025, Chinese manufacturing can be very good whether or not you believe it)
3. The value of Chinese spydercos vs. their competitors

^ Good summary IMO. I will politely disagree with the highlighted portion. I'm perfectly willing to acknowledge that Chinese manufacturing can be very good. I'm sure their 234 warships, their 6 generations of hypersonic missiles, 600 nuclear warheads, and 10,000-15,000 drones are all top notch manufacturing.

[zhyla]

I'm sure their 234 warships, their 6 generations of hypersonic missiles, 600 nuclear warheads, and 10,000-15,000 drones are all top notch manufacturing.

Super weird statement. In what country does the military get the top notch manufacturing? I'm sure in China just like everywhere else the top end engineering goes into luxury goods.

Yes, there are some reputable Chinese companies, but they are drown out by the flood of cheap crap and fakes. (That the Chinese government does NOTHING about)

I think as knife enthusiasts we see the rampant counterfeits and maybe assume that's what China is about. The vast majority of Chinese manufacturing is legit goods.

[Ramonade]

I do not have an issue with the fact that you have knives made from China, especially since it's only one country you have knives made in.

As far as my reaction to the new knives in this reveal. I am really surprised to see that the Mantra 4 is called that way, but that's Eric choice and since it's his design and a flipper, it kinda tracks.
When I held it at the Amsterdam Meet it was one of my favorites (and there was a ton of knives on that table). The design is really good and in my opinion it's the best flipper Spyderco has ever made. If it's anything like what we got to play with, the detent is tuned for flipping, the blade comes out fast and it's near impossible to fail.

However, since you can use several steels there, paying close to 70€ (in Europe) for an 8Cr blade is really not something that incites me. I'm not complaining about the pricing, I get why it's priced where it's at but even if the heat treat as good as can be on the 8Cr, I usually use these knives on abrasive stuff like hard woods, cardboard, ropes, etc. I hope it still is popular so that it gets a special edition in something like M4, I would love that.

@sal You explained many times how working with China works for many, and how Spyderco does it. The way Spyderco does it does not bother me in the slightest, and when knives aren't for me, I just buy something else. Spyderco has a crazy wide variety of knives for not being a brand like WE, Artisan or Kizer, which are brand dropping knives every week or so ALL the time, fully benefiting from total production there. And even these brands went up a lot in price during last few years.

It's only a reveal, it might "look" like the new knives only come from China, but there were several reveals this year. And we know Golden and Taïchung are operating at their maximum capacity, bringing us as much as they can.


About the ButtonUp : When me and my friends saw it, it instantly made us think about a lot of the fake / clones of Spydercos we've seen coming from China years ago, so it really surprised us. Very reminescent of Ganzo and other similar brands. Weird to think a Spyderco reminds us too much of brands that poorly copied Spyderco.

[RyanY]

About the ButtonUp : When me and my friends saw it, it instantly made us think about a lot of the fake / clones of Spydercos we've seen coming from China years ago, so it really surprised us. Very reminescent of Ganzo and other similar brands. Weird to think a Spyderco reminds us too much of brands that poorly copied Spyderco.

I think the buttonup is cool, and at the same time also reminded me of a ganzo clone lol

[Ramonade]

About the ButtonUp : When me and my friends saw it, it instantly made us think about a lot of the fake / clones of Spydercos we've seen coming from China years ago, so it really surprised us. Very reminescent of Ganzo and other similar brands. Weird to think a Spyderco reminds us too much of brands that poorly copied Spyderco.

I think the buttonup is cool, and at the same time also reminded me of a ganzo clone lol

Yeah, I'd still like to hold the production version to see how nice it is, I'll admit !