Spyderco easily used to be my favorite knife company. As the years have gone by though, I've been less and less impressed with what they're doing as a company. I think a lot of other knife companies have finally caught up to them, and maybe even surpassed them in terms of new knife designs. This is all just my perspective. I don't think Spyderco is innovating as much as they used to.
Take a look at their new product page (here) if you want to better understand what I'm talking about. As I looked through their new knives, the majority are either sprint runs (S110V and blue scales), knives they've already made before but shrunk down slightly (I'm looking at you Para 3/Lil' Lum/Lil' Sub-Hilt/Lil' Temperance 3), the knives they've already made with different blade shapes (wharncliffe Delica), or knives they discontinued in the past but recently brought back (Urban and UK penknife). Sure there are some new, "original" designs (Advocate/Polestar/Efficient), but to me, they look exactly like other knives Spyderco has already made in the past. Polestar and Efficient are basically different twists on the Tenacious. Side note, whoever came up with the name Polestar, congrats on the worst possible name for a knife ever. It just sounds so dumb to me.
Spyderco used to do lots of crazy and weird designs, like the Cricket, Balance, or Phoenix. Now it seems they moved away from that and are only producing things the market already has/is used to. Their weird designs didn't sell very well due to high prices, so I guess they're just producing what the market demands. They are a business after all and need to continue to make profits. Still, it's lame to see them produce the same blades over and over at higher and higher prices. That's something else I've noticed Spyderco has been doing. All of their knives have gotten a lot more expensive over the years. You could chalk that up to inflation, but honestly, companies like CRKT and Kershaw are producing a lot more affordable knives than Spyderco.
CRKT has had some killer new designs so far this year. The Pilar is one blade I know a lot of people are impressed with. Even thinking about last year, the Jettison was one of the best blades that year. Kershaw is stepping it up with the Launch series. I never thought I'd be a fan of autos, but the Launch 4 turned me into a fan for sure. I personally can't justify buying the same ol' knives from Spyderco when there are more innovative designs out there on the market. I really used to love Spyderco, but I think they've gotten too complacent. It seems like forever since they've made a new knife that's had the popularity of something like the Delica or PM2.
Again, all of this is just my opinion. I'm personally bored of Spyderco and what they're doing. A couple years ago, I really had no choice but to support them, because no other knife company really compared to them. Now though, companies like CRKT and Kershaw are on the rise. You probably won't see too many Spydercos on here or my YouTube channel anymore. My biggest issue with them is their lack of innovation, so I hope everything I said made sense in that regard. I have a whole other pile of issues regarding them as a company, but I'll probably save that for another post. Thanks for looking!
You made some pretty good points hopefully competition drives them too be more creative with thire stuff. However I'm still digging thire old stuff it's very practical and well designed which is why they continue to make the same stuff. For example they've been making the delica for years now and it still one of their best sellers for a reason. It's pretty much the only knife you need practically speaking. But I do hope they start upping their game. Ps the polestar is a pretty dumb name lol.
ReplyDeleteYeah their old designs are great for sure! Pretty much the only knives I'd consider buying from them in the future. I wish some of their new designs resembled some of their older stuff
DeleteYeah, I can definitely see where you are coming from. But at the same time, as a lover of larger knives, I am very excited for the release of the Shaman. Maybe Spyderco needs to do more collaborations like CRKT does. I'm not sure if CRKT even has an in-house design team.
ReplyDeleteOops didn't mean to take so long to reply. I don't know, there's so many other companies with big knives that Spyderco's are like a drop in the pond. Even if Spyderco did more collaborations, I feel like they wouldn't be affordable. I do dig Spyderco's old designs still. thanks for your comment!
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