It must be Chistmas, cause Spence and I finally agree on something .
Zebco(wc Bradley co.) bought the BRAND name, whatever patents , & what is called "good will" thats all they really care about. Sure there was tooling and parts inventory ,but thats secondary.
They knew right from the getgo that manufacturing in china would give them economies of scale or whatever you wanna call it.
They want YOU, the Van Staal fanatic(and you guys really are fanatical about them I gotta say) to PUSH that Brand name while they reap all the profits.
The comparison with autos out of Japan in the '70's is not really a fair one. Japan had/has a work ethic . Qulity control is definitely not an easy task in China. Im sure Mattel Toys thought they had quality control sorted out pretty good too.
But, The product may ultimately be great, heck it may even IMPROVE in quality. Noone can guess what will happen, but one thing for sure, they wont be passing ANY savings on to you . They will just make more Van Staal hats with the new profits.