Counterfeit Gear in '06

[lurch]

It is strange that they are calling you about tackle. They see an opportunity in the fishing tackle business maybe because they can entice the greedy Americans with higher profit margins???

It is only a matter of time before we start seeing Habz, Tattooz tackle, Gibbz, sluggoz and maybe even other equipment such as Van Staall, Daywa or even Shymanno coming from China.

In my industry, reps from Huwaei duplicated the Cisco routers. Cisco took them to court and Cisco proved they were stealing technologies by causing router crashes using known software defects.

There were also other instances where the same reps were taking pictures at trade shows of other vendors equipment after the event closed for the evening.

But a question...how many of us or know people who use knock off golf clubs??

[Joe]

I don't think the premier custom builders have much to worry about. They are catering to the high end of the market that is representative of where the best opportunity lies for small business today. The Pradco Pikies are 33% cheaper but not without a significant trade off in quality - other foreign wood suffers from similar lopsided quality issues.
But shops that employee low-skilled illegal aliens in this country do have something to worry about - because the craftsmanship level you get from an illegal from Central America is no different than that of from someone from China - and it shows.

In the sportfishing industry it's the products that are fabric based that are threatened the most - because replicating a garment is what the Chinese do best. And you don't have to match the quality exactly - if you can replicate 80% of the quality but do it for a 50% reduction in retail price - you'll win.

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Joe

In the sportfishing industry it's the products that are fabric based that are threatened the most - because replicating a garment is what the Chinese do best. And you don't have to match the quality exactly - if you can replicate 80% of the quality but do it for a 50% reduction in retail price - you'll win.

The trick to getting around that is supplying all the materials, otherwise they cheap out.

You can't walk into the outerwear market with production in Japan without precutting the panels or providing the thread, otherwise you'll learn the life lesson that The North Face did.
Once they fixed their "issue" everything went back to normal.

Super SUPER high end outerwear is typically still made in Europe (Henri Lloyd/Musto), Canada (Arc'Teryx) or the US (Wild Things). The big difference being that you will pay a premium.
Helly Hansen foul weather gear: $200ish? Henri Lloyd: $500+ (Ocean Racer coat and pants will set you back over $1000)
The North Face: $200-300 Arc'Teryx: $200-700 Wild Things: $300+ (Arc'Teryx Sidewinder SV shell will hit you around $500)

The point being you can go with "ok" gear thats always just been "ok even when it was made in the US" or you pay the price and get real quality. (My father has had the same Ocean Racer coat for 10+ years and its still waterproof. Find me another coat that good.)

And then we can always compare the Shimano Calcutta and the Calcutta Conquest. $200ish vs $400ish
Is the Conquest a better reel? Yes. By far. But both are made in Japan with slightly different markets.
So what does THAT tell us? That we get the crap? I don't know.
(note: I fish both calcuttas and calcutta conquests... I like them both, they're both killer reels, I just like the Conquest more.)

[mikecc]

We have companies that treat the consumer great but treat the retailer like crap.
Hidden problems with Deliveries, Product availability , Billing & Returns that you guys never see.
It’s a buyers market loaded with too much product. All the independent lure companies are being bought out. Rapala just bought out Luhr Jensen. Penn by K 2 . Some company’s simply fell behind did not update and did not listen to the consumer.
They could not compete in today’s market. The market changes and it’s survival of the fittest.

[likwid]

Believe it or not, K2 purchasing Penn may be a GOOD thing.

[beamie]

Last year had a work friend give me a $3 plastic swimmer looked like the classic 4-5" rebel....made in china

After just one cast I laughed, cut the line and sent it bye bye. Absolutely no wiggle to it at all........obviously copied but never test swam.