Van Staal [SIZE="1"]made in china[/SIZE]

[spence]

Doesn't surprise me at all. This is a very common issue with many luxery goods.

A niche brand with a strong legacy struggles to maintain quality and profit. They are bought by a larger group who seeks to make profit from the brand identity, but to do so need to scale sales to a broader audience. The old production methods don't scale well so production is moved offshore where it's cheaper.

Then the brand is milked for all it's worth. While the new owner leverages the brand identity and touts the legacy quality to justify a continued high (or even higher price) the actual methods end up turning out something that simply wasn't what it once was.

Now that's not to say that you can't make a quality product in China, but it may not be what marketing continues to push.

Soon enough though, some smaller niche vendors will step up and start the cycle again.

-spence

[Diamond Tackle]

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.

[Flaptail]

VanZebco Fabrique au Chinois, tres, tres, ow you say, Funny!

I love it!