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Where are all the new knife collaborations?

Jun 7, 2019190 VIEWS

Where are all the new knife collaborations? I’ve been in on 36 knife drops, 15 of which were Massdrop collaborations with different designers and manufacturers. I will be receiving my Massdrop x Ferrum Forge x ProTech Mordax in the mail in the next couple of days, but after that I see nothing of interest on the horizon. Everyone knows that Reate and WE Knife make fantastic knives using super steels like M390, CPM-20CV and CTS-204P and handles using Carbon Fiber and Titanium....can’t you find a knife designer out there somewhere with an original idea who can get with these manufacturers and come up with a great knife? I feel like the Tashi Bharucha, Ferrum Forge well has run dry, is tapped out. You need some new designers with fresh ideas to collaborate with Reate and/or WE Knife to come in and rescue this knife community. Please! P.S. I don’t like this website at all anymore! The changes that have been made make no sense and are confusing and disorientating! I used to visit this website several times a day, now I visit it maybe once every three weeks or so, if that. All the changes that have been made to this website have made it much less enjoyable to navigate. I wish you would go back to the old web design. I really miss the old Massdrop! @JonasHeineman

(Edited)

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Jul 23, 2019

Doug! Happy with these recent collabs? It's like you posted this and we've seen like 3 new collabs

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Bknguyen

693

Jul 24, 2019

Yeah I'm not sure why changing their name to Drop differentiated them somehow. Everyone calls restocks of products "drops" nowadays. Oh you have a Crossroads? What do you think about it? And I agree with the Raine. Blade just doesn't do it for me. I've thought a lot about getting a CRK. I know it's a classic, made in the US knife, but frankly it just doesn't stand out to me. I have way too many framelocks to justify another one, especially at that price point.

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DougFLA123

1404

Jul 25, 2019

BknguyenI do like the Crossroads. Typical perfect Reate fit and finish. Very smooth, drop shutty (Nick Shabazz word), centered and sharp! Edit: One thing I’m not crazy about is the swedge. I could do without the dual angled swedge. I bought a CRK Large Inkosi instead of a Large Sebenza 21 and love it. Even though the Sebenza is the CRK gold standard, I liked the improvements that they made on the Large Inkosi over the older design of the Sebenza 21 that I read about and saw on video. I really love it. It’s the only knife I own that’s more fun to open slowly than it is to flick open quickly. Like everyone says...it almost feels hydraulic.

(Edited)

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Lenz32

Jun 14, 2019

You can say that again! BTW, I made a new post about my Mordax. Please take a look after you get yours and see if your experience matches mine. Thanx

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DougFLA123

1404

Jun 14, 2019

Lenz32I couldn’t find your Mordax post in the discussion area or with the reviews. My Mordax is not centered and the blade grind is uneven, so if I do a review on it, I won’t be giving it a five stars like everyone else is doing. It also has very aggressive gimping on the flipper that will make your finger tip raw, and I’m not thrilled that the cut out that the button lock rides along shows when the knife is open.

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T.willy

463

Jun 12, 2019

Man have you ever hit the nail on the head Doug. I've been feeling every bit of what you shared about the nagitive feelings cased by the nonsensical changes done to this website. I too used to enjoy surching through all the different sections I liked on Massdrop. Often several times a day but now it's just not enjoyable with this new format. I feel shitty being so nagitive because as I've mentioned many times before Massdrop has played a big part in allowing me to continue buying knives from the USA without worrying weather I'm actually going to get the knife I bought or will I loose it at the border to some customs officer over some BS law. For that I'll always be greatful but at this point the powers that be must realize the format change was a massive mistake. I understand they wanted to change there look along with the name change but there must be a better solution then this. I honestly don't know squat about computers or websites but its plan as day for anybody to see this Format Sucks big time. Please consider going back to the old set up. Give it a different look but the old format was light years ahead of what replaced it. Trevor

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DougFLA123

1404

Sep 9, 2019

I ordered two knives...one coming in December and one coming in January. I hope Drop doesn’t go bankrupt and not deliver my knives to me!

DougFLA123

1404

Sep 9, 2019

Lol, stirring the pot! : )

Bknguyen

693

Jun 8, 2019

Word on the street is that there's another Gavko coming. Maybe the nurse?

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DougFLA123

1404

Jun 8, 2019

Yes, I hope Drop focuses on bringing us high quality, high end collabs at competitive prices. I think the only two collab drops I’ve not been interested in are the Tashi Heat Seeker and the Terzuola Cyrus Persian folder. They just didn’t do it for me. Also, like you said, most of the non-collabs seem to be retail store prices (with extremely slow shipping). I have no interest in that. Maybe their “Mass Drop” business model wasn’t profitable so they’ve gone retail. I’m very happy that I found and took part in this website waaay back in the olden days....way back in August of 2017, when men were men and you could find really good deals on collabs and non-collabs! : ) If I had discovered this website today, I think I would look, and decide to just keep moving onto the next site somewhere else.

Bknguyen

693

Jun 9, 2019

DougFLA123Totally agree with your point on discovering this site today! There used to be midtechs on here!

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reswright

3850

Jun 7, 2019

Agreed, although I apparently only was here for a few weeks worth of the old Massdrop. This is among the worse GUIs i've had to navigate. It makes me look at everything I don't care about first before I get to what I care about. Drop has neither the infrastructure nor the clout to beat large e-tailers like the Zon or knife superstores like BladeHQ or Knifecenter at the game of discounts and fast shipping. So there's not going to be a competition there so much as a loss. And Drop does not appear to have enough goodwill in its existing customer base to keep them buying here even if there's cheaper prices elsewhere -- how many comments do we get a day on knife drops, pointing out a better deal? I expect a lot of people would prefer to see the focus head back toward limited runs of excellent designs, made affordable by group participation, but I also understand that there was some unspoken and unshared reason Drop are deciding to get away from that. It might help if they shared it. Otherwise, I'm open to new things so long as there's an actual consumer value to be had in them -- they need to be offering something we can't get elsewhere, or a way we can't get it elsewhere. Otherwise they might as well begin winding down Blades as a focus and as a community -- if that's not indeed what they're already doing, which they might be. I say that because if they are moving away from drops, and moving TOWARD this, i.e. the sale of small amounts of existing production model knives that can already be had elsewhere, usually for less and/or delivered more quickly, and as a little bonus sometimes they have defects -- then the only surmise I have is that they're planning on moving away from selling knives as part of Drop. Because this is not a business plan so much as it's suicide-by-market-forces. Hoping that's not it. If so, suggestions for Drop: 1) In terms of brands you aren't repping -- Give Tuya a drop. Give TwoSun a couple of drops. Give Harnds a drop - they aren't bad at all. While you're at it go get something made in Germany. Reach out to Spyderco's UK OEMs and see if you can get something there. Can you get a Case drop? Can you get a Southern Grind drop? Get Condor up in here. Because if you're introducing new stuff to people that's worthwhile and builds loyalty. 2) Work with brand new designers or designers struggling to break in, interspersed with the better known stuff. You're trying to introduce value, they're trying to produce it, we the consumer are trying to find it. Collectors wanna get the early work of someone with a new vision. Create some knives this way, everyone's happy. There's room for everyone to give a little and get a little more in return. No-brainer. 3) Never try to save money on a drop by going with cheaper hardware. NEVER do that again, not even once. Go better. Each and every time. And let people know that's what you're doing. Advertise product sprints made with something a step or two up the ladder of material prestige, even if you're just adding bushings or a deep carry clip or a different thumb stud. Differentiate that way. That way three things aren't happening that kill quality -- you aren't beating up the manufacturer on price, he isn't beating you up on what he lets slip through the process, and you aren't both constantly faced with the same pressure to cut more costs and find more fat to trim. When he sees your number come up he doesn't go 'aw shit, that asshole again'. He goes 'oh it's the dude who likes to make side deals for something a little better and we all make a little more money as a result'. Think he'll be more likely to take the call that way? Meanwhile chances are much better that your customers will pay the markup you need for your ROI to be acceptable if you're giving them something better than the thing their friend just got. You want some brand loyalty? You won't get it with ad copy. Make sure everyone understands the quality they're buying and how it's a step above the usual, even if it's just a smoother deploy or a distinct look. Give people a reason to pay the price you need and instead of bitching about it the chances are good that they might do some humblebragging about the price. Don't mistake that for negative feedback like you're getting now. It's a whole new ballgame. Roll with it because those people are your sales department in ways your real sales department can't manage to achieve . Let people who really need something to differentiate themselves from the world they see in front of them, do so with your widget that they love, and then they're in the business of tending it as part of their self image and will do so with a fervor that you can't reliably get your own salespeople to match. This is how you sell to people with money, or people who want to look like they have it; it's also how you sell to people who care about quality and will happily pay a little more to get something a little better. It's how branding used to work before it stopped having anything to do with manufacturing. And people miss it, even if they don't always know they do. 4) If you need items you can sell at your own price instead of chasing market prices, don't make it the main item. Make it the throw in item that people are more likely to go ahead and buy at an ok price along with their main item. A sharpener or a honing oil or a display or microfiber towels or Torx bits or lanyard or whatever. The stuff that people go 'oh yeah I need that too'. People are inherently transactional in these things, if they feel like you are giving them a deal on the main item, they're often a little more willing to show some reciprocity and they'll be a little less fierce with their calculators. People don't mind paying what you need them to pay if you're giving them a real reason to pay it, whether it's quality or convenience. They mind a lot more if you just ask them to pay your margin instead of Amazon's, without giving them that legit reason why. Based on most of what I read in this forum, people feel like there's been some of that going around.

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