Ever heard of GSM Outdoors? They just bought Cold steel.

I worked for a company that was owned by an investment firm. Here is what their blueprint was:

1) they will look for different sources for the product while maintaining quality. This was always what the company I worked for did first. Chinese factories have the capabilities and resources to manufacture high quality products. It's ultimately up to the company to choose that price and quality... which brings me to point 2..

2) maximize "big box" exposure. This is where price and quality get driven down. If Walmart says they want product, they tell you the price point.

I would take a look at GSM portfolio. You can get a good guage to what might happen. The question is.. does GSM want the brand for mass retail, or do they want the current CS customer base to expand their current business?
Obviously, this is a different animal. Cold Steel already has a massive following.
 
I just noticed that the Master Hunter in 3-V is available again!!!!!!! I bought 3. For those who know how great this knife is, I suggest you get one quickly.
 
NewKnifeObsession said:
I worked for a company that was owned by an investment firm. Here is what their blueprint was:

1) they will look for different sources for the product while maintaining quality. This was always what the company I worked for did first. Chinese factories have the capabilities and resources to manufacture high quality products. It's ultimately up to the company to choose that price and quality... which brings me to point 2..

2) maximize "big box" exposure. This is where price and quality get driven down. If Walmart says they want product, they tell you the price point.

I would take a look at GSM portfolio. You can get a good guage to what might happen. The question is.. does GSM want the brand for mass retail, or do they want the current CS customer base to expand their current business?
Obviously, this is a different animal. Cold Steel already has a massive following.
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We all know where this is going with limited one year warranty.

And apparently they booted almost all Cold Steel employees. And rest will be laid off in time to come.

They have crappy warranty, they booted old CS employees, majority of their knives is 4034 liner steel
 
Smiling said:
We all know where this is going with limited one year warranty.

And apparently they booted almost all Cold Steel employees. And rest will be laid off in time to come.

They have crappy warranty, they booted old CS employees, majority of their knives is 4034 liner steel
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I didn't realize that they did knives already. Obviously they are looking to upgrade, hence the acquisition.

I'm not saying this will end well or not.. just from experiencing.. I would wait and see. You will know the direction sooner than later.
 
Lynn Thompson had real passion and love for knives and it was obvious. He was determined to make the best knives he possibly can make, and he marketed them as such, showing people proof of what his knives can do.

No other company did that.

Cold Steel pioneered the knife industry for years, american tanto to tri-ad lock and special kind of marketing has made them stand out from other manufacturers.
Not only that, but they were often best buy for the money too. Their price/quality rate was hard to match.

Lynn's philosophy was to make knives you can depend your life on.

I respect that, and I trust him.
I would be confident to depend my life on both, my SK5 Recon Tanto or my Warcraft tanto in 3V...

But I would never depend my life on 4034 steel.
And to offer well known reputable flagship knives remade in such poor steel was really surprising decision.

But we all seen it coming,
From sheaths going to worse and company not adressing it, to numerous threads popping up complaining either on grinds, gaps on the handle or materials themself not being right... and CS customer service didn't care.
We all knew something is off, downgrades in steel, QC, customer service...
And so it happened, Lynn's heart and passion are now out of Cold Steel and new owners are ready to cash in on the brand name and reputation that he was building for years.
I wish him best luck in retirement tho.

This being said, I ordered another Recon Tanto in SK-5.
Because my current one is old and beat up, but it was my first "real knife" so I will always have soft spot for SK-5 Recon Tanto.
I also have custom sheath for it.
 
Smiling said:
...

They have crappy warranty, they booted old CS employees, majority of their knives is 4034 liner steel
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The warranty is effectively dead already. They are not going to repair anything and if you send in a product, they will most likely replace it with something made from liner steel. So I am really not concerned about any further pronouncements on warranty. We are going to be down to two flavors of Cold Steel, vintage with effectively no warranty, and junk.

n2s
 
Mr. Thompson is a success. He built a business and a recognized brand, sold a lot of products, and made a lot of money. Maybe he wants to retire now and enjoy the fruits of his labor...

I wish him all the best!
 
Eli Chaps said:
New warranty: https://www.coldsteel.com/warranty-info
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If that isn't doing your fans and customers dirty, I don't know what is....

I was thinking about ordering another Recon 1 since it looks like quality might take a nose dive, I've had two and decided not to keep them for various reasons at the time. Now though, if the company is going to be run like that? Not sure I want to own the product out of principle.
 
desmobob said:
Mr. Thompson is a success. He built a business and a recognized brand, sold a lot of products, and made a lot of money. Maybe he wants to retire now and enjoy the fruits of his labor...

I wish him all the best!
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I hope it is not the case, but we don’t know if he was forced to retire for health reasons. The sad thing is that many successful entrepreneurs love their businesses and will work until they drop.

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
I hope it is not the case, but we don’t know if he was forced to retire for health reasons. The sad thing is that many successful entrepreneurs love their businesses and will work until they drop.

n2s
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They had a parking lot sale just one month ago!
 
Sad news, I wish Lynn the best, first knife i ever bought my self was the Old school 5 inch vaquero when i was 12 years old, with birthday money. been hooked ever since. One of the only companies to make large knives. I always laugh when you hear people say that a 3.5 or 3.75 inch blade is big on a folder. Just bought a SR1 tanto ive been wanting one for a while. I dont think this is the end for Cold Steel (At least i hope) but Cold Steel without Lynn is not the same.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Lynn said that I was the only friend he had in the knife industry. While we didn't agree on marketing strategies, I have always had respect for his knives and his quality. Lynn is unique and Lynn is Cold Steel. I wish him and Bri all the best in their future.

sal
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Have not yet had the pleasure of owning/using any Spydercos, but everything I've seen and heard tells me you are a class act Sal. I did recently reassemble a PM2 for someone and was intrigued, so I will definitely consider Spyderco in the future.

As for CS, I will continue to do what I've always done...evaluate their offerings on a knife-by-knife basis, rather than the company as a whole, and purchase ones that I like. If that ends up being zero moving forward, oh well.
 
I wonder about the non-knife specialty items, like blowguns. The CS blow gun is fantastic! I've one of their HD rattan canes for decades and its the best cane type walking stick ever. Its been such an innovative and daring company. There's no way an investment firm will continue on that path as its not a guaranteed money proposition.
 
Whelp, I got my Bush Ranger ordered. I've got every other Cold Steel model I've ever wanted, so I think I'm good. I've beaten on my Recon 1 doing some pretty dumb stuff and it's shrugged it off every time, so I don't know that I'll ever need the (now nonexistant) warranty. Ah well.
 
craytab said:
If that isn't doing your fans and customers dirty, I don't know what is....

I was thinking about ordering another Recon 1 since it looks like quality might take a nose dive, I've had two and decided not to keep them for various reasons at the time. Now though, if the company is going to be run like that? Not sure I want to own the product out of principle.
Click to expand...
yep.

I was gonna stock up on some and then thought the same way. I'm not supporting a private equity whatever they are company that just laid off all its employees from what I read here, and I hope that isn't true,...........and then changed the warranty to basically no warranty overnight. this tells me what type of company they are. one of the first things they did. cut staff loose and eliminate warranty.
 
jbmonkey said:
yep.

I was gonna stock up on some and then thought the same way. I'm not supporting a private equity whatever they are company that just laid off all its employees from what I read here, and I hope that isn't true,...........and then changed the warranty to basically no warranty overnight. this tells me what type of company they are. one of the first things they did. cut staff loose and eliminate warranty.
Click to expand...
And the warranty going to crap has a real impact on the end user.

The value of the product has already been reduced while the prices have stayed the same. We can see exactly where this is going.
 
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