Question, What keeps knife buyers from buying CS knives? I have my beliefs what are yours?
I am a serious knife buyer who appreciates and buys Cold Steel. There are a lot of us. Cold Steel sells an insane number of "units" and not merely to regular non knife folks. That said, I understand your question.
My answers:
1. the folks who are into higher end production knives tend to gravitate towards companies that limit themselves largely or exclusively to these higher end products. BMW does not sell a ten grand grocery getter. Bark River doesn't offer a thirty dollar utility knife. Cold Steel does, and always has. Lynn Thompson made a point of ensuring that everyone, no matter how little they had, could afford a world class knife they can trust -- potentially with their life.
2. The focus on martial products. Cold Steel designs, tests, and makes a lot of weapons. They are unapologetic about it. This bothers some people. Perhaps worse, they have never hesitated to call out other manufacturers who market their knives as weapons when they are clearly not up to the task. Sorry folks, your 3" liner lock is not a fighting knife, even if you call it something cool like the 'Grayman Operator.'
3. The knife world is a team sport. People have their team and they root for them and hate the other guys. More, we have invested money in it and want to fell that we spent wisely. Some manufacturers have even encouraged this team and clique thing as a way to drive sales.
At the end of the day a knife really is just sharpened metal (or rock I suppose) that you use to cut things. In what practical way is a Recon 1 different than an Endura? What job will the one do that the other cannot? One might be stronger, but does that matter? One might be lighter, but will you notice a couple quarters weight difference in your pocket? Blade Steel? The most iconic knife company in America, Randall, makes their amazing blades from steel that a true aficionado would dismiss out of hand if another maker offered it.
We have our teams and our expensive knives, and we defend them. The sale of Cold Steel to some ignorant and indifferent Mega Corp opens the door for many previous fans to walk away. They are invested in OLD Cold Steel, REAL Cold Steel. That customer loyalty is not included with the purchase of a brand name,, and so far GSM has done nothing to win it. Nor do they care.