There were a significant amount of people saying they would never buy anything with "China" on the knife when the switch was first made. This was before it was so common to have knives produced there. Couple that with a lot of the undeserved bias against Cold Steel, and it just makes sense from a marketing aspect to change production to Taiwan. I've never heard of anything wrong with the China Dolls, and since I'm a Bowie guy who does package deals with my Southern Comfort sheaths, I paid attention to ensure giving a quality product to my customers, which is why I did the "hands on" testing in the first place. MSRP on the Laredos in Carbon V was $400, China Dolls was $200, Taiwan 1st gen. $275, current Taiwan O1 $285. There were some inconsistencies in the handles of the initial batch of Taiwanese Laredos (size and a few developed cracks) that were immediately fixed. I know because I had to exchange a very small number. The handles of the China Dolls had the same feel as the Carbon Vs.