- Joined
- Oct 14, 2017
- Messages
- 276
I remember around 2-3 years ago, when Emersons were all the hype and rage. The knife exchange was filled with Emersons and sold like hot cakes, while every other pic in the pics threads would be of emersons. Now there is hardly a whisper about them on any forum.
Back then, 2-3 years ago, I absolutely fell in love with Emersons. It was more of an affair though; she was beautiful, but a little rough around the edges, but all the guys wanted her. At that time Emerson was at a prime; releasing new excellent attractive models every few months or so. Their customs were on fire in the secondary market, being bought for crazy markups. Everybody wanted them.
They also had their signature series which was meant to be limited edition models and supposedly never to be produced again after the run is finished.
The Emerson Knife brand had it all; beauty, novelty, exclusivity, and a large loyal community.
What happened since then til now?
From what I see, there were several factors combined together that led to the decline in popularity or Emersons.
1. The start of re-releasing of select Signature Series models into production models, which were suppose to be limited edition. In doing so, yes they may have gotten lots of sales, but it significantly dilutes the brand's exclusivity aspect.
2. Progressively less innovative or novel designs. These past 2 years Emerson progressively released less and less completely new designs, instead focusing on re releasing more signature series as production models, or mix and matching their handles and blades and calling it a new model.
3. Because the prices for the more special or custom Emersons got so high at its peak 2-3 years ago, they became out of reach for many people, and thus many people navigated towards other brands.
It's no secret that the fit and finish of Emerson knives is absolute mediocre. Featuring basic materials and outdated steels. For the same price you can get a ZT with better blade, fit and finish worlds better, a knife in your hand that looks and feels and performs like its price.
What made people love emerson so much and kept coming back though was as I mentioned before, constant beautiful and novel designs, exclusivity, and a community following the brand, interacting with fellow emerson enthusiasts. That outweighed the crappy fit and finish, the un-uniform g10 scales, the basic materials and outdated blade.
But in the 3 points I mentioned above, because those things occurred in the past 2 years, all those reasons that made an Emerson special and what made everyone want them and overlook all the negatives, disappeared.
What was once an industry leader is now a shadow of what it once was.
Back then, 2-3 years ago, I absolutely fell in love with Emersons. It was more of an affair though; she was beautiful, but a little rough around the edges, but all the guys wanted her. At that time Emerson was at a prime; releasing new excellent attractive models every few months or so. Their customs were on fire in the secondary market, being bought for crazy markups. Everybody wanted them.
They also had their signature series which was meant to be limited edition models and supposedly never to be produced again after the run is finished.
The Emerson Knife brand had it all; beauty, novelty, exclusivity, and a large loyal community.
What happened since then til now?
From what I see, there were several factors combined together that led to the decline in popularity or Emersons.
1. The start of re-releasing of select Signature Series models into production models, which were suppose to be limited edition. In doing so, yes they may have gotten lots of sales, but it significantly dilutes the brand's exclusivity aspect.
2. Progressively less innovative or novel designs. These past 2 years Emerson progressively released less and less completely new designs, instead focusing on re releasing more signature series as production models, or mix and matching their handles and blades and calling it a new model.
3. Because the prices for the more special or custom Emersons got so high at its peak 2-3 years ago, they became out of reach for many people, and thus many people navigated towards other brands.
It's no secret that the fit and finish of Emerson knives is absolute mediocre. Featuring basic materials and outdated steels. For the same price you can get a ZT with better blade, fit and finish worlds better, a knife in your hand that looks and feels and performs like its price.
What made people love emerson so much and kept coming back though was as I mentioned before, constant beautiful and novel designs, exclusivity, and a community following the brand, interacting with fellow emerson enthusiasts. That outweighed the crappy fit and finish, the un-uniform g10 scales, the basic materials and outdated blade.
But in the 3 points I mentioned above, because those things occurred in the past 2 years, all those reasons that made an Emerson special and what made everyone want them and overlook all the negatives, disappeared.
What was once an industry leader is now a shadow of what it once was.
