The current economic situation has most everyone concerned, and well it should. (For more on the subject, see page 20.) How has it affected the knife industry? BLADE® contacted those who make, purchase and sell knives this past Christmas-buying season, and their take on the subject is instructive.

“All knife sales have slowed,” knifemaker Murray Carter said, “especially given that this is the time of the year when customers usually are buying several items to give as gifts.”

As usual when money is tight, it’s the people and products on the low end that are affected most, and it’s no different with the cutlery business.

“The lower-range knives are hurting more than any,” knifemaker Kit Carson asserted. “Knives are luxury items and guys that buy the lower-priced knives are always the first to go.” All of which is bad news, especially for the makers who are just entering the business. “I feel the new makers, for the most part, will feel it the hardest,” Carson added, because “they are the primary makers of the lower-end spectrum.”

Meanwhile, the people with lots of money still have it (or at least a good bit of it) and still spend it, so knives on the upper end are doing just fine—in fact, more than fine.

“Knives $8,000 to $15,000 are strong and those above $15,000 are hot,” purveyor Michael Donato noted. “Engraved knives are [selling well] but buyers are only buying the very well-engraved [ones].” In his mid-November offering, purveyor Don Guild said he sold a whopping 53 of the 70 total knives on the first day, including three orders for a pair of Ken Steigerwalt knives at $10,000 and “almost every knife I have over $3,500.”

On the other hand, sales for knives in the medium range—$400-$850 or so—were mixed. “Medium-priced knives are varied, with some going fast and others not selling at all,” Donato observed. Added Guild, “The medium-priced knives moved only if it was a well-known maker and the price was right.”

It’s interesting to note that much the same can be said of the factory industry. “The low end is off but our business as a whole is booming,” one industry source said. “Our high-end stuff is through the roof.”
Concerning the recent surge in gun sales brought on by fears that the incoming Barack Obama administration will clamp down on gun rights, the same source said knife purchases had not benefited at all, apparently not even in add-on sales. If anything, Carter commented, the run on guns may have hurt knife sales some. “Several would-be knife consumers are spending their expendable income frantically purchasing military-style guns, hi-capacity magazines and military caliber ammo,” he observed.

Some cutlery enterprises faired better than the median. According to Jason Kunkler of the web-based KnifeCenter of the Internet, though KnifeCenter’s sales growth rate in October was about half what it was in September, the rate was still up. “We continue to sell everything from Old Timer to Chris Reeve every day,” he noted. “This may be because the market penetration of e-commerce knows no geographic bounds.

“Several factors seem to insulate us from the downturn in the economy. First of all, e-commerce is still a growth industry as more people become comfortable with—and addicted to—shopping online. Second, there are fewer brick-and-mortar knife stores around, which funnels business to national retailers with staffed 800 numbers such as [KnifeCenter]. Finally, we are forever increasing our product offerings and improving the shopping experience for our customers.”

Another exception is on the low end with Carter and the household cutlery for which he is so well known. “Practical blades like our popular kitchen knives are still selling the best, many in prices between $150 and $250,” he noted. “We are maintaining fiscal viability and continue to pay two full-time salaries, but only due to the extraordinary marketing efforts we continually employ,” including his internet newsletter.

Sure, times are hard, but those who market their knives wisely, present a wide range of quality styles priced accordingly, continue to offer the knives for which they are known and make best, work hard and hustle should do just fine. Some of the biggest knife success stories have resulted during or as a result of difficult fiscal times, and the right knives remain good investments almost always (see page 50 for but one example of knives that have enjoyed significant appreciation in the past couple of years).

Meanwhile, support your favorite knifemaker/knife company/knife store and buy a good knife. Together, we can all emerge from this the better for it, and so can the knife industry.