$899.00 for a K2 ski??

[Philpug]

K2 also owns it's plant, it is not sourcing skis from another company so they have full control over their own processing. What happens elsewhere has nothing to do with this topic.

 

[Bruuuce]

Yup, I'm familiar with their pledge. As in all my dealings with China, I value action more than words. I hope he follows through because that would have a huge positive effect on global emissions.

 

[C-Diddy]

Where it is built makes a significant difference. For example QA in China is not the same as QA in Japan or Germany.

May I ask how you know this? It seems a little racist. Top end golf and bicycle manufacturing has been going on in China for a long time now. Golf clubs guys use on the PGA tour are made in China. The truth is that China has been doing manufacturing for decades now and their workers arguably have higher skill and experience than anyone, at least in a lot of sectors. Probably in skis too. I'm not saying this is necessarily you, but I find it odd that so many skiers have no issue with every bit of what they own in life is made in China, but for skis, that is where they draw the line. Heck, even some of the most expensive ski apparel (Patagonia, Arcteryx, Hestra) are made in China. There are jackets that Patagonia and Arcteryx make that are more expensive than some brand new skis.

I can see if you don't want to buy Chinese made products because of environmental and social justice issues, but quality should not be in the equation.

 

[scott43]

Yeah I would agree that China can build pretty much anything at very high quality..at a price. The problem is, they can build stuff very cheaply as well. And it's very tempting to build really cheap crap, spec'd by the ultimate vendor, to make some dough. It's nothing to do with the builder, per se, it's the vendor who is trying to make the profit.

 

[Calbearski]

The reality is China can produce whatever you want at whatever quality you're willing to pay for. Everything from Happy Meal toys to adequate Harbor Freight tools to high end electronics comes from China. Yes, I'd like to "buy made in the USA" but the reality is that isn't always going to happen and, if it does, it may be out of my price range in many instances. To the OP's point, I wouldn't worry about a K2 ski manufactured in China. I've skied them and they are solid, well constructed, well finished skis that can compete with any other manufacturer's product at the same or higher price points.

Thanks Andy, this is the type of feedback I was looking for.

 

[Quandary]

China’s Pledge to Be Carbon Neutral by 2060: What It Means (Published 2020)

Under international pressure to do more to address global warming, Xi Jinping made a surprise commitment to drastically reduce emissions. Now comes the hard part.

www.nytimes.com

Apparently you haven't spent much time working with the Chinese.........

 

[Couchmaster]

The real disruption for K2 is now likely on the way in the form of a Chinese company making an identical product and selling it for 1/10 or so.

Anyone who has traveled has seen this with North Face and Arc'terix.

 

[S.H.]

The real disruption for K2 is now likely on the way in the form of a Chinese company making an identical product and selling it for 1/10 or so.

Anyone who has traveled has seen this with North Face and Arc'terix.

there are offbrand chinese copies of many other brands skis/boots out there. They don't really seem to be disrupting much ...

 

[Philpug]

The real disruption for K2 is now likely on the way in the form of a Chinese company making an identical product and selling it for 1/10 or so.

Anyone who has traveled has seen this with North Face and Arc'terix.

The difference is, the clothing brands are using factories that produce product for tens (hundreds?) of labels. K2 owns and controls the factory where their skis are being produced.

 

[givethepigeye]

What ski and are we talking MSRP or MAP? With or without binding? And what does it matter where it is built? Is a Mercedes built in Alabama perform any less than one buit in Stuttgart?

To some, yes. Much like some feel that a Leica lens from CAD isn't the same as a Leica lens from Wetzlar. Not saying its rational, but there is a bias.

 

[Philpug]

To some, yes. Much like some feel that a Leica lens from CAD isn't the same as a Leica lens from Wetzlar. Not saying its rational, but there is a bias.

Yup. I will eat a White Castle hamburger at the restaurant, but not the frozen ones. The latter are just not as bad.

 

[dovski]

The difference is, the clothing brands are using factories that produce product for tens (hundreds?) of labels. K2 owns and controls the factory where their skis are being produced.

I used to work closely with HP and one of their execs told me the story of a top secret wholly owned factory HP built in China to produce their cutting edge printers. They did this as they were getting disrupted by cheap knock-offs when they outsourced manufacturing and saw their new products knocked off day one. The new factory came online and rolled out its first batch of products - within two weeks all were being knocked off. They rolled out their second round of products and all were knocked off within a week and by the third round all products where essentially knocked off day of launch. They finally moved manufacturing back to the US and demolished the factory only to discover an identical factory across the street. Seems the contractor who built their top secret factory decided to build a second which was used to knock off all the products HP built in the first factory

 

[François Pugh]

I remember being a big HP fan back in the day; they were the best. Things change. IMHO, the trouble with HP isn't that other companies began making products just as good as theirs; it's that they started making products just as bad (or worse) than the other companies.

 

[ski otter 2]

I was in a business at one time that negotiated with Chinese and Hong Kong factories/maufacturers for what we wanted, by phone and now and then in person. Their prices were so low and volumes so high we had to, for certain items. I was always struck by the really chilling attitude from those I was negotiating with, or even getting quotes from. It was like a huge real estate deal, where one realizes everyone at the table would cut your throat in an instant if it profited them long term.

 

[dbostedo]

Seems the contractor who built their top secret factory decided to build a second...

So the factory itself was a knock-off!

 

[dovski]

So the factory itself was a knock-off!

Actually it was a duplicate as the contractor hired to build the factory decided to build two, they also bought two of each item that went into the fabrication/assembly line and also bought the identical materials. All this made reverse engineering and duplicating the original product incredibly simple.

 

[dovski]

I was in a business at one time that negotiated with Chinese and Hong Kong factories/maufacturers for what we wanted, by phone and now and then in person. Their prices were so low and volumes so high we had to, for certain items. I was always struck by the really chilling attitude from those I was negotiating with, or even getting quotes from. It was like a huge real estate deal, where one realizes everyone at the table would cut your throat in an instant if it profited them long term.

We have a friend who used to own a novelty toy company. Everything he sold was made in China under contract. He would only pay a 10 deposit and insisted on thorough product inspection of the final shipment before releasing the rest of the funds. Seems that one year he ordered 10,000 Mexican wrestling masks for his Halloween inventory. The manufacturer decided to save some money and only used 50% the material that was called out in the spec. The end result was three month later he had a shipping container full of Mexican wrestling masks that could only fit newborns.

 

[Philpug]

Lets get back to this being about K2 skis and not other unrelated products.

 

[dovski]

Lets get back to this being about K2 skis and not other unrelated products.

you mean K2 Skis from China (said while trying to impersonate Alec Baldwin doing his SNL impersonation of ..... )

 

[Philpug]

you mean K2 Skis from China (said while trying to impersonate Alec Baldwin doing his SNL impersonation of ..... )

Yes. I thought I was pretty clear.