RETURN OF THE TACTICAL FIXED BLADE
When developing a new product or their version to enter into an established market, most industry professionals rely on product lifecycle management. The basic version had four steps—development and introduction, growth, maturity/stability and decline—and applies to most all products that are sold, including custom knives. However, trends must be accounted for in the cycle with the added step of saturation, a step that is particularly applicable to custom knives. As a result, the lifecycle for custom knives has five steps: development and introduction, growth, maturity/stability, saturation and decline.
The most recent example of saturation in the tactical folder was seen over the past 10 years, even though the knife began to take off in the early 1990s. Tactical folders featuring new openers, stabilizers, bolsters and handle materials were all the rage. The growth was spurred when both makers and
