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From an economics standpoint it makes 100% sense. One thing I hate about economics: they never explain, or rather can't explain why despite the marginal costs and benefits, I just don't want my skis produced by some chinaman that has never skied in their life.
About k2 pricing: Their pricing all went up this year. This is straight from the mouth of a shop owner. I can't remember exactly, but I believe Hellbents were going for $550-600 at the beginning of last season. They are going for like $700 now. Depending on the exact numbers this could vary but by my calculations we are looking at around 15% increase in price from one year to the next. This is bullshit. Of course they will blame the price on increase in gas prices, the economy, etc. But wtf. The decrease in costs by moving production to China is definitely NOT getting passed on to the consumer. We are getting fucked. Is it just me or is snowboarding not this expensive? I love skiing more than anything else, and so much of my money gets pumped into this industry. I don't buy shit. I never buy new clothes or electronics or CD's, DVD's anything I am in college, I pay for my bills, and anything else I can scrounge up usually ends up in the ski industry. However, I haven't had a new pair of skis for like 4 years. Everything I buy is used, or seasons old. I can't afford $650 -700 for a fucking pair of skis sans bindings and mount.
My point: Take Moment skis as an example. Sorry to single you guys out, but their skis are serious quality, they spend the time to make sure the designs are sick, the construction is legit. Their pricing is equal to or less than K2. Probably less than on average. Yet, they hand press their skis in the US of fucking A. What happened to economies of scale? K2 is making crazy amounts of skis, why are their prices still so high, when a much smaller, core company, who has way smaller scales is able to offer product at the same price point?