AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

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monstro
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AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by monstro »

I contacted Knifeshop (ie: AKC.IT) directly in an attempt to clarify what it actually is, and where it's actially from, and got the below.


The knife is correct but they made the wrong description, this is a new
brand from AKC which is called AKC World and will be with us shortly.

Kind regards,

Tanja
Tom19176
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by Tom19176 »

Made in CHINA. Not sure who AKC World is or if AKC authorized it? I would be surprised if AKC is now allowing a China made item to be sold with their name on it, but who knows. The three OTFs from them ( F 16, F 20 and EVO) are all Twain made but of good quality and it is noted they are not made in Italy.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by monstro »

To clarify: AKC *IS* a brand associated with / owned by the Campolin family? Correct?

Welk, The onlne store at AKC.iT redirects me to 3knives / knifeshop.com., Which as i understand is something Angelo Campolin is involved in.

So i contacted their email adresss for clarificaiton, and that's what i got back.

Seems like they are supporing the product fi they're going to stock it.

Although maybe they have resgined themselves to the fact that AKC branded knives are going to come out of Asia, whether they support them or not.

Seems lke another nail in the coffin for stilettos made in Italy.

Pascctto and DiBon dod churn out more 33CM swinguards recently (not the exact shape 3K/Knifehop) was selling... but the price is a multiple of what 33CM Swnguards were being sold for on Knifeshop / 3K
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Killgar
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by Killgar »

Who's "Tanja"? And are you sure she knows what she's talking about? It's not uncommon for employees of online knife retailers to be wrong about knives.

I look at the evidence- The knives STILL don't appear on the AKC website. They have never been sold at Knifeshop.com (not yet anyway). But for quite awhile now they have been sold on DHGate and several other Chinese websites that are infamous for selling falsely branded AKC knives.

It doesn't make sense to me that anyone from the Campolin family would go through the trouble and expense of having the tooling made to produce ROMA knives, have large numbers of the knives made, but not sell them on their own site, and instead let DHGate sell them for $22 a piece. I see one Chinese site selling the 9" version for $10 a piece, and the 11" for $11.50 each.

The simple fact that DHGate sells them tells me they're fake.

I still haven't seen anything to make me believe they are from AKC, and I see plenty of evidence to believe they aren't. No offense to Tanja.
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monstro
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by monstro »

The reply from was from Knifeshop /3 knives email address. So i would presume Tanja is someone who works there.

I would agree that this doesn't really add up however.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by Tom19176 »

I had emailed Grindworks about these months ago saying they are NOT made in Italy and were fakes. After about five emails, they changed the wording on these no longer to say made in Italy. I agree with you Killgar.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by Tom19176 »

https://www.grindworx.com/item--Italian ... lic--40366

If you click on the specs they now say made in Italy/Hong Kong....

Model:Roma Swinguard
Country of Origin:Hong Kong, Italy
Best Use:Everyday Carry
Product Type:Knife
sammy the blade
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by sammy the blade »

Italy may have jumped on the bandwagon along with everyone else. Seems like everything comes from China anymore.
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JulesVane
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by JulesVane »

Tanja is definitely someone from Angelo’s online store, I’ve dealt with her before. I have to wonder, like Sammy said, if Angelo is just giving into the counterfeiters here. He certainly can’t shut them down, so maybe he arranged some sort of a “financial arrangement”, where he’s getting a piece of the pie. AKC is only a registered trademark in Italy, outside of Italy, Angelo has no legal recourse on who uses it. That’s why, in my opinion, he’s been changing stamps on his 9” swinguards from AKC to A.G.A. Campolin which is a registered trademark with a much further reach.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by sammy the blade »

The Chinese aren't worried about a registered trademark, ask Bill.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by JulesVane »

sammy the blade wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2023 11:22 pm The Chinese aren't worried about a registered trademark, ask Bill.
If you think about it, the Leverletto is probably the only switchblade that's still marked AKC that we know is made in Italy. He's been changing everything they are still producing (which isn't much), over to A.G.A. Campolin.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by Bill DeShivs »

In the 1960s, the Japanese started copying American electric guitars. By the 1970s they were very good at it, and American quality was going down. Most of the American factories contracted with the Japanese to build their guitars.
No one in the little Italian town of Maniago wants to make knives now. It's dirty work. Look at Sheffield, England-once world famous for cutlery. Solingen Germany is the same.
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monstro
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by monstro »

Angelo attented a knife show i was at last Autumn. i had expected him to turn up with a decent amount of items, and maybe even have some things on offer that would be considered a rarity.

He had one of smallest tables at the exhibition, maybe a dozen small malteese style models, some of the Taiwanese OTFs (which i hear are actually pretty good... Although just not for me). and that was about it.

Italian knives arent my main area of focus, but it's a pity to see this area of knife manufacturing going through a change like this.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by Mario »

I noticed the AKC World stamp on a few of the knives that have popped up recently.

So I guess we can assume Angelo arranged to have a Chinese company produce some AKC products? With the way things are at the moment and everything coming from China these days, wouldn’t surprise me if he decided it was the best route to go economically. The Chinese counterfeiters I’m sure have caused the Italian knife makers to take a hit.

The EVO line is made in Taiwan, correct? This seems to be Angelo/AGA/AKC’s attempt at going the “Benchmade Red Class” route. The Red Class of course was Benchmade’s short lived line of budget Chinese made folding knives, much like Spyderco’s Byrd line.
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Re: AKC Roma - Clarification of Origin

Post by monstro »

The last few years, there's been some very competitively priced knives coming out of Maniago.

Items where an American made equivalent would likely cost a lot more.

Labour isn't thatr chaapn in Italy????

So it makes me consider two possibilities:

1) American made knives have a large mark up.

2) Some Italian made knives are not as Italian as they're marketed. If AKC is moving towards imported models, maybe it's part of a trend not just in the Switchblade area.
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