The Sharp End: 4 Ways Knife Brands are Differentiating in a Competitive Market

“This long tradition and our heritage are important for our brand because customers know they can rely on our knives to serve them well in a wide range of different applications.”

Looking at the product range on display on the Marttiini stand at IWA in 2025, which itself was designed to invoke a sense of Scandinavian tradition, you could see that Marttiini does not just tell people about its heritage, it showcases it. The product range showcases it too through its designs, the materials used, and how the story is told behind each product. A long history is not something you can invent, so if you have it, it makes perfect sense to use it as a way to differentiate from other brands.

Offer better bang for buck

Everyone who buys something wants to feel like they have got a good deal, and that is particularly important when there is so much choice available like in the knife market. That ethos is something that Halfbreed Blades from Australia takes very seriously.

“One of many things we focus on with our knives is offering exceptional carry systems,” says company CEO Jonathan Loftes. “That was something that really frustrated me when I was growing up and buying knives in my early 20s. Often I’d buy a fantastic knife, but the sheath was substandard. When I decided to do my thing and create this company, I figured you needed to invest in much in the carry system as you did in the actual tool.

“How you carry a knife is the difference as to whether you carry it or not. We don’t just give you one option, we give you two or three inside the box, so that it’s more feature-rich – that’s really our thing. You get more bang for your buck, and that idea came from my own frustration as a consumer over the years.”

Halfbreed Blades is a relatively new kid on the block when it comes to the knife market, but it was born out of Jonathan’s passion for the outdoors. It makes a staggeringly large range of knives and tools for all levels of use from the military down to casual hunters and campers. Everything in the range is made to Jonathan’s own personal design ideas.

“A lot more people are entering the knife market at the moment, and I think that’s because knives translate well to many different spaces such as hunting, fishing, camping, and general outdoor,” he says. “People are now spoilt for choice because there’s so much out there. I don’t think the market is saturated, but there is a lot of innovation and options out there, which is a good thing overall. We’ve got our Australian lineage and our own unique design aesthetic that helps us stand out. What I like is what I design and what I make. Everything has to be over-engineered, built tough, and made for life.”

Create products for professionals

Some brands combine many different selling points together in order to stand out from the crowd. A great example of that is TB Outdoor from France. This company has a modern, state-of-the-art factory in Thiers – the capital of French knife and cutlery making – but it’s also a 13th generation family business. This combination of huge history alongside ultra-modern manufacturing makes this made in Europe brand an eye-catching one.

“In the knife market today, it’s not only a question of price,” CEO of TB Outdoor Carole Tarrerias explains. “The price is important, of course, but it’s not the major point – the major point is the resistance, the materials that are used, how it’s made, where it’s made, and all the processes that are used in the production. We have a balance between modern styles and production techniques but also a long history.”

Another way to really elevate your product’s profile is to make something that the professionals rely on. In TB Outdoor’s case, it was showcasing its CAC knife range at IWA OutdoorClassics, which is used by the French Army. This robust, ambidextrous field knife can be opened and closed with one hand and has several different variations and applications.

“Consumers definitely resonate with the fact this is used by the French Army,” says Carole. “This is important for us because the selection process for being chosen by the army is tough. They demand a very high level of quality, so for us to have achieved that gives a fantastic image of quality and durability for this product and our brand. The reaction to this knife at the show so far has been very good, it is helping us stand out.”

Use a bottom-up approach

Listening to your customers is one thing but letting them shape the product ranges your company produces is something else entirely. That’s the rough business plan for Taiwanese start-up company Work Tuff Gear. Its founder Victor Lin first began learning how to make knives in 2016 and by 2018 he had come up with his own brand. Victor works very closely with different outdoorsmen and knife influencers to come up with unique products that no one else offers.

“In 2018, I did a show in Oregon in the US and I met a lot of different guys who really loved the quality of the knives I made,” he explains. “They were asking me if I could make different designs according to their ideas and needs, and this is basically how it began. Our knives are pretty much custom, which makes us stand out. By working with these outdoorsmen and knife makers, we are creating very interesting and unique products from the ground up rather than top-down.”

Work Tuff Gear has had more than 60 different designs over the past six years and everything it makes is in small batches. This not only helps to keep demand high but also ensures that this young company doesn’t overstretch itself. Victor came to IWA OutdoorClassics to showcase a few of his more popular designs to see if European dealers had an appetite for any of them before considering a larger production run.

“The ideas come from the market, from the professionals, and I am enabling their ideas to come to life,” Victor says. “As a smaller company with smaller resources, this means we are making more effective product ranges. I don’t want to be as big as the big brands, we are in a different direction to that, but we are growing.”