Agreed, its just bloody lazy and as soon as someone pops up they go again... most thinking i can make a few quid but actually without a long term view you can't. like so many they sell to a few mates and then the scope of the task is a little too much for most people.
A little honesty wont do anyone any harm and i'm willing to stake my own money on it.
In comparison to some others i have been making my own shape by hand then sending them off to people I know or have met to see who can reproduce them "by hand" and allow me to make numbers.
Even this does not make me a bat maker but it does make me try to at least vary what is out there and improve in areas i feel i can. The simple relabelling job is one that many undertake, many poorly and all competing year on year for a tiny % of market share only to be undone by the next set of labels.
Once you can actually add something to the pot, innovate and convert knowledge/passion into something viable then you will be fighting innertia and be limited in what you can do.
A bat, is a bat is a bat.... not my words but from someone many of you all revere and said to me when i first started looking at getting to "know" not speculate about the industry itself.
If you are in this trade you are in it for the love first and money is a bonus at least to keep you in the industry itself. The whole package is ready for a little shake and i believe its not too far away.