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[tailender]

Afternoon Gentleman

after spending the last two years traveling I logged on here to see what the new chat was all about.

Thought I would post something that has been topic of discussion before but never really directly addressed:

When I was a lad, a long long time ago, the cricket bat market consisted of a small hand full of "bat makers" with each bat being slightly different:  by that, I mean if a lad from my club had an SS, and I had a Duncan Fearnley, we would be able to see distinct differences.  Additionally, each bat felt hand made and felt different, I used to love spending hours of my time picking up bats and trying them out before buying. Sad, I know

Today, we see what can only be described as a plague of pop up cricket brands, offering hand made Grade 1 English willow bats, hand selected, hand finished blardy blardy bla.  I guarantee I can purchase Bat A from brand 1 and Bat B from brand 2 and they will both be exactly the same profile, made by the same guys and probably sent over here on the same plane. 

Should the market regulations be amended to state that only cricket brands that MAKE THEIR OWN BATS can brand them accordingly. 

I would love to see a reduction in the amount of pop up brands... popping up! and a return to the quality driven industry I was used to growing up!

I may sound old and bitter, but there's too much average sh*t floating around the market at the moment.  Lads popping up with a free website, importing bits and bobs and selling from their bedroom.  Something needs to change.

Its not just the small boys that pi*s me off:  Adidas, New Balance, SS, Spartan, Slazenger and a whole load more don't make their own bats.

[Kez]

Devils advocate here what about the VW group selling three or four versions of the same car with different badges on is that any different?

And I don't see a problem with it, if a customer is fussed about where something has come from or who has made it they can research it to ensure it meets their standards.
But if all someone cares about is having the same bat (Stickers) as Joe Root or Kohli or whatever "bedroom brand" they like good luck to them.

[Tom]

The only regulation I'd like to see, is that of grading. At present there's nothing to stop someone selling any old piece of willow as G1.

[tailender]

Good point Tom:  I know Adidas have a completely unique grading system for their bats. 

VW is a great example of the way in which a market such as this manipulates the consumer.

Just seems far too easy to label something as Grade A when in actual fact its Grade 2 at best

[GDP1964]

As a Brand B&S try to achieve the Following
Maintain their current customer base
Attract new Customers
Keep Customer Service at the highest level possible
Be very Competitive Price wise
Supply a Quality Product that will compete against the best

So as far as rules regulations pop up brands grading and the rest goes

The Paying Public are no fools if you don't produce the above mentioned service you won't be around to long in this Game we all love so much

[The Cricket Boutique]

Good post! One that ties in with our ethos at TCB.

We get loads of what you would class a pop up brands contacting us asking us to stock their product to which we politely decline.

If the bat maker doesn't work directly for the company (or own the company) and we cant contact them directly then we wont sell their bats.

It would be really good if brands were made to disclose where their bats came from and who they were made by as this would give the buying public a much better idea what they were actually getting but we know this will never happen.

[JK Lewis]

Pop up brands, in any industry, will pop up when people think there are likely to be enough customers to support them. I don't think that this can be regulated. The important thing is to encourage cricketers to look beyond the labels, and to understand that the batmaking industy in the UK is worth supporting.

[ProCricketer1982]

Smaller brands aren't the enemy, people will only start up small brands if there is a gap in the market. Big brands are all well and good but just look at the prices being charged.

[smilley792]

Wait? Did the OP say that SS don't make bats??

[ppccopener]

To be honest it's not going to go back to how it was, sponsorship is just too big with huge fees for TV rights. It's quite a long time since Sachin walked out with a MRF bat to get some of us scratching our heads that the madras rubber factory was now making bats 

Most of the posts I read on here show a similarity theme....made in uk, finished in uk, every bat hand made in xyzville....all can have a slightly different meaning to what it actually says. For some brands I think assembled in UK or finished in UK would be better....but there's a grey area. You cannot stop some brands using this way of marketing.

all you can really ask is you have as much info as possible before buying, some people may not be bothered in the least, but some will be.

Bat prices are just crazy but there is value out there if you look, no one is convincing me a 600 quid legend is better than a 250 quid uk made bat by rob pack or any other of the top uk makers. But people buy these expensive bats and it's their choice.

[Bats_Galore]

Complete nonsense. I can't think of many industries where the label on the outside is a guarantee that the whole product is made by that company. Further for me bats on average perform better than they ever did. Obviously there will be rubbish made in every product type, but the average is better than it has ever been. Further not heard of many instances of reducing competition in an industry improving things. Finally markets are more transparent than they have ever been, due to speed and breadth of information sharing.

[Alvaro]

Wait? Did the OP say that SS don't make bats??

Most probably an oversight that doesn't detract from his overall point

[smilley792]

Most probably an oversight that doesn't detract from his overall point

I think it adds to his overall point.

Not everyone knows who and who doesn't make bats, and when you think one of the biggest batmakers doesn't make bats, it shows that the waters are indeed murky.






If a "made by (insert batmaker) at "(insert factory) sticker became mandatory, it would stop the likes of millichamp and newbery charging well over the odds for Indian imports. They'd have to charge similar or less than the factory actuall bats to compete, and joe public will stop being ripped off.!

[Calzehbhoy]

Think all new bats sold should have the makers name declared on it somewhere or the seller should have to declare where they are made.

[smilley792]

In the USA all new cars have to show on a sticker, and in the spec catalogue the information below





Something similar would be quite useful on a cricket bats spec.