U.K. Darts Manufacturers and darts made in England

[Getagrip]

I was thinking the other day when reviewing the Elkadart Titanium darts that there is not as many darts made in England as there used to be.

Target darts and Unicorn often have there darts made in China, I have just checked on 3 sets of Target darts and 2 sets that have recently came out are made in China and an older set are made in Great Britain. I have checked 4 Unicorn sets and they all say "assembled in China" so not sure if that means they are made there. I have checked 3 sets of Harrows and they all say Made in England.

I think when I get a chance I will check more sets but I know Elkadart have there own factory where everything is made near London, I am not sure about Harrows. I think Red Dragon have their own place but again I think they get the bulk of them made in Kenya.

So where am I going with this?

Well apart from the fact that we have U.K. based companies who are not making their items in the U.K. you have to ask why Target and Unicorn get so many made overseas?

My only conclusion is its to save money and take advantage of cheaper production costs, so by that token, how come they can charge close to £50 or more for some sets with an average of around £30 when others making their darts in the U.K. can sell for less than £25?

Are we getting a raw deal as consumers or am I missing something?

I will need to check more sets and find out some more info but I am curious about this. Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[brenthahn]

Target darts and Unicorn often have there darts made in China, I have just checked on 3 sets of Target darts and 2 sets that have recently came out are made in China and an older set are made in Great Britain. I have checked 4 Unicorn sets and they all say "assembled in China" so not sure if that means they are made there.

These days it seems like that's where all the billets come from. And you'd think the shipping of finished barrels would be cheaper than shipping the billets they're made from. So it's not a shocker, eh?

[*Saber*]

Raw deal sounds right !

[Dorian]

Surprising information, I believed that Target were still manufacturing exclusively in Essex I wonder what % is made in the UK. The reasons I suspect are 3-fold:
*China is a major supplier of Tungsten.
*The labour rates are frighteningly low.
*Target have ready access to the very lucrative Asian market.
It could be that the Chinese factory just produces soft -tip for the market? Providing the Q.A is rigourouly maintained there is no issue, when it comes to pricing its all about brand perception and quality and of course the main opposition.
However I thought I was buying British to be honest and I may just take a closer look at the UK manufacturers for any future needs.

Cheers

[mento's]

Harrows is the only company to have all their production and packaging carried out in the uk. As for the billets....... I dont think you would save much.

[stuart180]

It's completely down to cost.
Parts are incredibly cheap in china.
Put it this way, here, a threaded brass rod I needed for a project cost £40... in china it cost £3 !!

Its sad really that we are taxed to death in this country.
It's a shame that good, well established British companies are forced to go abroad rather than manufacture the goods here.

[uncle poop]

This is happening every where I believe. Things that were made here in the states and made well all went to china and the labour camp employees. The companies pay less and charge more and think we should just accept it. It's a load of crap, one company here that makes auto parts said they were moving facilities to china because they could no longer offer the same pricing. Well the packed up and moved now their parts cost more than before yet cost less to make. Just more money in big business's and government's pockets.

The check company the store I work for uses moved their operations overseas. They dropped nearly 5000 people in the states and hired lower paid and less workers where they moved to. We started getting checks late, they weren't the right amounts and one time the checks were blank. The owner of our store dropped them and found one that was local and based near our building.

[Dorian]

Very common isn't it..... on a global scale its been happening for decades ultimately we, the consumers are the cause of it all. It's human nature for the majority of us (outside China and other cheap labour countries) to expect more for less. I've travelled around a number of Chinese manufacturing plants and the reality and scale of some of the larger engineering manufacturers is awe-inspiring. Most have accomodation built on to the factory and you get whole families working together. This is a necessity for China when you've got a population of 1.354 Billion!!!!
I was reading a front page article of a local English publication when I was staying in Shanghai about the need to employ more Western - Middle & Senior management employees as they recognised that whilst their engineering skills were good they lacked experience in negotiating with countries outside Asia.
The headline on the front page read.................................................
wait for it .................................................

50,000 MANAGERS WANTED!

[Infiniti Darts]

Harrows aren't the only company producing in England.

Elkadart are made in England.

[mento's]

Not 100% of production i think.

[mento's]

The raw materials obviously arent too expensive if some companies ie harrows can produce a good quality 90% dart for 20-25gbp.

[Jimbo21]

Sadly our car manufacturing is headed the same way here in Australia. The more developed nations cost of manufacture is so high because we expect to be paid a fair wage for a fair days work.

[Getagrip]

so if they are getting darts produced overseas to maker it cheaper yet sell their darts at nearly twice the price of companies that are making their darts in the U.K. that means they are ripping us off?

Also the likes of Target and Unicorns success is built mainly from the U.K. market so they should at least support the U.K. workforce and have the darts and products made here?

I'm not saying the overseas manufacturing is bad because One80 darts are excellent quality and made in China and shot darts are great too and made in New Zealand.

[Infiniti Darts]

As far as I know Retriever Sports who make Elkadart is 100% UK manufacture.

I can't say 100% about the billets if that is also what you are referring to.

I'm also assuming you mean the cases also??

[Getagrip]

Yeah They make everything, cases and flights, but as you say I dont know if the billets are imported.