BUYER BEWARE!
Honestly, we're flattered.
Like most everything of high quality these days, the airbrush is not immune to knock offs and generic copies, especially our brand - Iwata. One would think that the airbrush industry is small enough to be insulated from such pettyness, but its not. Copies abound on almost every one of our models from Revolution to Micron series, and there seems to be no end to the madness.
The madness is beginnning to spiral as users are buying cheap imitations from places like China and Taiwan. Then they try and pass them off on places like ebay where they claim that "these are authentic Iwata brushes, straight from the factory."
They are not.
Even some of our very own wholesale customers have ventured down into this abyss. Under the guise of "it's just marketing 101", and their enlightened wisdom, they have decided to pursue their own "house brands" then pass them off to unsuspecting consumers as Iwata Light - Iwata Quality and Performance without the cost.
Amateurs.
We occaisionally get calls from customers who claim that "so-and-so says that Iwata makes this brand for them..." Or "...are Brand X's airbrushes Made by Iwata?"
Truth be told, Iwata does not and will not make anyone elses "airbrush brand X". Cheap makers private label for other companies, why would we compromise our brand name and image by manufacturing things for others? It doesn't make good sense.
Don't do these guys any favors and buy knock offs of any kind, and I'm not just talking about airbrushes, i'm talking TV's, radios, ipods, shoes, watches ~ anything! Even though you think you're getting a "sweet deal" you're not. In many cases you're buying stolen intellectual property or products forged in fly-by-night factories. Products with inferior materials, poor manufacture and most often - no support or warranty.
Trust me, you're not sticking it to "the big corporations" by doing so. You're only hurting quality makers and the faithful people who have worked hard over many year building and supporting you the artist and the airbrush industry. Buying cheap knock-offs only hinders the efforts of established and proactive companies to create and ultimately support, quality airbrush products. Which only hurts you, the aritst, in the end.
Remember if it doesn't say IWATA, it is NOT IWATA.
posted by Gary @ 2:49 PM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Gary,
Your comments are so spot on! We are seeing so many private label knock offs filtering their way into the creative market that it has begun to make us, the retailer, look bad. I cannot tell you how many times we have to defend our pricing when customers are assuming they are doing an apple to apples comparison. They're not!
Buyers beware! When a customer comes into my store with a knock off Iwata, they are often disappointed if the Iwata parts will not fit their brush. Good luck getting the correct spare tips and needles off of eBay. Keep up the fight Gary!
Joe
The Art Store, Des Moines!
Thanks for stopping by Joe!
Excuse me for being blunt, but this post is a little pompous. Are you saying that Iwata is the only manufacturer of a quality airbrush? That is a simply ridiculous, and quite frankly seems a bit desparate. I have many airbrushes, Iwata included. The Iwata's are nice... but so are several of my others. I can do with or without. Posts like this swing me towards the without side.
Dear Anonymous,
Thanks for the comment. The intent of the post is not to implicate your airbrush as inferior. It is simply about buying knock offs and replica's. But since this is my blog and my responsiblity is to the Iwata brand, you will here comments like; if it doesn't say Iwata - it is not Iwata.
This problem is not isolated to just Iwata either; both Badger and Paasche are also facing knock off challenges of their own from China and Taiwan. The Paasche knock offs are so thorough, only a keen I can see the difference visually. These knock off's fly in on the coat-tails of hard working airbrush manufactureers and many claim that they are "authentic but cheaper (insert your favorite brand here)airbrushes."
Again, buying imitations or knock offs IN ANY BUSINESS can only end up hurting the consumer in the long run since the "copy-cats" don't reinvest into the business.
sorry, i meant HEAR comments not HERE comments...
Can you tell us some of the ways to tell if it's a knock off? Or is it just the "Iwata" stamped on it?
Thanks, new to this.
Dear Anonymous,
You're right, if it isn't engraved with Iwata Japan then it is not Authentic Iwata.
Gary
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