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.
14 comments:
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
hi,do any of these knockoffs stamp iwata into the brushes and if so how do you tell them apart, i know this sounds stupid but if you dont have either side by side is there a chance of being duped, regards kruz-t
hi again do the iwata hp-b+cplus come without cutaway handles as in the type you can get to the chucking nut without taking off the handles,regards kruz-t
Kruz-t,
To answer your questions. Most copies do not have the words Iwata engraved on them. However, recently we have seen a few coming in from China with the name Iwata on them. One of the best ways to tell is that along with the name and the word Japan, there is a batch code. Its 2 letters near the bottom edge of the body. We have the master key to be able to distinguish these batch codes as real or fraudulent.
Also, the Plus series comes with the standard single-cutaway micro adjustment handle. The Triple Action Handle would allow you to remove the needle without removing the handle. You can find more information on it here:
http://www.iwata-medea.com/index.php/products/triple_action_handle/
thecklawA lot of these comments, and even the original blog have misinterpreted the words "Knock off". A Knock off is a reverse engineered exact duplicate using cheap or inferior components, a near copy labelled with the original manfacturers brand name falsely.
You cant call a Chinese model a knock off just because it passes some resemblance to parts of different models. Unless its a direct clone (In which case Iwata parts would actually fit) or labeled Iwata when it isnt, then its not a knock off.
There may be some real frauds out there, but stop labelling every cheap chinese brand as a "Private Label Knock Off".
I would say that most of the Ebay specials actually look a LOT more like an Olympos Airbrush personally, especially those with the black handles.
Perhaps that is because the Olympos Airbrushes were the original Japanese high end airbrush manufacturer and many of thier technical innovations are now found on Iwata airbrushes.
Ironic.
Dear Anonymous,
It's you again! You're actually my favorite commenter! Ironic?
Please don't assume that I believe all Chinese or Taiwanese airbrushes are knock offs. While there are many that are indeed knock offs, based on your technical definition, there are many models that are not exact replicas or copies. Of course inspiration for new models comes from various sources including existing models and brands from days past and present. I would expect that Chinese/Taiwanese airbrush manufacturers do indeed produce some of their own unique models. Some of which incorporate ideas and features based on Iwata models or other airbrush manufacturers; and vice versa. That's not the problem.
It sounds to me that you are missing the point. My post is about Chinese/Taiwanese companies that create replicas and exact duplicates of our models. Some with Iwata etched in, some with another name. It is done with intent to fool the consumer and lead them to believe that the product is legit when it's not. Further it's also about retailers who make claims to have authentic Iwata products and then ship out replicas and/or copies of Iwata models and parts.
We know of these practices this through the rash of complaints we get from consumers who call us about questionable retailers falsely representing the products and pass them off as Iwata. We get "warranty" returns for "Iwata" products that aren't Iwata. We read the complaints that occasionally show up on airbrush related forums or through social media outlets.
I'm sorry if I offended you with this post. To me it doesn't matter if the copy is made in China, Taiwan, or even in the US. When I buy brands I generally try to stay vigilant and aware of copies, ie., be it shoes, luggage, camera's, watches, etc.. So, what's wrong with being an educated consumer?
Again, buyer beware.
Regarding your Olympos comments, I don't see how they are relevant. Our responsibility is to the Iwata brand, not Olympos. Admittedly, we were the original US importer of Olympos, but that ended years ago. So, it stands to reason that some of our influence, especially back then, would also come from Olympos. Like I mentioned above, some of our influence comes from other quality airbrush manufacturers like Badger, Paasche, Harder Steeinbeck, Thayer & Chandler, etc. Btw, they too are also occasionally influenced by us! Ironic? Since Olympos has been out of business for a few years now, by their choice, they don't have to defend their brands against knock offs. Yet, the rest of us still do.
Thanks for rekindling this blog post Anonymous. You're always welcome here!
Different Annonymous, that was my first post!
As far as i know Olympos are still very much in business. I just bought a replacement for my 20 year old faithfull. There is a site here...http://olympos-airbrush.ocnk.net/product-list/1
Direct knock offs dont do anyone any favours (Anything falsely labelled Iwata should be prevented for sure), but near copies and lookalikes are no real damage, in fact they actually spurn on many markets and indeed have affected the Iwata brand in a positive way very recently. Iwata have been forced through competition to release the Neo for Iwata, a brush half the price of any other Iwata to compete. This in itself has undoubtedly brought in sales for Iwata, and will probably bring in some future brand loyalty for those upgrading from the cheaper brush. A bad thing...i think not. Would it have happened without the pressure from China...no. I even thought about buying a Neo, just to get an idea for the Iwata feel. I have always used Olympos and H&S stuff personally but if i liked the cheap Neo i would probably be prepared to try out a Micron going forward.
History shows that when competition from 3rd world suppliers enter a market, the weak perish and the strong get stronger, in the end both the companies and the customers win.
The other thing to remember is that the Chinese companies DO invest and will continue to invest, a few years ago thier products were a joke, now you can actually get some good ones. They will continually improve and learn, after all they need to make money with sales looking to the future.
Remember that many years ago people had exactly the same compaints about cheap inferior Japanese knock offs and clones to western goods...and look where Japan is today. This will almost certainly be the story with China in coming years, it is market forces at work, trying to fight it is futile.
India, and then Africa will surely follow in years to come...perhaps forcing some Chinese companies to complain about cheap Indian Knock offs!
I do think that some of the superiour Chinese copies should in fact have thier own brand names more apparent. It would help them build thier own reputations.
Oh, and your post in no way offended me.
Dear Anonymous,
My apologies. Your post sounded suspiciously like the "other anonymous" who lurks here.
China/Taiwan, no doubt, will get better. It's very hard to buy anything today that isn't made in China or has a componant or part that's made there. I think my TV is from China and it's awesome! As you mentioned years ago maybe Chinese airbrushes wasn't as good as they are today. (Note the date of my original post was 2006). But still today, we have challenges with many of same issues we had 6 years ago. Therefore my post from then is still valid even today.
Generally I mostly agree with your follow up comments and and of course respect your opinions. I too share many of those same opinions with regards to nations transitioning into modern day quality producers. However, I'm still in disagreement on Olympos. I'm suspicious about that one for sure! Probably stuff which was left over after the closure; unless the son brought it out of retirement!?
With respect.
This is the same problem being faced by Bandai's Gundam model kits. It's sad that there are even defenders of bootlegs and knockoffs. And they even turn it into a class war.
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