TOP KNIFE BRANDS THAT ‘STICK‘ IN THE MINDS OF KNIFE PEOPLE
Brought to you by BladeHQ
Rank | Brand Name | % Able to Recall | % Top of Mind | Awareness Score |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 98.3% | 68.6% | 243.2 | |
2 | 94.3% | 63.0% | 229 | |
3 | 94.9% | 47.6% | 215.8 | |
4 | 62.9% | 22.7% | 124.5 | |
5 | 58.9% | 31.1% | 120.8 | |
6 | 57.1% | 19.0% | 110.4 | |
7 | 52.6% | 16.3% | 100.4 | |
8 | 48.0% | 14.3% | 90.6 | |
9 | 46.9% | 18.3% | 90.4 | |
10 | 42.3% | 13.5% | 79.9 | |
11 | SOG | 40.0% | 7.1% | 72.6 |
12 | Victorinox | 34.9% | 11.5% | 65.1 |
13 | ESEE | 33.7% | 5.1% | 60.8 |
14 | Chris Reeve Knives | 31.4% | 12.7% | 59.3 |
15 | Emerson | 28.0% | 22.4% | 55.4 |
16 | Ontario | 28.6% | 6.0% | 51.8 |
17 | Opinel | 23.4% | 7.3% | 42.5 |
18 | Microtech | 24.0% | 2.4% | 42.5 |
19 | Leatherman | 22.3% | 7.7% | 40.5 |
20 | Case | 18.3% | 0.0% | 32.0 |
21 | Morakniv | 17.7% | 3.2% | 31.8 |
22 | Schrade | 16.0% | 10.7% | 30.3 |
23 | Kizer | 13.7% | 4.2% | 24.5 |
24 | LionSteel | 12.6% | 4.5% | 22.5 |
25 | Pro-Tech | 11.4% | 5.0% | 20.5 |
ABOUT SOGÂ Â Want a SOG? Â Get it now at BladeHQ
SOG Knives is named for the first knife the company ever made, the SOG Bowie Knife – a reproduction of the combat knife carried during the Vietnam era by a covert US special ops unit known as MACV-SOG (Studies and Operations Group). The company was founded in 1986 by chief designer Spencer Frazer who started making the SOG Bowie Knife from his Santa Monica apartment. Frazer has grown the company to offer a full line of fixed blades, folders, automatic knives, multi-tools, flash lights and other gear intended for tactical, hunting/outdoor, and EDC applications.
ABOUT THE SURVEY
We surveyed involved production knife enthusiasts and asked them to list as many production knife brands as they could remember to gauge brand awareness. 70 out of 175 respondents were able to recall SOG and of the 70, 5 did so within their first 3 responses. The average survey respondent was able to recall 12 knife brands and in total 167 brands were recalled.
Research indicates that there is a relationship between brand recall and market share, because in most buying situations a brand must be prominent in the mind of a buyer in order for them to consider purchasing it.
The survey, which was also the basis for our Infographic, did not measure brand esteem or brand identity and has nothing to do with what knife people think about the brands. Instead, it provides an indication of how widely the brand is known and if it has a strong place in the minds of involved production knife enthusiasts.
Visit KnifeNews tomorrow to find out which brand is #10 on our list of the Top Knife Brands that Stick in the Minds of Knife People.
August 13, 2015 #12 Victorinox
August 12, 2015 #13 ESEE
August 11, 2015 #14 Chris Reeve Knives
August 10, 2015 #15 Emerson
August 9, 2015 #16 Ontario
August 8, 2015 #17 Opinel
August 7, 2015 #18 Microtech
August 6, 2015 #19 Leatherman
August 5, 2015 #20 Case
August 4, 2015 #21 Morakniv
August 3, 2015, #22 Schrade
August 2, 2015 #23 Kizer
August 1, 2015 #24 LionSteel
July 31, 2015 #25 Pro-Tech
Jesse Paul Barnes
August 15, 2015 at 5:11 pm
Booo
Vince Charnick
August 15, 2015 at 5:46 pm
Putting SOG over ESEE was a strange choice
Jeff Clark
August 15, 2015 at 5:53 pm
Rowen knives from esee best knives hands down.
James Robert Buckley
August 15, 2015 at 6:36 pm
Sog used to good, now they’re a sackfull of fail, even buck is using S30v now, and kershaw has some CPM154 at a better price point than sogs AUS8, not to mention alot of sog now is just goofy designed
Huang Jason
August 15, 2015 at 7:07 pm
No way.
Kenneth Wever
August 15, 2015 at 8:11 pm
Ok which is better

Mark Meyers
August 15, 2015 at 9:06 pm
SOG? Really?
Kenneth Wever
August 15, 2015 at 9:19 pm
I go more military like SOG and Gerber

John Simmons
August 15, 2015 at 9:25 pm
Don’t you mean esee knives from rowen?
Justin Arney
August 15, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Haha yall better mention Strider and Hinderer… because SOG is pathetic
Nick Williams
August 15, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Cold steel better not beat sog
Jeff Clark
August 15, 2015 at 10:57 pm
There actually made by rowen knive company here in idaho falls, idaho. The knives are sold by esees website.
Josh Fish
August 15, 2015 at 11:39 pm
Presumably K-bar, Gerber, Benchmade, Buck , Microtech, Kershaw, and Pirannah are all yet to come…Sog sold their soul to get sales numbers. Along with a ton of others in the above list.
Matthew Kent
August 16, 2015 at 12:14 am
Esee, Becker, and TOPS trump SOG all day long

Rick Cleveland
August 16, 2015 at 12:44 am
I’m partial to my TOPS 😉
Jeff Clark
August 16, 2015 at 12:45 am
Nice good choice aswell.
Rick Cleveland
August 16, 2015 at 12:47 am
Lol those are more “elite” than any of the “run of the mills”.
Justin Arney
August 16, 2015 at 12:54 am
Lol yeah I agree. I love when “knife” entities like this only promote common lower grade stuff. Even knife news is main stream hahaha
Luis Saenz
August 16, 2015 at 9:59 am
I wouldn’t call them pathetic they’re decent for a beater knife it’s no strider or hinderer by a long shot. But they’re half decent at least the VG10 models are
Eric Holt
August 16, 2015 at 10:35 am
I love sog
Justin Arney
August 16, 2015 at 1:56 pm
Thats true sir. The Pentagon is ok. I gave one to my old work partner a couple years back and he still has ot
Eric Holt
August 16, 2015 at 10:35 am
If you really think blue steel is better than sog your a goon
Mike Lewis
August 17, 2015 at 4:32 am
Where are these made?
Robert Hettchen
August 19, 2015 at 12:23 am
Piranha knives are some of my favorites but there is no way they would make a list thats based only on brand awareness. It’s obvious this list was done by average people. Cause if it was done by knife guys like us Piranha may have a chance. And if not for brand awareness they sure would for quality! ! Hard to get any better than an Excalibur! !
Josh Fish
August 19, 2015 at 12:36 am
Didn’t see Spyderco either and Microtech was way down at #18