.

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Clea Taylor wrote: Black Diamond seems to make everything. Are there any other companies that come close to that range? Petzl seems like it’s the next in line, any others?

Probably not anymore, since BD started doing ropes and shoes. Trango and edelrid come close, but only in the rock gear department. 

Kyle Elliott wrote:

...since BD started doing ropes and shoes...

Kind of. If I'm not mistaken I think Roca?? is making BD's ropes and Butora is making their shoes. They put the BD logo on them to make them sell but they're not actually making those products. I believe other products probably fall into this category as well...

Mammut comes close for climbing, mountaineering boots instead of shoes. No ski gear though.

Edit: forgot about pro and ice gear.. Nope, nobody comes close.

Do we count all the companies owned by the nameless, faceless, holding company?  

Oberalp and Vaude cover a lot and of course Decathlon make BD look like a corner shop.

BD uses mostly 3rd party manufacturer's.  You could think of them as a very small competitor to the vaude group or Amer sports. Both of which are privately held and have enormous amounts of  diverse equipment in the catalogue.

Bd only in house produces rock pro/ biners and ice tools.  They dont even inhouse slings anymore. 

I wish they stopped copying ideas from other companies ( ice tools, ice screws ) and concentrate on developing something unique.

I can’t think of anything that bd makes that is the best available... their new rebranded atk bindings are certainly sweet but have been available for a long time. That being said, no company under a single name makes as much stuff. However, I feel like amer sports makes a bigger range of things...

Porter M wrote: I can’t think of anything that bd makes that is the best available...

The new C4's in #4,5,6.

I don't know if you can say that their ultralight ice screws are any worse than petzl's which makes them tied for best?

The creek packs are pretty loved and considered the best trade cragging packs by many.

But you're right, they don't crush the competition in any given category.

Caleb Schwarz wrote:

The new C4's in #4,5,6.

I don't know if you can say that their ultralight ice screws are any worse than petzl's which makes them tied for best?

The creek packs are pretty loved and considered the best trade cragging packs by many.

But you're right, they don't crush the competition in any given category.

True, honestly their new ultralight screws may edge out Petzl’s. I have both and bd’s are pretty sweet. I don’t climb wide stuff but the new c4s look stellar, if only wild country made those sizes... it’s trendy to hate on bd, but they make good stuff, get what works for you I guess?

Camp/Kong/Cassin is the Italian Black Diamond. they make an awful lot of varied climbing gear. But unlike BD, I think they actually manufacture all of their goods.

Are Camp/Cassin somehow tied to Kong ? As far as I know those are two different entities.

I'd say Rock Empire. They just don't have the ski stuff.  They also make a lot of the Trango branded hardware. 

BigM wrote: I wish they stopped copying ideas from other companies ( ice tools, ice screws ) and concentrate on developing something unique.

They didn't even try to hide it with their last ice tool.

BigM wrote: Are Camp/Cassin somehow tied to Kong ? As far as I know those are two different entities.

Yeah they are, but together I think they cover the same ground as BD.  CAMP doesn't have ropes, so I threw Kong in there, because they sell Tendon ropes

Zack Robinson wrote:

They didn't even try to hide it with their last ice tool.

While we are at it, they didn't try to hide it with the green Fusion either.

Depending on how you view corporation structure and outsourcing, Oberalp Group owns Salewa, Dynafit, Wild Country and Pomoco. That's pretty strong profile.

So as far what are we measuring here?  Number of items produced with the same logo?

BD...WINS

To be totally fair to them. If they gave it to me for free. I would happily use all of it from shoes to skis.

They actaully have stuff that out performs the average across the entire line. Unfortunately, its mostly pretty derivative.

Before creek there was dead bird muira 50 (all hail)
Before pipe dream there was pusher sack
Before their laminate harnesses there was dead bird wrap tech
Magnatron ls licensed from a Spanish company
Knit uppers is  a butora thing
Ropes from tendon now
X4s are shitty aliens that some how break more?
C4s exist to get around single axel patent
Clothes that fit well for some climbers and no one else (good warranty)
Petzl screws now in green. 
Hood wire is a direct patent skirt for wild country (dmm produces the helium for WC)
Offset nuts ( look alot like HB)
Offset brass (without dmms finishing touch)
Atc pilot is a wild country SRC or its many other variants
Gridlock?
Skis from billzard

Amazing thing... none of it is actually bad. I am only salty about x4s being continued while c3s were scrapped. That design is brillant.