I presume that you were looking at US data.If you look at the data for Germany you will see that Victorinox more or less stayed the same. LM too suffers far less increase (see attached Rebar chart).For the US you have to consider that 2009 to 2019 there is 20% inflation alone. Larger companies might be able to cut corners or compensate with high production numbers, but LM is a relatively small company. Then there are import taxes and other political decisions to be considered (steel price has almost doubled in the US in the recent years).Other factors:- Legal cost (Lawsuits, copyright battles, copyright applications etc.) seem to go up every year- After 9/11 knife sales went down a lot... so prices followed, the market is now recovering- LM has brought a wide variety of new products in recent years (thread, leap and free are probably the biggest in terms of R&D)
[...] Seemed they were a lot cheaper (like $40) than that not too long ago.[...]
One more thing to consider is warranty claims.Someone has to pay for it, if people buy broken tools of the flea-market, then send them in for warranty.
Pricing and price strategies are quite interesting, and are like most business topics influenced by the current trends and fashions in the field. One of the more straightforward ones is to focus on the value for the buyer rather than the production cost. In other words, when setting a price the focus is on what customers are willing to pay rather than what it cost to manufacture. If something is worth USD 100 for you, you'll likely buy it for USD 80 even if the production cost was just USD 8. If they simply did retail = production cost x 6 they would leave a lot of money on the table. While the concept logic is simple enough it gets more complex as the same product have different value for different customers. Sometimes even different value at different times. Hotel and air tickets pricing are examples of that. Thus there is still very much an art to pricing and segmenting markets. The price differences between US and Europe might be viewed partially in that light I believe. Companies will also be vary to not make the gap between production cost and sales price so large as to encourage many new competitors to enter a profitable field. In that respect branding is essential, as only Leatherman can make Leatherman - and thus the gap can be higher than a less attractive brand could get away with. I seem to be rambling on here. My main point is that I think the price increases have less to do with increases in costs, and more to do with adjustments over brand value, perceived customer value and adjusting for various models and market segments. (The last 5-15 years or so there has also been a trend towards designing to price - in other words they first decide what the price point the product will be at, and then try to make a design that is profitable at that price. I think it is likely that some cut corners on some models might be due to that).
I also think that there may be some truth behind the idea of creating a mindset that your product is the top of the line for that category based on the price charged. They may be trying to appear as the Mercedes or BMW of the MT industry by having higher priced items vs The Toyota/Honda level MT's.
I think for many years, multitool makers have been cutting costs and absorbing increases wherever possible, rather than allowing prices to rise with inflation, in order to try and keep sales prices below certain psychological thresholds (something I have commented on in previous years). There's only so long that continue, before the wheels start to drop off. My perspective is that the recent price rises, have been a kind of reset. While unpalatable, it's probably for the best in terms of the long term health of the industry. Hopefully, in time, this will give them more confidence and better cashflow for further innovation.But yeah, it sucks for the present day buyer. I'm just glad I've already got all I'll ever need However, I think the reset is still below long term inflation. When the original Wave came out a few of us chipped together to get one for a friend's birthday, and it cost over £100 back then.
I don't know if this is specific to the store near me, but I went to a local Ace hardware that was listed on Victorinox website as a Vic dealer, they had LM Wingman for $39.95, so if you are in the market for one that may be the best deal these days.
You're lucky. Our Ace I don't think even carries any knives other than Case; and our local knife store orders their SAKs from a distributor-they are not an official Vic dealer. They're only official dealers for Case and Spyderco.