I feel like SF has started by "copying" the existing designs to get started but they have started to break out with their own designs in recent history. I use their kit and have no issue with it but it also helps that (where I live in the world) SPES kit is hugely more expensive to acquire. Like you said, get what you can afford to get into HEMA - that's the most important thing here.

The whole "copying" take is everywhere in almost every hobby, sport, even in tech, and etc. To me SF is similar to Title in the boxing scene; tons of similar designs to very renown brands, while still being affordable and quality enough to hold their own, and now diverging to make original product. Companies copy each other all the time but if a big company copies a product from a small renown hobbyist workshop; that would cause a lot of bad tension in the community. In this case however, I agree with the notion that making the hobby/ sport more available for entry by via competent cheaper product is a positive thing. Just that bigger brands then need to step up to be the best of the best.

I'm kind of late to the party, but I think it'd be important to consider that all the gambeson and protector designs are modern interpretations of the same pieces from 5 or 6 centuries ago.

Disregarding the "allegedly" copied designs, consistency between supfen orders (many of my new fencers have in the past were enticed by the "kit" options) is highly variable. We've got 4 pairs of the same SF gloves in the club, all with wildly different build quality and levels of function. Jacket build quality is highly suspect as well, we've experienced failure on thrusts within the first few months of ownership, and at least one other had a zipper failure. Custom sizing is nowhere near as consistent as other manufacturers as well (for example, I myself had ordered a pair of breeches that took them 3 attempts to get to close to the correct measurements, as if what I communicated was never making it's way to the people making the items) I think they'd be better served dropping the volume of variations they make, and putting more quality into the remaining components. Look at the success of companies like HF Armory and Kvetun in those regards.

We have a lot of SF kit in our club. Not only is it great value but we can get it customised to the hilt. Their more recent stuff is much more original than some of their earlier kit may have appeared. I own enough kit from various makers to see that there are similarities and differences in all of them

SupFen equipment is cheaper but their quality is i find in many cases better, their jackets from what i have seen leave all others for dead, better fit, better arm mobility, doesn't lift up at the torso when you raise your arms above your head, good range of jackets with ventilation for warmer climates and there very durable. What more would you want? As for copyng other designs...Well boo hoo, maybe they did maybe they didn't and if that upsets people well you better not buy any equipment from any manufacturer because they all get their ideas from somebody elses ideas, If we all thought like that then we wouldn't be buying anything from anybody. SupFen in my opinion have improved on whats out their and as for those banning people from clubs or tournaments who use their gear well thats plain ridiculous and those that enforce such things really need to pull their heads out from their backsides.

It seems so few people realize that sup fencing makes/made almost every jacket on the market except spes and neyman This includes even garjadoni, destroyer modz, and others

When it comes to SupFen I'm always reminded of the phrase "Don't hate the player, hate the game". Apple is currently strip-mining Africa for microchip ingredients. Amazon forces workers to piss in bottles and has brainwashing "wellness booths" which play premade videos to you when you suffer nervous collapse from overwork and inhumane working conditions. You think Peugeot doesn't try their damndest to reverse-engineer the latest Toyota? Have you shopped at Lidl or Aldi and walked down their cereal/confectionary aisle? Does it seem familiar, like you've seen all these products elsewhere, but more expensive? "Chinese knockoff" is so prevalent as to have become its own phrase, yet we don't take to the internet complaining about someone we saw wearing fake Ray-Ban sunglasses. If you don't want to spend your money there, then don't. But unless you're living in a house you built with your own two hands on land you own using sustainable and responsibly-sourced materials and basically take no part in the modern world, please don't pretend that somehow SupFen is objectively worse than most other major companies out there in 2022 that everyone gives their money to. If SPES launched a lawsuit for IP infringement, they'd probably win. But the onus is on them to do so, that's how the law works. If they don't defend their IP, and someone else can make it cheaper while profiting, that's just #Capitalism things.

@thehemashow3447

Жыл бұрын

All fair points.

@Th0ughtf0rce

7 күн бұрын

Fast forward to 2024, if Supfen pissed you off, just order from some of their copycats. Can’t remember the guy’s name right now, but it’s an even more blatant copy 😂

I’ve found sup fen’s equipment better than spes. Although that’s partly due to spes becoming lower quality over the years.

@thehemashow3447

8 ай бұрын

Careful, the mob may come for you now :P

Ya. I ordered a shield fro purpleheart. it was 110. but it was 350 CAD by the time it got to my door. I like purple heart stuff. but shipping and import charges + tax. Get you right where the sun dont shine. Id probly get something from US if shipping and stuff was more reasonable. for a full kit from supfen, shipping was like. 100 dollars. but its from pakistan. and I got some extra doo - dads too. not just a full kit. was still under 1000. i bet purple heart would be near 2500 or even more for what I got. not purplehearts fault. its Trumps lol. SUcks for them in a way though. But if I wanted a custom jacket id probly get AP NG coppy from supfen because they will customize for you. and id get what i want less then 50 percent of what the purpleheart verson sonst. because it dosent come form the US . at least thats how it is for canada

People wearing sneakers/brand sports shoes for HEMA and using smartphones bitching about (unproven to my knowledge?) sweatshops in a niche, expensive and elitist (due to price of entry) sport is incredibly funny. Now qc is a whole different can of worms, even if 90% orders are fine (and reviews/ratings from random people online, not just youtubers getting specifically made-for-review gear, seem to indicate it) the risk of getting a sub-par piece of gear protecting one's health... Yeah that is a giant problem.

@thehemashow3447

8 ай бұрын

The irony always makes me giggle.