Spend long enough comparing scissors and you’ll notice something odd. Two shears from completely different brands — different logos, different boxes, different price tags — feel suspiciously alike in the hand. Same blade profile, same screw, same finish. You’re not imagining it. A large slice of the trade runs on OEM manufacturing: a handful of factories forge the blades, and many “brands” are names applied afterward. Our directory now lists 216 brands across dozens of countries, and not all 216 own a workshop.
This isn’t a scandal, and it isn’t a secret the industry is hiding. It’s just how a lot of manufacturing works, from cars to coffee machines. But it does change how you should read a price tag, so it’s worth understanding plainly.
What OEM actually means
OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer — the factory that physically makes the product. In shears, a small number of OEM workshops, concentrated in Seki City in Japan and in several plants in South Korea, produce blades to spec for other companies. A brand sends a design (or picks one off the factory’s existing catalogue), chooses steel and handle options, puts its name on the box, and sells it.
The Korean factories in particular are skilled, high-volume, and supply a wide range of price points. A genuinely good shear can come out of an OEM line. The label on it tells you who’s selling it, not necessarily who forged it.
Maker versus re-brander
It helps to split the field into two honest categories.
A maker forges its own blades. It owns the grinding and heat-treat, publishes specifics it can stand behind, and its identity is tied to a physical workshop. Mizutani hot-forges proprietary alloys in Chiba and has done since 1921. Joewell runs its own Japanese manufacturing. Yasaka vacuum-hardens its steel in Nara and has for sixty years. When these brands describe how a pair is made, they’re describing their own process.
A design or re-brand house does something different: it specifies, curates and sells, but the forging happens at an OEM factory it doesn’t own. That can still be a serious, well-run business — good curation and quality control add real value, and a thoughtful re-brander who chooses the right factory and the right steel can deliver an excellent pair. The distinction isn’t good versus bad. It’s about knowing what you’re paying for.
Why it isn’t necessarily a bad thing
Shared factories give you a few genuine upsides. OEM production keeps prices honest at the entry and mid levels — you can buy a perfectly good Korean-made shear for far less than a hand-forged Japanese one because the per-unit cost is lower. Volume also brings consistency: a big OEM line with mature tooling can turn out very even quality batch to batch.
And a clever re-brander earns its margin through service, not deception — quick warranty turnaround, a sharpening relationship, a curated range that saves you wading through a factory catalogue yourself. None of that requires owning a forge.
How to tell them apart
You don’t need insider knowledge. A few questions usually reveal where a brand sits.
Does it name the steel and the hardness? A maker will tell you it’s VG-10 at HRC 60–62, or 440C, and stand behind the figure. Vague “premium Japanese steel” with no grade is a flag worth noticing.
Does it talk about its own process — its forging, its grind, its heat-treat — or only about features and finishes? Makers describe how. Re-branders describe what.
Where is it physically made, and does the brand say so plainly? “Made in Japan” stamped on a blade is regulated; “designed in” is not the same claim.
And does the price match the story? A hand-forged, hand-finished convex shear involves hours of skilled labour. If a brand tells a hand-craft story at a stamped-blade price, the arithmetic doesn’t close.
Judging value when one blade wears two names
Here’s the practical part. If you discover that two shears likely share a factory, don’t assume the cheaper one is the smart buy or that the dearer one is a con. Compare the things that actually differ: the steel grade and hardness, the quality of the convex grind, the warranty, and — underrated this — who will sharpen it and how easily you can get it serviced. A slightly higher price that buys you a real sharpening relationship and fast warranty support is often the better deal over a tool’s working life.
The takeaway isn’t cynicism. Plenty of fine shears come off shared lines, and plenty of independent makers are worth every penny. Just read the claims for what they are, buy on steel and service rather than story, and let a brand earn your money by telling you the truth about where its blades come from.