# Once Great Firm's Names Now Appearing..On Low-End Junk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214 "2009-10-26T19:53:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/81 "2012-02-15T03:11:41Z")
Inglenook winery. 40 or so years ago it was a producer of high quality, expensive, in-demand wine, in the early days of the US wine scene. Now, it makes cheap jug wine in the Carlo Rossi category (although I prefer Carlo Rossi). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/82 "2012-02-15T06:08:04Z")
The Francis Ford Coppola wines are a step below Carlo Rossi. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/83 "2012-02-15T12:44:50Z")
Regarding the wines, yes, this happens in the food and beverage market. Years ago, there was a prestige brand here in NE (SS Pierce). It supplied fine restaurants, clubs, etc. At the end, it was a cheap, low end brand. I wonder if some Chinese entrepreneur will buy the SAAB name-and slap it on some cheap sh\*tbox, and sell them for short money. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/84 "2012-02-15T14:07:08Z")
Rollei - used to be quite a respected name amongst photographers for their medium format film cameras, then after a series of splits, mergers and buyouts, released a range of digital cameras that were… well, I was going to say ‘utterly pedestrian’, but they weren’t that good. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/85 "2012-02-15T14:26:11Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Just like how Lenovo, a Chinese manufacture, bought IBM’s PC division so as to used the well-recognized “Think Pad” name for its laptops. Same thing with Haier trying to buy Maytag a couple years ago. [snipped] That was a strategic move on the part of both IBM and Lenovo - IBM wanted out of the lower-margin end-user market, and Lenovo wanted a bigger role in that party. IBM continues to issue (Lenovo-manufactured) ThinkPads to its personnel, and Lenovo continues to rely on IBM for guidance in several areas. IBM has redirected its energies toward emerging technologies and service-oriented work (consulting, staff augmentation, etc). There’s simply a higher profit ceiling in those areas. Lenovo got to become a “big boy” by absorbing the lower-margin production options (while sitting in a huge market). People will always think of the ThinkPad as an “IBM product,” even though IBM doesn’t make it anymore (after all, IBM’s slogan is “THINK”). So they actually get derivative benefits in the form of brand familiarity. It doesn’t hurt that they also own a large chunk of Lenovo stock. Here’s the initial [press release](http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/customerqa.html) from 2005. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/86 "2012-02-15T14:36:26Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > I don’t normally feed the zombies, but what the hell.. > > Starter used to be a bit of a status-symbol atheltic apparel maker in the 1990s. Having a Starter jacket used to be what it took to be cool. Now, Starter is basically the Wal-Mart house brand for workout clothes. I remember loving Starter jackets as a teen! (mid 90’s) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/87 "2012-02-15T14:54:05Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Regarding the wines, yes, this happens in the food and beverage market. > Years ago, there was a prestige brand here in NE (SS Pierce). It supplied fine restaurants, clubs, etc. > At the end, it was a cheap, low end brand. > I wonder if some Chinese entrepreneur will buy the SAAB name-and slap it on some cheap sh\*tbox, and sell them for short money. SS Pierce was a grocery store. They didn’t make their own wines. SAABs were rebadged GM shitboxes for the last 15 years. That’s why they went under in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/88 "2012-02-15T15:04:26Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > Craftsman tools. Used to be very well respected. Now the name is being used to prop up Kmart by slapping it on cheap tools. This is what I came in to say…pick up any recently-manufactured Craftsman power or lawn tool, and it feels like cheap junk. Home Depot or Lowe’s store brands are better quality. Craftsman stuff is cheap, though…yeah, I’d love a Stihl chainsaw…but I could afford a Craftsman. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/89 "2012-02-15T17:24:55Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Yes, but in this case they bought not just the name but the technology. Lenovo ThinkPads remain just as highly regarded as their IBM ThinkPad predecessors. Um… Everyone in my company has a company-issued laptop - all Thinkpads. Everyone in my immediate office has had substantial hardware issues with them. Everyone in the office has had their laptop monitor go bad at least once (necessitating an emergency “body transplant”). They shut down at random times due to “overheating” or just because they feel like it. If this is better than the competition, yoiks!!! In fairness, my machine is 4 years old and spends a lot of time being transported from home to office, and sees a lot of use at both locations. Nonetheless, I don’t know that I’d buy one myself. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/90 "2012-02-15T18:31:05Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I’m dubios about this claim. When Studebaker and Packard merged, Packard was already dying. Their cars were obsolete , and overpriced. The merger kept the Packard name going, but Studebaker was itself in bad straights by that time. > What was being sold after the merger (as Packards) was just a re-badged Studebaker. I disagree. The beginning of the end was in 1935 with the Packard 120. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/91 "2012-02-15T18:45:03Z")
> [@Lightlystarched](#): > > KitchenAid. Unlike the tank-like mixers they used to make, the newer ones have plastic gears and cheaper innards. And the “KitchenAid” appliances are merely rebranded Whirlpool. KitchenAid has come out with the popular Artisan line of mixers in recent years, which have plastic gears and can’t cope with serious abuse. But they still make robust mixers with metal components, and they market them as their Professional line. So the example of KitchenAid is really one of a company “augmenting” its great reputation with cheap crap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214.md?page=4)