Complete List of US selling fencing vendors (?)

[KD5MDK]

I'll admit it, I like shopping sometimes. I have a giant spreadsheet I drew up when I was first buying fencing gear, comparing the prices on all items between about 7-8 vendors, and coming up with a composite total, since I knew it would make more sense to order from one place and save on shipping.

However, since hanging around here I keep hearing of new fencing vendors I'd never heard of before, even excluding those Pakistani and Hong Kong sellers.

So, I thought I would make a list of all the vendors I could find online, and I'd like your help in filling in the gaps in my experience. I'd like to keep qualitative discussion of vendors to a minimum, to keep from clogging the thread. After all, once person might have a great experience from a crappy vendor, and others will have a mediocre one from a great vendor. So, I'm going to suggest only a single line or two of description about their wares, if possible.

Absolute Fencing Gear - Fairly new company, sells house brand Chinese gear and imported European. Located in Bridgewater, NJ.

AllStar USA - Official US vendor of AllStar (Germany) fencing gear. Located in Vauxhall, NJ.

American Fencers Supply - Established vendor of American made and imported gear, including Negrini. Located in San Francisco, CA.

Blade Fencing - Vendor of imported fencing gear, both house brand and name. Located in New York City.

Blue Gauntlet - Vendor of Chinese, Eastern European and Western European gear. Best known for house brand Chinese. Located in Saddle Brook, NJ.

Fechtsport-Langenkamp - Vendor located in Germany. Will ship AllStar and Uhlmann gear to US without going through local vendors, avoiding markup. Shipping costs are naturally higher. Located in Offenbach am Main, Deutschland.

FencePBT - Official USA vendor of PBT, a Hungarian manufacturer. Located in Charlotte, NC

The Fencing Post - Vendor of Chinese, Eastern European and Western European fencing gear. No online ordering except email, but 20% discount for mentioning the website. Located in Escondido, CA.

Fence Smart - Vendor of mostly house brand gear. Located in Vauxhall, NJ.

H. O. M. Fencing Supply - Vendor of mostly European gear. Forum member. Located in Burbank, CA.

Leon Paul USA - Official North American vendor of Leon Paul brand gear (England). Website sponsor. Located in Atlanta, GA.

Physical Chess - Vendor of house brand (Chinese?) and imported gear. Amazon.com fencing gear vendor. Located in Union, NJ.

Sword Masters Vendor of mostly imported fencing gear. Sole US source of Estoc gear. Located in Shreveport, LA.

Triplette Competition Arms Vendor of American and imported fencing gear. Recently changed hands. No online ordering. Located in Elkin, NC.

Zivkovic Modern Fencing - Vendor of primarily imported European equipment. Best known for their propriatary orthopedic grips for foil and epee. Also sells Favero competition equipment. Located in Wellesley Hills, MA

For giant bulk orders for clubs and the like, CvilleFencer has an excellent post in this thread.

Please respond with any vendors I've omitted, or corrections.

[jm_f]

You forgot shopeli.com. Since you included Fechtsport-Langenkamp how come you didn't include other european vendors like prieur, negrinni, and cartel?

[KD5MDK]

Because -
1) I've never heard of shopeli.com. Could you do a writeup in the same style about them?
2) I included F-L specifically because I've seen them referenced a great many times here and elsewhere as the place to purchase Allstar or Uhlmann equipment at European prices. In addition, I understand that they ship worldwide, which is helpful for other readers as well. If Negrini, Prieur and so forth do not have exclusive vendors to shop from in the US, I suppose they're worth listing. Please provide links to their english stores. (If they don't have an English language store or ship directly to the US, I don't consider them as selling to US fencers.)

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Because -
1) I've never heard of shopeli.com. Could you do a writeup in the same style about them?
2) I included F-L specifically because I've seen them referenced a great many times here and elsewhere as the place to purchase Allstar or Uhlmann equipment at European prices. In addition, I understand that they ship worldwide, which is helpful for other readers as well. If Negrini, Prieur and so forth do not have exclusive vendors to shop from in the US, I suppose they're worth listing. Please provide links to their english stores. (If they don't have an English language store or ship directly to the US, I don't consider them as selling to US fencers.)

I don't know or have any experience with ordering from prieur or negrini, but I have ordered directly from Cartel and they do ship to the us www.cartel-escrime.com

Their website has a sort-of-english option, though none of it is 100% english. Still, should be usable by someone without french knowledge, and with some french knowledge it is even easier.

[KD5MDK]

Thanks. Do they make all their own gear, more or less? (I noticed Favero reels, but I'm no so concerned about competition equipment brands in stock).

[CvilleFencer]

The Fencing Dude A newer compnay based in Los Angeles and shipping worldwide. They have some private label gear as well as Uhlmann, Negrinni and some russian blades, Fleche IIRC. Fun tounge in cheek website and decent (but not great) prices.

ELI Fencing Another CA company based in the San Fran/San Jose area. The carry a large selection of StM blades and uniforms as well as some Chinese made cords and parts that are sold as StM.

Duelist USA Clothing only at this point and I hav enver been able to get a straight answer out of where they are located at. Very expensive but still cheaper than the Duelist UK prices for US customers plus you don't have to pay for overseas shipping.

If I think of any more I will let you know. Feel free to cut and paste these into your list above if you like.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Thanks. Do they make all their own gear, more or less? (I noticed Favero reels, but I'm no so concerned about competition equipment brands in stock).

Yes, they make their own uniforms. They also have their own stamped BF blades that people seem to be quite fond of. I'm not really sure on too much else.

[Go? Fencing?]

Here's a list of Corporate Members in the USFA. There's a few on here that you don't have on your list. Hope it helps.

http://www.usfencing.org/Contacts/Corporate.asp

[KD5MDK]

Thanks. Anyone who has experience with sites I've not listed, please let me know whatever you can. I don't like looking at little pictures on webpages and saying "probably Russian" or whatever.

CvilleFencer - According to that most helpful Corporate USFA Members list (except for including Santilli) the Duelist USA address is:

Duellist USA
DNR Enterprises Group Inc
Attn Rick Shellhouse
109 Mahar Ave
Clifton, NJ 07011
(973) 478-2635
info@duellistusa.com
www.duellistusa.com

Can't swear things will ship from there, but it will help.

Why are there so many shops in NJ? Is it the chemically altered water?

[Peach]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Why are there so many shops in NJ? Is it the chemically altered water?

Well, Absolute was created when a long-time employee of Blue Gauntlet struck out on her own.

I would also suspect no one wants to pay NYC rents.

[KD5MDK]

Yeah, but 7/20? (Ignoring the ones I know are out of business or don't sell actual gear)

Also, what's the relationship between SG Fencing and Blue Gauntlet?

[CvilleFencer]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Also, what's the relationship between SG Fencing and Blue Gauntlet?

They are the same company. SG is just a differant site. It is not that uncommon in the fencing business it seems. Blade, Allstar USA, and Fence Smart are all the same company. Physical Chess was started buy the founder of Blade but is now run by his son after a falling out IIRC. Of course CA is the other state with pretty much all the other vendors (Fencing Dude, ELI, Fencing Post, Am Fence) are.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by CvilleFencer

They are the same company. SG is just a differant site. It is not that uncommon in the fencing business it seems. Blade, Allstar USA, and Fence Smart are all the same company. Physical Chess was started buy the founder of Blade but is now run by his son after a falling out IIRC. Of course CA is the other state with pretty much all the other vendors (Fencing Dude, ELI, Fencing Post, Am Fence) are.

Yah, but the California companies are all independent organizations.

[BenTheEMOP]

People say Blue Guantlet gear is Chinese, but the masks and uniforms I see are labeled "Made in the USA." Are they really made in the USA?

[Duellist USA]

KD5MDK,


Yes we do ship from New Jersey.

For those of you who are unaware, Duellist USA has recently come under new management. We are located in New Jersey primarily web sales only although you can view items at Valhalla Fencing Salle via appointment.

Feel free to hollar anytime and drop by and check out the new site.


Rick Shellhouse

[mackillian]

Has the new management made the shoulders of the women's jackets broader yet?

[Timacheff]

Cartel makes good stuff, from what I've seen and used ... their URL is www.cartel-escrime.com.

EuroFencing is an Italian company that had a booth in Linz this year. They are at www.eurofencing.it.

Of course, even though we don't sell fencing gear, per se, I'd be happy to throw my own company in the mix ... www.fencingphotos.com ... as a supplier of fencing-related products.

Serge Timacheff

[Duellist USA]

Well....as I don't know how "narrow" they were before...I guess I couldn't honestly answer that. I know a women fencer who normally wore a UK 50 (US 44) actually prefered the fit of the UK 48 (US 42)....but thats about all I know as far as we have only been in place here about two months...prior to that I would be guessing..



Rick Shellhouse

[neevel]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Yeah, but 7/20? (Ignoring the ones I know are out of business or don't sell actual gear)

As Delia alluded to, being in NJ puts you within easy distance of NYC & metro areas (plus much of the rest of the NE seaboard) without having to actually pay NYC rents. Also, NJ has a huge concentration of high school fencing, which is a very good market to sell to (especially for lower priced gear). When I stopped by to visit Amanda at Absolute a few months ago on a Friday when I was in the area on business, they had a pretty steady stream of parents & kids buying gear in preparation for an upcoming Junior Varsity tournament.

-Dave

[mackillian]

Rick, I think it has something to do with the cut of the jacket. The shoulders on the Duellist jacket slope downward and the sleeves are set into the jacket. Okay, that probably doesn't make much sense.

My LP jacket. The shoulders are fairly straight across the top. Once the shoulders end, the sleeves are on. Minimal sloping if any.

On the Duellist jacket, the shoulders slope downward from the collar. Instead of the sleeves starting where the shoulder ends, they're inset more, curving into the body of the jacket.

Both jackets, across the back seam to seam at the widest part of the shoulder area, measure 15.5".

Both are size 40. I have swimmer's shoulders, and they're really constricted by the Duellist jacket and not by the LP jacket.

Which is annoying because OTHER than that, I liked my Duellist jacket. I also tend to wear my Duellist knickers lately (after that horrid zipper failure on my LP knickers). And of course the Duellist knickers are off-white and my LP jacket is a nice bright white. >_<