I’ve seen this argument before, and 2 things came out:
1) SOME suppliers do get their poles directly from China fully made up, but not all. The likes of Ionics and Gardiner certainly don’t. They may look similar, they may even look identical, but they are not.
They look similar because the Chinese supplier has tried to copy the look of a high quality and successful product. NOT because ionics and gardiner just order them direct and then whack a few quid on.
Sure, the carbon fibre itself that goes into ionics and gardiner (as a raw material) may have come from China or the USA or wherever, but not ‘off the shelf’. It’s made to exact specifications as stipulated by ionic/gardiner.
The rest of the pole hardware (and the assembly) is done in ionic (or gardiner) U.K. factory using parts they have designed and fabricated themselves (usually in the U.K. due to consistent quality).
I personally have seen this being done at Ionics with my own eyes.
2: Some new or rubbishy pole suppliers simply order entire poles (already assembled) from China and whack some mark up on them. The Chinese will even add a logo to them to make them look the biz.
Are these poles any good ? Maybe. Not bad. But not brilliant. There was a fella on here a while ago who was all excited about ordering them. Never heard from him again.
They’re probably —ok—.
But they’re no where near the likes of ionics and gardiner.
Why don’t you order a few and try them? Then tell us all about it.