Aeroplane Black, quality degraded or fake?

Discussion in 'Shuttlecock' started by badder, Jun 18, 2012.

  1. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    quick analysis in the two explanations.

    1. Quality degraded


    this means that Aeroplane has chosen to use inferior material to manufacture the Black shuttlecock. but not only the cork material changed, the leather, the fonts on the color band, as well as the knot tying technique are different. it is as if they contracted out the manufacturing to a completely different factory and didn't tell them the technique they used to make the Black. possible. but i would be rather surprising. esp since this is their flagship product and their reputation rest on it.

    2. Fake


    in some ways, this is a more plausible explanation. the low quality one is like we went from premium quality to just so-so quality. and that the fonts and others are different maybe because we are looking at fakes. the only part that doesn't make sense is that we have 3 people who have posted photos and esp i managed to just pick up some used ones in the gym and i managed to find the poor quality ones. either we hit the jackpot or the fake is so widespread in the market place. i would be really surprised.

    we need more people to post photos of their findings, esp photos of the cutout. it is ok if the shuttlecock is used so you don't waste any money doing this. in fact, used ones are better as we can easily see how the cork deforms.
     
  2. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    OK, I made a assumption, and it could be a wrong assumption. I go to a gym that people often come to me to share shuttlecocks that I bought. So when I found those bad quality ones, I assume these shuttlecocks are from what I bought. However, this may not be true.

    The picture I posted here, left one is from most recent (a few weeks ago) lot I bought. To avoid mistake, I picked up a new tube from the box, so the picture shows the head is still good one. The right one (bad quality) is from a friend. After the game, I picked it up because the head is deformed.

    Several months ago, I heard people complaining about the Aeroplane Black, especially the head qualify, which I didn't understand. I keep buying Aeroplane Black because the head is all natural cork. Until recently, I noticed some used Aeroplane Black on the floor with badly deformed head. So I picked them up and cut off to see, that is what I noticed why it is bad. But I assumed they were from mine lot. So make it clear here, I have not found a bad one from my stock. I will continue to follow up see if I will find a bad one from my lot. So far, I don't know the source of those bad ones yet, but I have heard these bad news several months ago.

    Aeroplane Black is no longer made in Shanghai. The business is bought and transferred to another location. Whether the manufacturer changed their raw materials sources is unknown but it is not normal they would change the business logo font. So it is possible faked ones have penetrated US market for several months.

     
  3. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    I am not sure how much you noticed the tube package has changed. I bought some Black one back in 2009, and later around 2010, the tube package has been redesigned. They are similar but definitely different. I do not have picture to show because I no longer have the old tubes. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the different font style on the band tape around the head.

    As for the low quality ones, I called it faked one but it is a little hard to believe. I have seen faked Yonex ones. Normally, faked ones doesn't have any quality that is close to the real one. Faked one only has the similar package. These low quality Aeroplane Black has reasonably good qulity, so it is too good for fake.

     
  4. khoai

    khoai Regular Member

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    People from my club always buy from shuttlecock101 and I've never ever come across any birdies with deformed cork. Will cut one out when I get home after work.
     
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    i have acquired a tube from a local retailer. they got them from the US distributor within the past month or two so that is probably recent enough.

    i will do the comparison tonight and post my findings.
     
  6. zipperat

    zipperat Regular Member

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    I recently received 5 boxes of Aeroplane within Canada. Opened one tube, corks look okay.

    Haven't used any of the shuttlecocks yet but are those pics taken after the shuttles were used. I'll have to test one to see if it goes out of shape.
     
  7. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    yes. the cork will deform only after use.
     
  8. zipperat

    zipperat Regular Member

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    I'll test a few shuttles this week and let you guys know.
     
  9. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    i have some that i bought in early 2010. and i just got a tube from recent production. i will go and do a comparison when i get home tonight.

    i am not rejecting the possibility of fakes. just that i find it unbelievable for fake to penetrate that much in the market. we have seen a few here already and i managed to casually pick some up from the local gym just like that.
     
  10. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    i also wonder how badder cut his so surgically. i used a box cutter and while it look better than your, it is no where as clean as badder's job.
     
  11. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    Have ever you guys seen what a Chinese chef use? You need something like this, get one if you don't have already, lol.
    t_908.jpg

     
  12. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    Well, this is more confusion. I went home for lunch today and took some out to look at the font.

    I have one that was cut off a week before, which was good, but the font is as thin as the bad one on the left. I also found an open tube shuttlecocks with thin font, but these are from last year and I believe they are all good ones, but will check them out later.

    The most recent ones bought a few weeks (yes, from shuttlecock101) have thick font. Will post some photos tonight. There is also minor detail changes on the tube package from last year.

     
  13. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    OK, I traced down to a friend, who bought a box from shuttlecock101 after asking me where I bought mine. This is back in Feb this year.

    I suspected the bad one I had yesterday is from him. So here is the picture he passed over to me.

    WQYZ0562.jpg
     
  14. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    oh dear. that doesn't sound good. time to find an alternative shuttlecock then...
     
  15. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    btw, shuttlecock101 is the west coast distributor for Aeroplane. so if they get inferior quality ones, that probably means Aeroplane has started lowering the quality of their shuttlecocks.
     
  16. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    I think that explains why these degraded ones all over the places.

    Let's make a guess, there was a batch during the end of last year and early this year that has this degraded head materials. Whether the manufacturer planed to do it or not, they may also find out that the quality is not good, but most recent ones are back to what they used to have,hopefully.

    There was a long delay for new stock early this year, so it may have something to do with these degraded ones. They tried it and didn't work, and took too long to get good cock material.

    Again, it is just too good for faked ones. Only reasonable reason is that these are new material tryout batches and didn't work out well. Unfortunately, it cannot be recalled, I think.

     
  17. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    as mentioned, i got a tube of Aeroplane Black from a local shop which got their stock from shuttlecock101.com recently.

    for the first step, i am comparing the difference in packaging between my stock from 2 yrs ago and the new one.

    i tear away partly the plastic wrap on the tube. having opened dozens of Aeroplane black before, i immediately noticed that the material of the wrap used is different. the new one is more stretchy while the old one breaks very crisply.

    beyond that it is mostly on the wrapping paper as shown in the photos. on each of the photos, the left one is the new one, and the right one is the old one.

    the picture of the shuttlecock is different:

    2M6Q7705.jpg

    this is what badder says, the new one says made in Jiangsu Province.

    2M6Q7706.jpg 2M6Q7709.jpg

    various diagrams and fonts are all different, even the BWF logos are different.

    2M6Q7707.jpg 2M6Q7708.jpg 2M6Q7710.jpg
     
  18. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    and this is the photo of the two.

    left one is new.
    right one is old.

    and this photo pretty much shows the exterior differences that we have observed.

    difference in font, and difference in leather material.

    there is also the loose string end from the knot in the new one.

    2M6Q7711.jpg
     
  19. badder

    badder Regular Member

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    There is one more package variance. The left one is new, same as your new one, but the right one is newer than your old one and older than the new one.

    They added JIANGSU PROVINCE on the English side, but not on Chinese side. And the bar code is on Chinese side as the newest.

    What's odd is that the tube I took out yesterday is the only tube that is the same as the right one, all left 49 tubes are the same as the left one. I don't really know what happened.


    JIN_5555.JPG JIN_5556.JPG
     
  20. goodfunsmash

    goodfunsmash Regular Member

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    Greetings fellow badminton enthusiasts and players,
    First of all, thank you all very much for the fantastic support and love over the years for the Aeroplane shuttlecocks, and special thanks to the BC forum for bringing us together to enjoy this fantastic sport of badminton!
    We have heard your concerns loud and clear, and are actively communicating with the factory now to try to resolve the issue. We truly appreciate you bringing this finding to our attention.
    We will do our best to give you the answers you deserve shortly. Your support is greatly appreciated, especially at this time.
    We do believe that we all have good intentions and are here for the same goal, and that is to make the highest performing shuttlecocks affordable to all of us. Badminton has enriched our lives so much and we are proud to be part of it and we hope to make it even more enjoyable and economical.
    Until the issues are fully resolved, we would like to clarify a few things that we do know to the best of our knowledge:
    1. Every single shuttlecock ever sold by shuttlecock101.com is 100% authentic, guaranteed!
    2. All shuttlecocks are acquired by shuttlecock101.com are from the one and only factory that makes and owns Aeroplane shuttlecocks: the Shanghai Badminton Co. (The name of the company may have changed during the last few years; however, the Aeroplane brand has not.)
    3. Based on the information we obtained from the factory and the sole distributor in the USA, there has never been a single report for a fake Aeroplane EG1130 shuttlecock in the last 3 years in the US market. Thus, the chance of fake Aeroplane shuttlecocks being distributed in any meaningful scale in the US is very low, as of right now.
    4. The factory is indeed located outside of Shanghai as it was moved many years ago due to cost reasons. Not many labor intensive products are made in Shanghai City anymore, just as not many are made in the USA anymore. The headquarter remains in Shanghai.
    5. We did verify that the corks of shuttlecocks from recent batches are indeed made from 3 layers, with the middle layer being synthetic material and two remaining layers of natural cork. We are as concerned as you are, and solutions are being actively worked on. We are pretty sure it is due to cost or shortage of natural cork material reasons by doing so.
    6. All the changes that you have noticed, whether the fonts or the texts on the tube or the shuttlecock or the cartons, are authentic changes as confirmed by the factory. They are NOT indications that the tubes or birdies are fake, at least not from the pictures posted in this thread so far.
    We would like to ask for your help to support Aeroplane shuttlecocks during this time by doing the following:
    1. Please make constructive suggestions on how we can make the shuttles better and affordable.
    2. Please do not help spread rumors that are not verified by the factory or trusted sources.
    3. Please keep an eye for any potential fake products, for all of us.
    4. Please post any questions or concerns and we will do our best to answer them.
    Thank you very much, again!
     

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