Unior, the large European tool manufacturer is making the largest change to their brand in over 50. Founded in 1919 in Zreče, Slovenia, where the headquarters remains to this day, Unior produce over 7.6 million tools and various sheet-metal products per year.
What's changing?
Just the colour! Your Unior Tools will still be coming off the same production lines and using the same high quality materials you know and love. The only product that is changing materials is the P-Handle Hex Keys, with a new handle design. Although, this is a product update that would have happened regardless of the colour change. I've been using the new version for a few weeks now and it's safe to say it's a significant improvement over the old hard plastic handles.
Why's the change?
While Unior's official press release stated the change is due to "increasing demand and user feedback", however we think there's another reason.
Due to trademarks from Park Tool, selling blue bicycle coloured bicycle tools in the US is risky business. Park Tool are so litigious that Unior has been unable to sell Blue bicycle tools in the United States, opting to instead produce a seperate Red product line for the US market.
While Unior have manufactured tools in both Blue and Red for a long time, we suspect they are hoping to streamline their business by transitioning to using Red bicycle tools globally. Here at Beaut Bike, we are fully in support of this transition, as we think the brand needs to be unified worldwide. However, it is pretty sad to see this action being forced by Park Tool - Unior are by no means an imitation of Park Tool, being nearly 50 years older and having a unique product offering. Park can hardly claim a perfect track record for taking significant inspiration from other brand's products.
How are we managing the transition at Beaut Bike?
As we transition over Red, their will be a period where a mix of colours is available. Our supplier tends to stocks a LOT of product, and have decided their approach is to sell out of all of the blue handles of a SKU before ordering any of that tool in Red - so this isn't going to be a change that happens over night.
Unlike a lot of other retailers, we are trying to make this transition as transparent as possible, so rather than just shipping random stock, the colour on the product image will be exactly what you receive. If you are specifically after either colour and we don't have it listed, please get in touch.
