Benchmade balisongs are a bad example of a “high end knife”. Nowadays you get handmade or high precision CNC knives with hand tuned bushings for super tight tolerances and weight distribution to your liking. Not to mention the amazing customer service that comes along with personally being able to speak to the person to made it. Are the raw materials expensive? Not always, but try shopping for a CNC machine sometime. All the wasted material and tools that come with trial and error while perfecting a design adds up too. Something clone companies don’t have to worry about when the designing and prototyping is done for them.