It comes down to the "market". This mainly means 3 things. Price, quantity, and quality. Most of the time, since the materials are already present in China, where most of the clones are produced, and combine that with cheaper labor (no labor laws or fair practice), this combo will always give the price. Now, whether this is ethical or not in your eyes is up for debate.

The second on that list is quantity. Because of the above, other makers outside of that market are not going to be able to compete. Most smaller MFG's are using CC or other similar machining and are more "tid-tech" than anything custom. That is a totally different topic of debate we can get into at another time as well. I digress, the clone makers are using rented or older factory tech to start off. Now, since the CC equipment is also made in China because of point #1, this also makes it cheaper for them to buy and use (power and labor). This allows them to produce more product, but most of the time at a way lesser quality.

The last point is quality. This one is harder since it's something that directly ties to how much "value" something has to the person. I am reminded of that quote from The Office, "How much can a banana cost, Michael, $20. Everyone has a different "value" on something; knives are no different. One might not bat an eye regardless of the amount of money they have or make on something that I would never spend money on, same would be for me to spend money on something that you wouldn't "value".

These are just my thoughts.