Hey All, 

I know most people here don't have subscriptions to any knife publications, & Knives Illustrated is not likely to be the most popular for those that do.  However, for those who might be in the know, it seems Knives Illustrated has been truncated by the publisher from a once every other month publication to a section of an off-road vehicle magazine called Tread.

In fairness to the publisher, I've only just contacted them about the matter, but I will amend this article when (or if) they reply to my inquiry.

I have a paid subscription to Knives Illustrated through April 2025.  I received my first issue of Tread a month or two ago.  I noticed the Knives Illustrated content, thought maybe the publisher, Engaged Media, was doing something to help launch a new publication for off-roaders, and were trying an experimental mash-up to boost the new magazine -- or that they just didn't have enough viable content yet -- and so added some KI content, either as filler or as booster.

Engaged Media certainly hadn't contacted me, as a paid subscriber, about any content or format changes, & KI has been around for quite a while, so I had no reason to be suspicious.  It's not uncommon for publishers to send free copies of new magazines to current subscribers, for marketing purposes.  It's also not uncommon for publishers to send another magazine in their roster to subscribers of a magazine that has closed down, in order to fill out the remainder of the subscription.  Usually, however, when the publisher sends a magazine in lieu of one that has closed its doors, there is notice of the closure, & an opt-out with the offer of a pro-rated refund for the remaining issues that would not be sent, as well as the option to exhaust the subscription with the other publication.

A week or so ago, I received my 2nd issue of Tread Magazine.  While the off-road content is interesting, admittedly, it's not a sufficient substitute for the original Knives Illustrated Magazine.  Whereas an individual issue of KI would run about 80 pages, the knife content in the most recent issue of Tread was something like 8 pages.  It didn't occur to me until last night, however, as I was going through my Knives Illustrated magazine collection, that I hadn't received a KI since the January issue, but I had received TWO issues of Tread Magazine with about 8 pages of KI knife content. 

Looking over the newer magazine more closely, I realized it was not meant to be a hodge-podge of outdoors content -- it's all about the vehicles, & the knife content was just kind of slipped in there, as if they had some contract to publish a certain number of articles from KI authors, and this was their way of filling those obligations, while simultaneously killing the hard copy magazine itself.

And while the Knives Illustrated website appears to have some updated content, it's only about one article per month in February & March of 2024, while there were 28 online articles published throughout the month of January 2024.  I saw a post from March 24, 2024 on another knife forum stating that Engaged Media had told the poster they had ceased publication of KI.  Also, I tried the subscription link on the Knives Illustrated website, & was sent to an error page.

I think I've just witnessed the collapse of my favorite publication, and no one told me it was coming, no one told me it was in the process of happening, and no one told me that it's not over yet, but it will be soon.  Which is why I'm telling you this now -- it appears Knives Illustrated has collapsed, is on life support, and isn't likely to make it through.  I'll update you with any changes in condition as I learn of them.

Godspeed, Knives Illustrated, and all the authors that have been providing content to this magazine, along with the editors, and all the staff that made this magazine run that are likely now facing layoffs.