When I first bought the Gingher scissors they were great. They were made in Germany and were really sharp. (I'm talking at least 30 years ago.) A friend had a pair, but she said she didn't like to cut with them, it was too hard to squeeze them. I took a look and sure enough they were much harder to cut with than mine. Then I looked to make sure they were Ginghers and there, under Gingher it said Taiwan. Guess that explains it!