LEGO ALTERNATIVES - THE CHINESE BRICK MARKET

Lego® purists will cringe at the idea of incorporating compatible building bricks and will always state the obvious arguments of quality, copyright, IP, etc. There are however many alternate brick manufacturers providing unique and creative sets at competitive pricing. 

Here at Lubo's Creative Brick we are happy to incorporate quality alternatives. It is also important to note that many manufacturers have realised the importance of brand value and are focusing on manufacturing accuracy and precision, while reducing production costs. The Guangdong region of China has already produced tens of thousands of sets of molds for plastic products for various countries around the world. Many factories have accumulated decades of experience in making precision molds, and the industry chain is also very mature with many talents in precision mold manufacturing. 

Alternate building brick options can only get better as time progresses. Yes there are still those producing direct copies of Lego®, then again many are producing their own unique and creative sets; Sluban, Banbao, Cobi, Sembo, Wange, Pantasy, Jaki, DeCool, Mould King, Cada, Xingbao, Enlighten, Loz and Keeppley.  Use the links below to explore the many options that are available: 

https://www.blockbrickworld.com          https://www.yourwobb.com

In our local market many of the above brands are not easy to come by and when available through a retail outlet, they are often priced in-line with genuine Lego. 

 Analysing various Lego sets price per piece tends to range from R 1.01 (+/- $0.05) per piece up to R 3.94 (+/- $0.20). It is also interesting to see that City sets tend to carry the higher price per piece, with Poly Bags carrying the highest price per piece ratio. 

Alternate bricks can be sourced from as little as R 0.36 (+/-$0.02) per piece up to around R2,41 (+/-$0.13). However beware and always check pricing per brick as we have seen retailers offering alternate bricks at over R5.00  (+/-$0.26) per piece.