Zech, we make holds out of clay and each one is individually carved.
Here are some complaints that I have a about current holds out there:
-Spinners. Duh, we all know the holds that are born spinners. The ones that are long but can be anchored on the ends are fine. It's the ones that have small base but a long hand hold that suck. Why do they even make them?!?!!?
-Lack of new shapes. Yea, yea, there are tons of new "shapes" out there but in reality they are all small variations on the same thing.
-Pain. What's with those holds out there you KNOW are going to hurt to grab on to? When you have a thin edge that a hand pulls directly onto there will be pain.
Quality encompasses many things. Holds should not chip, they should last more than three years, they should not rip off the wall, they need to NOT spin, they should feel comfortable and look cool.
I think there are quite the few hold companies where the person making the decision on what shapes to produce don't climb or at least don't climb anymore and also don't understand the dynamics of route-setting in a climbing gym. I can't think of what it was specifically but I find myself checking out companies newest shapes and thinking "Seriously?". If there was a little more product testing out there by REAL climbers who operate climbing facilities and have been climbing plus operating facilities for many years I think there could be significant gains in quality.
We've been making these clay holds for over ten years and we probably have a thousand different shapes but to be honest I only think a few hundred would qualify as "quality" shapes. The rest are like the slop that alot of hold companies are producing nowadays. They work but they simply aren't great.
My point is that shapes should be being made constantly and then rigorously tested in a gym environment and only those shapes that pass the highest levels of testing should be mass produced. Unfortunately I think most companies take the attitude of "Well, that'l do!"