I worked at a Performance shop and a lot of the proprietary stuff (forte, axiom, access, scattante, spin doctor, hurricane, transit etc...) is either a rebranding or designed by different companies in the field. Some Forte tires are actually Kenda; Titan wheels are Nuevations, Scattante frames are designed and manufactured partly by Fuji, Forte drive train components are by microshift. The only things that I know of that are 100% performance products are the clothes (and most made in America I believe).
As far as pronunciation, Forte: "4-tay" with a slightly Italian accent. At my shop we had a running gag of saying all the Performance brands as if they were Italian words, such as "Per-for-manche." Sometimes we'd do it to customers on chill day. "Welcome to Performanche!"

The quality of the products is pretty good. The "compare to" price is pretty accurate when looking at retail prices of the other brands, except on bikes where it seems a bit inflated. I ride with loads of performance brands on myself and on my bikes because of the discounts, and rather pleased with most of it. I'll answer questions about any of the products if you like. If we sell it, I've either used, tried, or heard about it.