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Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

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Matteo V
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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Matteo V » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:16 pm

Beardytello wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:03 pm

Yes...but Pete Cabrinha is a cool name...

"Bob" Duotone sounds like he collects pencils.
I guess I am way out or touch with reality. I never thought people, or at least not this many people, put that much stock in a name. I certainly find the psychology of this interesting, and have to wonder what is wrong with me that I am not in complete "lock-step" with the crowd on this one.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Beardytello » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:20 pm

Matteo V wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:16 pm
Beardytello wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:03 pm

Yes...but Pete Cabrinha is a cool name...

"Bob" Duotone sounds like he collects pencils.
I guess I am way out or touch with reality. I never thought people, or at least not this many people, put that much stock in a name. I certainly find the psychology of this interesting, and have to wonder what is wrong with me that I am not in complete "lock-step" with the crowd on this one.
I'm trying not to, my sane rational mind tells me it really, REALLY doesn't matter, because it doesn't.

But....

I dunno...I guess I've been brainwashed by corporations for so long I put more thought into a brand than I'd like to.

Something for me to work on personally....maybe first step is buying a Duotone :lol:

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby FLandOBX » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:13 pm

Matteo V wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:16 pm
I never thought people, or at least not this many people, put that much stock in a name. I certainly find the psychology of this interesting, and have to wonder what is wrong with me that I am not in complete "lock-step" with the crowd on this one.
Matteo, I think you're right......at least in the long run. The "crowd" (as is often the case) is probably being overly reactive to change. In 3 years, none of us will think there's anything unsettling about the new name.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Do-it » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:32 pm

Good name for a paddle board.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby mdksniper » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:33 pm

Do-it wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:32 pm
Good name for a paddle board.
A Costco paddleboard.....

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Dan-at-Duotone » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:52 pm

Hey guys-

Sorry for the silence on this whole topic but we've been really busy ramping up for the launch of the new brand. Now that the gloves are off I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

First, I think a lot of people on this forum understand the difference, but just to be clear, I've never worked for "north". My checks come from Boards and More, as do all of our team riders, designers, factories, etc. I've used the name "dan.at.north" and the affiliation "nkb" because it's easier for most consumers to understand. Boards and More is an amazing place to work with driven, talented, fun people. This crew has done impressive things for so many years that I have no doubt they'll continue to produce amazing gear, and have fun doing it, under the Duotone brand.

Just to kick it off I'll answer the most recent questions about product launch...

As with most other things involving this new brand, there won't be any huge changes from previous years... We will bring out the Rebel and Dice in August/September with Vegas and Neo to follow as quickly afterwards as the factories (same factories using same production schedules as before) can manage. Twintips and surfboards should be hot on their heels. Evo will follow in November/December and the Mono and Juice in the spring. As always, availability will depend on production speed, shipping, customs, etc so actual availability in your particular country may vary slightly from that schedule.

Oh, there was another question somewhere asking about who the hell this Till Eberle guy is... He's the man. He kites, rides cable, mountain bikes, surfs, snowboards, and runs a company like no other. He's also been signing my paychecks for years now. I'm not fishing for a raise here (though I wouldn't turn one down either) but honestly Till's hand on the tiller is what made all of our brands as strong as they are today. He also knows each employee personally, knows how to inspire them to work their hardest, and also makes sure they take time to recreate outside of work to maintain a healthy work environment. He's a natural athlete, a shrewd business man, and thoughtful manager. If anyone else proposed starting a new brand when our current brand was the market leader I probably would've jumped ship, but he's very capable and I have faith in his insight.

Oh yeah, the question of warranty/spare parts. In case it wasn't clear, we'll continue to support previous gear we've made/sold with the same high level of warranty support and parts availability as we always have.

Anyway, if you need more information, I would recommend you read Till's interview (posted elsewhere but here it is again: https://www.thekiteboarder.com/2018/06/ ... o-duotone/) and if anyone needs clairification on anything feel free to hit me up here or on PM.

-Dan

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby tautologies » Thu Jun 21, 2018 6:07 pm

Partydk wrote:
Mon Jun 18, 2018 3:18 pm
Toby wrote:
Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:20 am
Well, rumor has it that we might see North Sails Kites one day.
Who knows.

But you know how the rumor about Duotone started...and it’s not a rumor anymore.

So I give it quiet some possibility to happen.
Rumor that Cabrinha and North sails are talking together.
But that wouldn't make much sense right? It would make sense if some of the Cab. crew wanted to do something on their own and therefore saw this as an opportunity?

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Toby » Thu Jun 21, 2018 6:17 pm

Thx for the details Dan.

If you want to change your name, let me know!
Just send me an email to info @

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby benkitesurfs » Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:15 pm

Dan-at-North wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:52 pm
Hey guys-

Sorry for the silence on this whole topic but we've been really busy ramping up for the launch of the new brand. Now that the gloves are off I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

First, I think a lot of people on this forum understand the difference, but just to be clear, I've never worked for "north". My checks come from Boards and More, as do all of our team riders, designers, factories, etc. I've used the name "dan.at.north" and the affiliation "nkb" because it's easier for most consumers to understand. Boards and More is an amazing place to work with driven, talented, fun people. This crew has done impressive things for so many years that I have no doubt they'll continue to produce amazing gear, and have fun doing it, under the Duotone brand.

Just to kick it off I'll answer the most recent questions about product launch...

As with most other things involving this new brand, there won't be any huge changes from previous years... We will bring out the Rebel and Dice in August/September with Vegas and Neo to follow as quickly afterwards as the factories (same factories using same production schedules as before) can manage. Twintips and surfboards should be hot on their heels. Evo will follow in November/December and the Mono and Juice in the spring. As always, availability will depend on production speed, shipping, customs, etc so actual availability in your particular country may vary slightly from that schedule.

Oh, there was another question somewhere asking about who the hell this Till Eberle guy is... He's the man. He kites, rides cable, mountain bikes, surfs, snowboards, and runs a company like no other. He's also been signing my paychecks for years now. I'm not fishing for a raise here (though I wouldn't turn one down either) but honestly Till's hand on the tiller is what made all of our brands as strong as they are today. He also knows each employee personally, knows how to inspire them to work their hardest, and also makes sure they take time to recreate outside of work to maintain a healthy work environment. He's a natural athlete, a shrewd business man, and thoughtful manager. If anyone else proposed starting a new brand when our current brand was the market leader I probably would've jumped ship, but he's very capable and I have faith in his insight.

Oh yeah, the question of warranty/spare parts. In case it wasn't clear, we'll continue to support previous gear we've made/sold with the same high level of warranty support and parts availability as we always have.

Anyway, if you need more information, I would recommend you read Till's interview (posted elsewhere but here it is again: https://www.thekiteboarder.com/2018/06/ ... o-duotone/) and if anyone needs clairification on anything feel free to hit me up here or on PM.

-Dan
Thanks for the insight, Dan. I bought my very first North kites just a few weeks ago. I’m very happy with the kites and the click bar.

As others have stated here, at the end of the day, the brand name and the graphics don’t matter, Kite performance is what is most important. And I have all the confidence in the world that Ralf Grossel is one of the best kite designers in the world, so these new kites are going to be every bit as badass as the old North kites.

With that being said, I pay a lot of attention to detail in the brands that I choose to use. This is what drew me to Ion, and eventually to North. This brand change is a shock (especially the timing of it, since I literally just jumped on the North bandwagon when it rolled out from under me), but the reasons for it make perfect sense.

I do feel however, that B&M really let the customer down with the name choice. My perception of B&M was that they were shrewd marketers - they have most of the very best team riders, they make a ton of great YouTube content, and their kite graphics are beautifully done, and thematic. I thought that the company that brought us Ion, and the click bar, would have their finger on the pulse of this market, and would have carefully chosen a new name that would immediately become an icon in the industry.

Duotone will fly. Thanks to guys like Ralf Grossel and the click bar designers. The quality and engineering is undeniable. But my opinion is that you did yourselves a massive disservice by not putting as much thought into the brand name (which will ultimately be the calling card for the B&M Kiteboarding legacy) as you have into every other aspect of your products.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby iriejohn » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:26 pm

RustyChain wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:40 pm
I did like the name "North", but I come from sailing and windsurfing, so it had some name recognition. Duotone is not great but when you think of Naish, Cabrinha, and Burton (snowboarding I know) they are just the random names of the guys who founded the company.
So they should call themselves "BUMboards" = B und M boards. Now that's got a nice ring (sic) to it. :thumb:


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