Health of Kite Industry?

[peterheirman]

1) The world is more or less in a recession
2) People/Youngsters in countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece are up to 50% unemployed - not stimulating to buy kite gear
3) Kite surfing is a quite expensive sport - not a expensive compared to wake boarding/waterskiing requiring a motor boat- but many times more expensive than the "chique" golf sport
4) Prices of equipment are rising faster than the income of most kitesurfers
5) No real progress or quantum leaps the last 4 years - so no eager to buy new stuff
6) No new markets: Asian people don't go kitesurfing yet (if ever) as they are spending money on house and car - kitesurfing is not their dream
7) Too many brands -some almost local
8] Wave kitesurf has been promoted since 4 years now and only catches on slowly but won't become a big market as waves and wind are required - and skills.
9) Due to increasing petrol prices and more or higher taxes on cars the cost of traveling to the sea/ocean or lake is going up: thus less sessions per year on average.

Conclusion:
The same number of people (or even less) who have less money to spend than 5 to 10 years ago - for ever more expensive equipment that has no big improvement over 3 or 4 year old equipment and higher transportation costs will put the kitesurfing industry also into a big recession.

[peterheirman]

GIN Kiteboarding quits
http://www.ginkites.com/news/gin-kiteboarding-news

Dear GIN KITEBOARDING Riders,

You have supported and trusted us since the creation of GIN KITEBOARDING in January 2007. Some of you have been with us even longer.
You have followed the evolution of GIN kites from the first MAORI to the URU. The list is long with 17 models of tube and foil kites:

MAORI / ESKIMO / ZIG / NAZCA / ESKIMO II / ZULU / INUIT / NAZCA II / ESKIMO 3 / TONKAWA / TRAINER KITE / ZULU II / ESKIMO 4 / INUIT II / YETI / ZULU 3 / URU

And ... you've tasted all their famous flavors!:

Black-cherry / Coco-cherry / Black-berry / Coco-lime / Pineapple / Menthol / Kaki / Lychee / Lavender / Passion fruit / Mango / Strawberry / Curacao / Lychee / Pistachio / Apricot / Blueberry / Vanilla / Milkshake / Kiwi /Chocolate / Caviar / Fig / Pepper / Cinnamon / Juniper / Blue prune / Lemon / Pitaya / Lime / Orange / Menthol / Caramel / Bubblegum / Curry / Chili / Wasabi / Banana / Coconut / Caviar / Sugar

To continue the evolution of GIN KITEBOARDING in a competitive way in the current kite market, we have to change the existing structure of GIN KITEBOARDING. We have so far not found any convincing solution ensuring we achieve our new goals. We are forced to suspend all GIN KITEBOARDING activities with immediate effect.

A step is completed, some parts of us stay here. With heavy hearts we say goodbye and we thank everyone for having been part of our wildest dreams ... THANKS

Good wind and good riding to all of you!

GIN KITEBOARDING Team

[CaptainArgh]

...To continue the evolution of GIN KITEBOARDING in a competitive way in the current kite market, we have to change the existing structure of GIN KITEBOARDING. We have so far not found any convincing solution ensuring we achieve our new goals. We are forced to suspend all GIN KITEBOARDING activities with immediate effect.

A step is completed, some parts of us stay here. With heavy hearts we say goodbye and we thank everyone for having been part of our wildest dreams ... THANKS

Good wind and good riding to all of you!

GIN KITEBOARDING Team

That's too bad. Clearly a company proud of their achievements and hoping for a turn so they can continue in the future.

[naishdude]

1) The world is more or less in a recession
2) People/Youngsters in countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece are up to 50% unemployed - not stimulating to buy kite gear
3) Kite surfing is a quite expensive sport - not a expensive compared to wake boarding/waterskiing requiring a motor boat- but many times more expensive than the "chique" golf sport
4) Prices of equipment are rising faster than the income of most kitesurfers
5) No real progress or quantum leaps the last 4 years - so no eager to buy new stuff
6) No new markets: Asian people don't go kitesurfing yet (if ever) as they are spending money on house and car - kitesurfing is not their dream
7) Too many brands -some almost local
8] Wave kitesurf has been promoted since 4 years now and only catches on slowly but won't become a big market as waves and wind are required - and skills.
9) Due to increasing petrol prices and more or higher taxes on cars the cost of traveling to the sea/ocean or lake is going up: thus less sessions per year on average.

Conclusion:
The same number of people (or even less) who have less money to spend than 5 to 10 years ago - for ever more expensive equipment that has no big improvement over 3 or 4 year old equipment and higher transportation costs will put the kitesurfing industry also into a big recession.

+1

[mr_daruman]

1) The world is more or less in a recession
2) People/Youngsters in countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece are up to 50% unemployed - not stimulating to buy kite gear
3) Kite surfing is a quite expensive sport - not a expensive compared to wake boarding/waterskiing requiring a motor boat- but many times more expensive than the "chique" golf sport
4) Prices of equipment are rising faster than the income of most kitesurfers
5) No real progress or quantum leaps the last 4 years - so no eager to buy new stuff
6) No new markets: Asian people don't go kitesurfing yet (if ever) as they are spending money on house and car - kitesurfing is not their dream
7) Too many brands -some almost local
8] Wave kitesurf has been promoted since 4 years now and only catches on slowly but won't become a big market as waves and wind are required - and skills.
9) Due to increasing petrol prices and more or higher taxes on cars the cost of traveling to the sea/ocean or lake is going up: thus less sessions per year on average.

Conclusion:
The same number of people (or even less) who have less money to spend than 5 to 10 years ago - for ever more expensive equipment that has no big improvement over 3 or 4 year old equipment and higher transportation costs will put the kitesurfing industry also into a big recession.

It all comes to this Kitesurfing is WAY too expensive for the quality you get. My 6 year old $1500 SUP board still riding strong. My 6 year old $1500 Switchblade kite rips like tissue paper.
We get shiny crap quality gear that doesn't last a year at a premium price.

I'll say it loud and clear. THANK GOD FOR SWITCH KITES. I hope the whole industry follows OR makes way better quality kites that are actually worth over a grand.

[john a]

1) The world is more or less in a recession
2) People/Youngsters in countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece are up to 50% unemployed - not stimulating to buy kite gear
3) Kite surfing is a quite expensive sport - not a expensive compared to wake boarding/waterskiing requiring a motor boat- but many times more expensive than the "chique" golf sport
4) Prices of equipment are rising faster than the income of most kitesurfers
5) No real progress or quantum leaps the last 4 years - so no eager to buy new stuff
6) No new markets: Asian people don't go kitesurfing yet (if ever) as they are spending money on house and car - kitesurfing is not their dream
7) Too many brands -some almost local
8] Wave kitesurf has been promoted since 4 years now and only catches on slowly but won't become a big market as waves and wind are required - and skills.
9) Due to increasing petrol prices and more or higher taxes on cars the cost of traveling to the sea/ocean or lake is going up: thus less sessions per year on average.

Conclusion:
The same number of people (or even less) who have less money to spend than 5 to 10 years ago - for ever more expensive equipment that has no big improvement over 3 or 4 year old equipment and higher transportation costs will put the kitesurfing industry also into a big recession.

Good description of the current situation... as a lot of countries have trouble with their economy, the sales will go down... And then the companies will be forced to adapt...
Interesting that Gin is quitting and putting down the company.

I´ve always thought the industry in Tarifa was interesting, sooo many shops and they are always putting them down and new are popping up in the years I´ve bin there... the same a lot of places.

[longwhitecloud]

To compete with all kite sizes (formula racing), 1 board, 4 bars, 19,22,25,32m lines, 2 sets of rasta fins, will cost around $13-15000. Kiteboarding may be about to shuv its head up it's own a** as windsurfing once did

Youth in sport?, opportunities for developing nations? - olympics - yeah right..

There is fully the opportunity to get awesome performance per $$$ way beyond sailing classes and it has been fully bypassed - sub $1000 retail board inc fins - fixed line lengths - so simple... and yet seemingly so hard. Youth don't stand a chance. The sport becomes even more elitist.

[ktflyer381]

I know that one of the biggest brands has hundreds of unsold 2012's stuck with it's dealers at the same time it is pushing it's 2013 kites that have jumped up in price again. This really hurts the smaller dealers who will end up selling their 2012's at a loss and t the same time will have a hard time selling the new, more expensive 2013's. I think some of the larger brands are going to lose some of their smaller dealers and their will be room for some smaller brands. As a customer, why wouldn't you wait until last year's models are selling at half price? Gear isn't improving that quickly now, waiting it out is too easy and you can avoid the first round of recalls. Plus, because kites have generally been good the last two or three years, there is lots of good used stuff around if you are careful and know what to buy.

I think the big companies have their work cut out for them. BTW, $1000+ for a twin tip is an f-ing joke, you are delusional if you think that is somehow worthwhile. I have the money that I can afford new gear if I so choose, but I don't spend my money if I don't think I am getting a good value. New 12m's for $2100 and new twin tips for $1000 won't kill the industry, but they will kill the growth for the big brands and keep newcomers away from the sport.

K

[CaptainArgh]

...
I think the big companies have their work cut out for them. BTW, $1000+ for a twin tip is an f-ing joke, you are delusional if you think that is somehow worthwhile. I have the money that I can afford new gear if I so choose, but I don't spend my money if I don't think I am getting a good value. New 12m's for $2100 and new twin tips for $1000 won't kill the industry, but they will kill the growth for the big brands and keep newcomers away from the sport.

K

Yeah, those prices are getting obscene.

I feel that if the industry were more self-regulated like the ski/snowboard industry, we'd be better off. That is a much larger industry, understood, but the big brands control their pricing and when their retailers can lower the price. In the kite industry, when the manufacturers realized that many brands were being sold out of the trunk of someone's car, they didn't respond by regulating themselves, they responded by selling direct on their own websites?!? Thus, hurting the traditional brick-n-mortar kite shops from both ends.

I understand that they had to do that to compete with the small start-ups that have lower overhead and can get a cheaper kite to the market. Still, seems like there should be a better model for this.

In the end there is clearly enough interest in this sport to keep the manufacturing alive. The companies will just have to flail around a bit until they figure out the model that best works to meet demand AND make a profit.

I wish them well. I love this sport! And our favorite manufacturers make it possible.
No hate here! Just wish them all well.

[peterheirman]

Spleene is gone too (Spleene mainly known by the Door)