Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

[k2thiago]

My two cents as a fairly new person on the sport:
The name does count, sure, but the design counts waaay much more (comparing same or almost same quality/performance). My first kite was an Wainman, at the time because I wanted the best bang for the buck and found a good deal. I was lucky to also like the design and the kite match my skills. After a while was the time to build my quiver so I've started to do my resarch about the brands, quality, performance, flying characteristics etc... end up choosing Core because the “serious” design - I like the simple colors, not many patterns... for me it exales quality. Its like riding a Ducati vs a Kawasaki hahaha, both are amazing machines, but one turn heads. In my spot North is the dominant brand, have a good reselling value... But I just dont like the design. The last year models were a little bit better, but again didnt match my style. Same with Cabrinha (by the way in portuguese Cabrinha means little goat...). Duo Tone definetely is a odd name, but i dont think that people would not buy because of the name, however the pictures of the kites... oh gosh! Sorry but they are ugly, in my opinion. They look like the blankets that my grandma use to make it with different pieces of cloth. I know that it is little bit harsh to say that, but it is a sincere opinion. I think in matter of design (colors and graphics) the nicest out there nowadays are Core, Slingshot, Naish, Ocean rodeo... again, I am talking purely about the beauty of the kite, what Is an extremelly personal opinion. Go with the Duo Tone name, but please re-think the colors/graphics esqueme. Also, someone commented about the color coding for the line: that should be A STANDARD in the kite industry, and that is what I hate on my Core pro bar/lines... the Wainman bar with the bright orange on portside and the green on starboard side is just perfect, easy to see and undo tangles... same as the Ozones... for me that is a safety feature, so why not use it? And if one year you make one side, let say white, and the other side blue, please, pleeease, do not invert the colors or use similar inverted colors on the next year, that is just ridiculous. Yes we get used after few sessions, but anythink that can influence the safety should be keept simple and fault-proof as possible, not the opposite. Good luck with the new brand! Its almost impossible to please everybody, but I could notice some commom points even in almost antagonic opinions in this forum... that is valuable for sure.

[k2thiago]

I’ve been in Portugal the last few weeks with many European riders and the biggest issue with Duotone is pronunciation
Every single European pronounces it differently .
I’ve heard probably 10 ways of saying it .

I'm not sure if North is actually easier to pronounce.
The -th sound is not easy for non-native English speakers. No idea how the other pronounce it, but the French tend to say Norsse

Brazilians pronounciate Norte or Norti

[Toby]

Website is live

https://www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/kites/

https://www.duotonesports.com/kiteboard ... /twintips/

[Mo]

I see that B&M had grew very well in the past 10 years and their size pushed them into brave decisions. When a business decides to move to the Corporate Club, many things change and many of these are not popularly internally and to the outside audience. I would have preferred to have a mild look on the optics knowing that they have a brand change but it seems the designer was ahead of the corporate talks. Brand name effect will disappear with time, many of the top 50 brand names world wide are strange or difficult. What matters is that B&M and Duotone continue releasing innovative products, industry first like what they did since 10 years; Click Bar, industry first; Rebel; industry first hybrid kite; NTT straps system; industry first. If that continues, with largest number of top riders, consistent performing in-house engineering, cs and production, I doubt anyone can come and win on their pitch... They are the first kite company that had the guts to move from business to corporate with all the complications it takes; so surely they are ahead of others...

[dlangpap]

Website is live

https://www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/kites/

https://www.duotonesports.com/kiteboard ... /twintips/

Is that a forest and a lake on the Dice? Do you see any differences in the colors design between the Rebel and Dice?

[k2thiago]

Website is live

https://www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/kites/

https://www.duotonesports.com/kiteboard ... /twintips/

I must be fair here: the boards are looking quite nice! Also the cs harness, I definetely would have a go!

[iriejohn]

The long head start (12 months?) Duotone/Ion (B&M) have over NTG (North Technology Group) should not be underestimated. NTG will find it pretty tough going when it does finally bring hard products to the market (imo).

[cor]

I must be fair here: the boards are looking quite nice! Also the cs harness, I definetely would have a go!

Agreed. Kitedesign is a bit weird with that... black stamp thing. But the Boards are looking awesome!

And finally, finally! The boards come with grabrails for board offs. It was about god damn time.

[Rebow]

Both North and BM dancing on the edge here imo.
This is a very small market with fierce competition and very little separating competitors.

At this point, Duotone is its designers, riders and models. If either of this changes, it's just an unknown brand having to work it's way up again. Imagine if North makes the designers at BM an offer they cant refuse?
What is Duotone now?

North has its brand, but also allot to prove. The entire name could loose its value with one poorly conceived product release. They cant just deliver good, they are going to have to impress.

Tbh I think this will come down to marketing and the capital to do so. Allot of people will be sitting on the fence this fall, or trying something else until this has been played out. That will be expensive for both BM and North.

[Mo]

Yeah it is a change of brand name. If we go and look at the history of acquisitions in the past 20 years where famous brands disappeared, but the product survived. Above said, the new DT team should do a great job this year and IMO they have to bring new innovation in a 12months period to prove that they are still ahead of others without NTG.

If I was a designer at B&M, I would not jump into the unknown of NTG if I have a well known company with immaculate financial performance like B&M. B&M is getting bigger and with its own brand, investors will be more excited to push support into the group to thrive more and more...I have been circling around few markets since 4 weeks and what I see that DT won already with a very heavy marketing, full product line-up, and active Team riders.