How much do kites cost to manufacture?

[UKSurf]

I would be interested to know approximately how much a kite costs to manufacture (labor + materials). It will obviously be dependent on the size but I was once told a 12m with bar is about 400 to 500 dollars US.

[edt]

I would be interested to know approximately how much a kite costs to manufacture (labor + materials). It will obviously be dependent on the size but I was once told a 12m with bar is about 400 to 500 dollars US.

Estimates range from $100 to $1,000 (my feeling is that it is on the higher end). It's been discussed in this forum in the past with no real consensus. Nobody from inside the industry with access to the actual numbers has disclosed true manufacturing costs on this forum or anywhere else that I have heard of. There are people that claim to have seen invoice slips but they are not industry insiders and they have quoted what they have seen from memory. There's no telling what the real numbers are.

If the kiteboard industry is anything like skateboarding then the manufacturer buys all the parts for the kite for about 30% of the total cost, labor costs are another 10% so it's somewhere around 40% of retail and with a new 2014 kite with bar around $1,700 that's around $700. But you'll find plenty of people on this forum that claim it only costs $100-$200 to make a kite complete with bar.

[Balotelli]

Made in China...so $100-300

R&D would be a big cost though

[Tiago1973]

just labour + material?

I would guess 50 bucks if that much - basically a chinese girl sewing a piece of tissue for a couple of hours

but then for the sewing machine to exist it needs to be bought and then amortized into the piece price, same for the bench where the sewing machine sits, the facilities where that bench is located, then all the energy costs to have all these things running and so on and so on..

also - for the operator to get paid someone needs to process the salary, for the sewing machine to work needs to be maintained, etc., etc., and again you need to take into account all these indirect costs on top of just labour - call it SG&A or by any other name

to be honest i would be surprised if brands that do not have their own manufacturing facilities, most of them, know the price of the kit for material + labour only, as I am not seeing the 3rd party manufacturing partner to disclose their own business case

a different question is how much does cost a kite to a brand; do not have an answer but suspect it´s highly dependent on volume.

If you really want to know just go to www.alibaba.com, contact a couple of sellers and get an idea about both the MOQ and the price.

[pankite]

cogs: my short guess is 90$ to 130$ including the bar and bag.
R&D normaly is between 8% and 15% of the manufacturing sales.

let us smoking than guessing and calculate:

cogs for kite&bar&bag: =90...130$
R&D: 8..15% of manufacturer sales =40..60$
PR: 20..30% of manufacturer sales =80..130$
logistics: 5% of manufacturer sales =20..25$
manufacturer profit: 1.5..2x of cogs =150..300$

subtotal: manufacturer sales =380..645$ (mean: 512$)

manufacturer sales (initial guess) =400..500$ which is close to calculated manufacturer sales costs

distributor, sub distributor and shop: 2.5..3x manufacturer sales =1000..1500$ realistic end-user price in the shops
( keep in mind: all numbers are best guess, between calculation i think and smoke a lot )

[Laughingman]

Pardon the sarcasm but....

Here is an idea, if you really want to know the true cost of a kite, why not start a kite company, design a kite, have it made, put up a website, and sell you product.
At the end of the year, subtract how much money you spent against how much money you received, divide that by how many kites you sold and you will know how much it costs to make a kite....

[danglerdog]

SURE FIRE WAY TO MAKE A MILLION DOLLARS IN THE KITE INDUSTRY........




start with three million dollars!

[MrChevere]

i heard zian kites,which are made in singapore, retail for around $700 in the u.s.

that tells me that manufacturing and shipping are less than $500 if the people involved want to make money.

[edt]

A 11m Zian kite with bar lists for $1600

[mr_daruman]

I would be interested to know approximately how much a kite costs to manufacture (labor + materials). It will obviously be dependent on the size but I was once told a 12m with bar is about 400 to 500 dollars US.

400 to 500 dollars to manufacture? No way. Thats more like your wholesale price distributors get from the manufacturer. Then add a few hundred dollars more from distributors--->shops and a few hundred dollars more shops----> to us.
I'd say manufacture cost between $150 to $300 max (probably a lot less..)
A good example : Switch kites sales for example the Nitro3 8m at around $620 without the distribution middle man so thats about right.
As others mentioned you do need BIG investment in R&D, PR, factories etc...I wouldn't be surprise if most kite companies make actually more money, are more profitable, in SUP than in Kite due to higher demographic and accessibility (probably why most major kite companies now also make SUP boards).