Hi All,
I have always been very active in the kitesurf community, as instructor, retail assistant, event organisor and head of a national kitesurf association. I love kitesurfing and kitesurfers. We share a passion, we read about it, talk about it, always check the wind, check out new gear, we want to rip more waves, go higher, do better tricks and we're stoked sharing it.
So I started making kitesurf t-shirts and boardshorts to help sharing the stoke, but I dont get much traction with them and its hard to identify why.
Do kiters care less about 'image' than snowboarders, wakeboarders, skaters or surfers do? Maybe because the avarage age is higher, or kiting is not seen as a 'cool' sport?
Or maybe kitesurfing is too versatile with waves, freestyle, wakestyle, race, foil, etc so their is not 1 distinct 'kitesurfers' image?
It would be great to hear what you think.
Cheers, Ivo
Not sure I have seen your gear, but a lot of the kite specific ts and shorts out there are a bit naff both in quality of designs and materials. Kiteaddicts from France, mystic and np being some of the few brands that aren't naff as they put a lot of thought into their designs both for technical and beachwear - no 'i love kiteboarding' thick cotton ts. Otherwise might as well just wear surf brands as there is more choice.
i would defo buy kite brand clothes, both techical and beach wear. But the important thing is that the design and materials are good.
Personally I believe you either have to have one of two things;
1. Really cool design, unique clothing with minimal advertising or
2. Linked to a really good product, i.e board or kite as such.
Just sticking a picture of a kite on cheep Chinese shirt isn't going to cut it for most. As I said this is only my person view but I personally wouldn't wear anything with a massive logo, subtlety is key for me.
Last season I thought about purchasing some surf/ kitesurfing clothing and I did look at Exult (on the net) and I liked the design and did have intentions of purchasing some but a few weeks later I walked into the local surf shop and they had some run out clothing on sale so I tried some on and purchased them.
Few reasons why;
1/ Convenient
2/ Cheap: They were last seasons stock. (purchase my kite gear the same way – superseded)
3/ Sizing: I purchase lots of stuff off the net but I’m very wary of purchasing clothing and foot wear because the sizes and fit vary so darn much.
4/ Known Brands: I’m not a person that cares to much about “brands” but when you are paying decent dollars for clothing you kind of want people to recognise the brand.
Anyhow there’s my reasoning but I do like the look of the gear…
I am basically pro some good kite specific clothing. Bought some other no name brands in the past. Rather expensive and it shrinked to size S after a 40 degree wash which was a bit annoying. Like others said it needs to be on par with surf brands quality wise and only at a slight price premium if at all.
I am happy to be a team "rider" for you to trigger interest around my local 
Hey Exult,
I'm gonna give my 2c for what it's worth.
One of my favourite old shirts was by KSA I think - kiteloop shirt. Graphic of a kiteloop, side on, kite level with kiter. Simple. Unmistakable for a kiter, meaningless to anyone else.
I would say the reasons you're not gaining traction are:
1. price. You're asking $42-49 for a T shirt FFS. Come back to planet earth here. Drop the 'ethical' stuff and get good quality shirt out there for $30 max.
2. design. You have 13 to choose from. Not many. Out of them, most aren't kite related. Nobody (I know) wants brand names or words on a shirt.
Out of this lot only one is vaguely kite related, but could also be a dude climbing a bridge. I wouldn't choose any.
Out of this lot, only 2 are clearly kite related. 
Plus there's one that is "other stuff to do when no wind" (with an awful colour chosen to demo - watermelon?)
So if I wanted a kite related shirt - you're offering 2 to choose and they're a bit ordinary designs. Good start but could do with some tweaking.
Here's some competition - food for thought
www.kitesurfaustralia.com.au/collections/clothing/products/ksa0702-sscl
I have 3 of these shirts. And I must say. They are absolute top quality. Ivo has some super nice Ts.
Thanks guys for all the feedback, insights and ideas. And thanks kemp90 for wearing!
I don't order bulk, I print each t-shirt individually myself. I know that many kitesurf apparel brands have gone bankrupt as they ordered 2 or 3 designs in bulk to sell them cheap. My method is a lot of work and financially not interesting at this stage, but it allows me to add designs instantly and to offer a larger range.
Only when the community picks up on it and we get a larger following, then we can grow and offer different print methods, rash guards , boardshorts, etc.
My concept is to print 'smart designs' on the best quality apparel. With smart design I mean kitesurf designs that don't say 'I love kiteboarding' but designs with a twist and only kiters will fully understand. (and yes, some designs can improve ;)
But I often hear that people want the brand name big and the work 'kiteboarding' large on it...
I've tested a lot from many countries cheap and expensive but in the end nothing beats the New Zealand brand AS (www.ascolours.com.au). Their quality is supurb, the colours dont fade, the sizing is spot on and the fit is great. This does influence the price, also because I use the best quality vinyl that will never come off. My costs for all materials is about $20 - $22 per shirt (no business costs included), so selling for $42 - $49 leaves me no margin for wholesale at the moment and only a small profit margin. Again, with growth and cost reduction wholesale would be possible. The retail price is in line with other brands like for example Hurley (www.hurley.com.au/mens-clothing-tees)
What do you guys think, is the kite community strong enough to back a kitesurf apparel brand (doesnt matter if its me or someone else) not related to a kitebrand?
I also have to attest to As Colour tee's and hoodies for thier quality, and quite a number of boutique Aussie surf and skate brands use thier gear in thier lineup.
I'd have to say printing on these shirts is a pleasure: tight, flat weave = crisp prints.
And hey keep thier shape, unlike most crap out there.
Good to hear you dont mess around.
Select to expand quoteSibboV1 said..
What is the biggest boosting t-shirt?
The one worn over the harness!
Were a pretty cool bunch , so it's gotta look good
We're environmentally conscious so making them from recycled materials would also be great( ie Patagonia )
Good tight weave
Uv stable
Quality zips
Warmth for those after kite beers 
Kitesurfing is not cool enough to warrant wearing a kitesurfing shirt
I man it's a fun sport, but lets face it, we are just not considered to be the cool gang of the extreme watersports fraternity.
My mum say's Im cool, that's all I need
Select to expand quotecauncy said..
Were a pretty cool bunch
Doesn't that claim then immediately make us less cool? You can't say it... you just have to keep being cool and let other people notice our coolness.
paying anything more than $15 for a t-shirt is a ripoff . No matter who or what is making the t-shirts
If you compared surf shops 30 years ago they were predomantly hardware with some clothes, Now its 98% clothing with a coulple of leashes at the back of the counter. So Kite clothes arent going to be profitable unless they are design specific, It has to be needed then add your design. Towels, over jackets tshirts that allow you to be hooked in ect, ect.
The shirts I use kiting are ones that are on their last legs as they are going to get ruined anyways. Why would I buy a $40 shirt just to get trashed?
can you see a difference between your designs and these guys depthcore.com/artists/ ?
I reckon the message is loud, that price matters.
At 45 bucks plus, it better get chicks. If not get your supply right and offer something of value.
I also prefer the more obscure designs. It gets kind of tiring having kite conversations with non-kiters.
"what stops you getting lifted up and blown away?"
"What happens if you get blown out to sea?"
" Isn't that dangerous?"
"That looks like fun. Is it?"
Select to expand quotedaggy said..
I also prefer the more obscure designs. It gets kind of tiring having kite conversations with non-kiters.
"what stops you getting lifted up and blown away?"
"What happens if you get blown out to sea?"
" Isn't that dangerous?"
"That looks like fun. Is it?"
My favourite from yesterday: "Are you pumping up a beach tent?"
In my opinion, I think there are a few reasons you don't get "traction" and you have already covered them.
Age - with the relatively high cost to buy equipment and risk (perceived or not), the general population of liters are not youngsters who are more likely to be chasing something that shows they do a cool sport whereas I am too old and over what people think of my shirt!!
Too many disciplines- kiting is a small market to start with and then any image that goes in a shirt tends to then narrow the market further by taking it to a discipline. For example, the black tee shirt djt just posted, I would not buy as I kite waves and that image would say I kite freestyle.
That all said, I would buy a kite shirt if it was about kiting waves or one that is generic "kiting".
For me, it also needs to be good quality and don't actually mind paying for it as long as it lasts.
At $47 your purchase price , or margins must be too high.
I can go to k-mart and get a quality cotton t-shirt exactly the same as billabong,ripcurl spec. for $6.
If I want to write "I love Boosting" or have a picture of someone doing a megaloop KGB on it, I just need $6 worth of paint, some leftover flyscreen and some scissors.
The reason billabong, ripcurl etc. sell at upto $47 is they constantly have magazines, twitters, etc. of kelly Slater and Mick Fanning getting barelled with it written all over their shirt, board, car, etc.
I would also try and market to women, they are the ones that buy clothes - they also don't care what the price is!
What about a pair of boardies with a Velcro closure over the bunghole so you can take a crap mid sesh (right in the middle of the trigger zone)
That vid poses so many questions Sean. 3 green thumbs from me, one for each time I watched it.
