...talked to Don Montague this week and learned some interesting things…
Don is on of the grandfathers of kiting, he helped design the software most people use, set up the factories in China that make all the kites and knows everybody. Basically he knows more than anyone else we have talked to so far about the industry.
First some interesting #’s and insights:
1. Approximately 100,000 kites are sold per year, no single company sells more than 20,000 a year.
2. Most big companies i.e. Slingshot, Naish, etc sell about 10,000 units
3. North does 20,000 but they only sell half at MSRP and then dump the other half for really cheap at the end
of the year which screws up prices.
4. Best Kites’s (a kite company) direct sales approach has also screwed up prices.
5. Even the big companies aren’t making much money though, he doesn’t think there are any kite designers
making more than $100k and that most are making about $50k (also most companies only have one designer,
not a whole team or anything).
6. Not only that but its very risky (lots of recalls, lawsuits, etc).
7. Materials costs have tripled in the last 10 years so the margin isn’t as good as it used to be.
