Brands often state where their lofts are located, but where/who manufactures the production sails for the brands?

Windsurf sails and kites are generally manufactured in one of these countries:

- Thailand (mainly board production by Cobra International, Brand: Starboard, JP, Fanatic, Goya, Ta etc... mainly boards though)
- China (eg Neil Pryde, Simmer Style, Severne, Goya)
- Philippines (BW kites from memory)
- Sri Lanka (eg Ezzy Sails, North Sails, Sail Loft Hamburg, Point 7, Gun Sails), there are companies like Aquadynamics in Sri Lanka that manufacture for a number of brands, a bit like what Cobra does for boards in ThailandI would suspect there is a some manufacturing done in Vietnam as well.

Don't be fooled though. Just because the products come from third or second world countries doesn't mean they are low quality. The majority of manufacturing plants are state of the art and often setup by Westerners to begin with. The materials are cut on a computer controlled plotter to minimise waste. Due to cheap labour and economies of scale they can offer wholesale prices that would be difficult to match by a European or US based company.

Thanks heaps for that. Was just curious as to whether companies had their own factories or if a 3rd party manufacturer produced them, which was answered perfectly. Cheers

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summset said..
Was just curious as to whether companies had their own factories or if a 3rd party manufacturer produced them

99% of brands use a 3rd part manufacturer. Neil Pryde has their own factory... or at least they used. North I believe has their own factory in Sri Lanka but I don't think the Duotone sails are still made there.

Duotone has their own factory in Sri Lanka which they had when they were North Windsurf and North Kiteboarding. North Sails International never had anything to do with North Windsurf and North Kiteboarding they just received royalties for the North Logo.

Demon hand make their sails in the UK and 2wins (formerly Aerolite) hand make theirs in Spain. Both are works of art and they are both very different and original designs.

I m not aware of any sails made in the Cobra factory In Thailand.
China is a major manufacturing source.

The critical elements are materials , the work force who Is happy and gifted with proper training to make quality products. Quality control for the end product outcome to assure the previous elements continue to shine.

a bit like what Cobra does for boards in Thailand


Have look at Aqua Dynamics

www.aquadynamics.eu/products/windsurfing/

I think most carbon masts are made in Italy, or at least they used to be.

Most of the medium sized brands share an independant manufacturing factory with at least a couple of other brands.
The vast majority are in China or Sri Lanka.

can we assume KA and Sailworks come from the same factory because the film used in both sails looks identical.

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Harrow said..
I think most carbon masts are made in Italy, or at least they used to be.

Yes Carbon mast are made in north Italy, two different companies "Italica" and "MaveriX"

Justin....I don't know where Sailworks are made but unless they have recently moved it is not in the same factory as KA. The films KA use were ordered specifically for them however they are materials that woud be available for other brands.

thx martin for the correction.

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Harrow said..
I think most carbon masts are made in Italy, or at least they used to be.

Some very nice and strong ones are made across the ditch in NZ.

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Manawa said..

Harrow said..
I think most carbon masts are made in Italy, or at least they used to be.

Yes Carbon mast are made in north Italy, two different companies "Italica" and "MaveriX"

No Limitz are made in the USA. Others too many to mention are made in China, HSM to name one.

MaverX Masts are made in Italy, the same factory that make Ferrari and Lamborghini carbon parts, MaverX parent company Reglass.
Unifiber a Euro company , making masts, extensions , booms, footstraps ...masts probably made in Europe.

is wrong information better than none ?

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forceten said..

Manawa said..

Harrow said..
I think most carbon masts are made in Italy, or at least they used to be.

Yes Carbon mast are made in north Italy, two different companies "Italica" and "MaveriX"

No Limitz are made in the USA. Others too many to mention are made in China, HSM to name one.

MaverX Masts are made in Italy, the same factory that make Ferrari and Lamborghini carbon parts, MaverX parent company Reglass.
Unifiber a Euro company , making masts, extensions , booms, footstraps ...masts probably made in Europe.

is wrong information better than none ?

Sorry not all the mast in the world are made in Italy.... ok, but a lot yess , sometime the project is in Italy and production is in China or as you said in other country. I leave at 100 km from one of them...... Very sorry for my bad english.

Who does the job for Severne?
And with those pro sails that have the rio threads laid in specific orientations for each sail they obviously dont just roll out a sheet of x-ply. Is that thread laying a service offered by some advanced factory to suit what ever a particular sail manufacturer wants?

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forceten said..

No Limitz are made in the USA. Others too many to mention are made in China, HSM to name one.

Actually, Hot Sail Maui. RDM Hot Rod masts were made in New Zealand for a long time. I think some models still are. But I think you are correct that some others are made in China. It is sometimes true that a company may have a variety of sources for the different masts in it's range.

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sailquik said..

forceten said..

No Limitz are made in the USA. Others too many to mention are made in China, HSM to name one.

Actually, Hot Sail Maui. RDM Hot Rod masts were made in New Zealand for a long time. I think some models still are. But I think you are correct that some others are made in China. It is sometimes true that a company may have a variety of sources for the different masts in it's range.

Going to update when I look into in more detail. We are picking between the lines and words.
I know of 5 different masts by HSM, the 92% HotRod, the 97% HotRod, the 65% Nuevo in common sizes, the 310cm kids mast I think is 55%. Once a Ultra existed , very very pricy, very lightweight, rather fragile.
Some of these I'm positive made in New Zealand. And you do well to point this out.

I think it odd that a company as HSM would offer masts from different countries, so different manufacturers, this I feel is indeed the case . Also the mast can be the same, but now produced elsewhere, economic decision or quality or..

Having looked into where, and what exacting the mast bend curve is, some not all, companies don't publish, where or by whom, nor the mast bend curve. This seems to be proprietary, and could be part of an agreement with the factory.
why buy brand A, when Brand B is made in the same building at less cost. Account the makeup could be different, but money talks.

Most brands have a sail designer who makes and tests the prototypes, but the panels nowadays can be cut by laser to a CAD program, so the designs once finalised can be made elsewhere in the world.
The design might be sent via the net to one of several sail loft factories, each able to do a very good job in mass producing the designs in batches of, say, ten units per sail size. The bigger brands might produce as many as a 100 units per sail size but that won't bring the unit cost down much because the process is still very labour intensive.
The sail 'cloth' or mono film might come from another supplier, based somewhere else in the world - although if you travel out of Hong Kong into mainland China there is a whole area of the country that is one massive industrial estate, able to supply every manufacturing need in one place.
It's these economies of scale and cheaper Far East labour costs that keep the prices lower - or at least cheaper than if we were to make the same sails in the country where they are most likely to be sold.
I'm in the UK and we still have small sail lofts here, but they produce specialist sails, tailored to a racing market. Sail cloth materials are still imported from abroad, usually china.

Slake masts are made in Sydney. They are strong, light and because they are made on a computerised thingy they are made with the bend consistently accurate, unlike most masts which vary quite a bit. Oh, and they almost never break.

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BRUCE H said..
Slake masts are made in Sydney. They are strong, light and because they are made on a computerised thingy they are made with the bend consistently accurate, unlike most masts which vary quite a bit. Oh, and they almost never break.

Computerized thingy. The other masts are all made by bamboo molds , held together with rubber bands.

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BRUCE H said..
Slake masts are made in Sydney. They are strong, light and because they are made on a computerised thingy they are made with the bend consistently accurate, unlike most masts which vary quite a bit. Oh, and they almost never break.

I am sure thay are very well made and very high quality masts. They would want to be for the price! But other mast manufacturers use, and have used, the same technology. For example, Powerex.

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sailquik said..

BRUCE H said..
Slake masts are made in Sydney. They are strong, light and because they are made on a computerised thingy they are made with the bend consistently accurate, unlike most masts which vary quite a bit. Oh, and they almost never break.

I am sure thay are very well made and very high quality masts. They would want to be for the price! But other mast manufacturers use, and have used, the same technology. For example, Powerex.

Powerex used to be made in Utah, USA. Now China

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NotWal said..
Who does the job for Severne?
And with those pro sails that have the rio threads laid in specific orientations for each sail they obviously dont just roll out a sheet of x-ply. Is that thread laying a service offered by some advanced factory to suit what ever a particular sail manufacturer wants?

All my Severne stuff except for the board say made in china, which is not always a bad thing.

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Ben1973 said..

NotWal said..
Who does the job for Severne?
And with those pro sails that have the rio threads laid in specific orientations for each sail they obviously dont just roll out a sheet of x-ply. Is that thread laying a service offered by some advanced factory to suit what ever a particular sail manufacturer wants?

All my Severne stuff except for the board say made in china, which is not always a bad thing.

I thought Severne boards were made in their own factory in China?

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forceten said..

sailquik said..

forceten said..

No Limitz are made in the USA. Others too many to mention are made in China, HSM to name one.

Actually, Hot Sail Maui. RDM Hot Rod masts were made in New Zealand for a long time. I think some models still are. But I think you are correct that some others are made in China. It is sometimes true that a company may have a variety of sources for the different masts in it's range.

Going to update when I look into in more detail. We are picking between the lines and words.
I know of 5 different masts by HSM, the 92% HotRod, the 97% HotRod, the 65% Nuevo in common sizes, the 310cm kids mast I think is 55%. Once a Ultra existed , very very pricy, very lightweight, rather fragile.
Some of these I'm positive made in New Zealand. And you do well to point this out.

I think it odd that a company as HSM would offer masts from different countries, so different manufacturers, this I feel is indeed the case . Also the mast can be the same, but now produced elsewhere, economic decision or quality or..

Hot Sails Maui.. Nuevo Made In China
classic Hot Rod New Zealand by Kilwell