NEILPRYDE WING S/S 2025 PREVIEW

Retail Buyers Guide: Wing S/S 2025 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Neilpryde
Interviewee: Hendrik Holzhauer / Junior Marketing Manager for Neilpryde & JP

What are the main trends in Wing construction, materials and design?
In our Fly II and the new Firefly Wing models, we utilize LE Dacron. This material provides excellent strength and durability, ensuring a long lasting wing. Additionally, in our Fly II Pro Wings, we not only use LE Dacron but also incorporate Aluula Aeris X and Aluula Aeris. These advanced materials contribute to even lighter and more robust wings, enhancing performance and handling characteristics for the user.

What customer profile is driving the most product demand at the moment?
The current customer profile driving the most product demand consists still largely of individuals transitioning from other watersports into wing sports. This includes people with prior experience in activities such as windsurfing, kitesurfing, SUP, or sailing. These customers already possess a foundational understanding and skill set in watersports, which makes them more inclined and prepared to take up wing sports.

Which of your 2024 wings have sold best and why?
Our best-selling wing for 2024 is the FLY II. This all-around wing is designed for a wide range of users, from beginners to experts, and performs well in various conditions, from flat water to waves. The FLY II represents a significant evolution from the original model, featuring new materials, advanced 3D flying shapes, and numerous enhancements that boost performance and user experience. Key improvements include a stiffer airframe and a new twist profile, which enhance handling and control in high wind conditions. The canopy tension distribution, fine-tuned from windsurfing sail design, improves upwind speed and handling. The reshaped dihedral front profile increases stability when sheeted in, benefiting harness-equipped riders. Additional Leading Edge (LE) segments at the wingtips reduce drag and add stiffness, allowing the wing to point higher. An updated vented strut with an additional stiffener at the LE enhances stability, making the wing more forgiving during tacks. These features make the FLY II a versatile and high-performance choice, driving its popularity among customers.

How many wing designs will you offer in 2025 and which do you expect to grow the most?
In 2025, we will be offering some of our wing shapes with further developments. We anticipate that, alongside our popular FLY II, our newly introduced Firefly will also gain significant popularity. The Firefly is an all-new design optimized for freestyle and surf. It combines the NP high lift concept, originally introduced on the Fly, which delivers both early takeoff and light, responsive handling. The Firefly features a significantly reduced wingspan for improved rotational maneuvers and wave riding, the new NP Mono Handle that functions like a boom while adding the drop grip feature, and a simplified airframe with a stiffer feel for smoother drifting and tricks that require backwind riding. These innovative features make the Firefly a strong contender for growth in 2025.

What materials and construction techniques are you using for your 2025 range?
For our 2025 range, we are focusing on optimizing our use of advanced materials and construction techniques to enhance performance and affordability. We are continuously improving our products that feature Aluula, a cutting-edge material known for its lightweight and high-strength properties. This ongoing optimization ensures that our Aluula-based equipment remains at the forefront of performance and durability. Additionally, we are developing more cost-effective high-tech materials. These materials allow us to produce lightweight wings at a more affordable price point at a similar performance. By incorporating these innovations, we aim to offer high-quality products that deliver excellent performance while being more accessible to a wider range of wing enthusiasts.

Any standout collaborations or pro models in your 2025 collection?
We are building the success of our existing Pro Model by refining its design and performance, ensuring that it meets the high standards set by our professional athletes. This ongoing development aims to enhance the overall user experience and push the boundaries of what our equipment can achieve. In addition, we are thrilled to unveil a brand-new Pro Model. This new addition is set to offer exceptional performance and is designed with input from our team riders to cater to the needs of both competitive and recreational riders.

How have you implemented sustainability in your production and shipping processes?
In our commitment to sustainability, we are actively working to enhance various aspects of our production and shipping processes. We try to improve our supply chains and materials, with a particular focus on using stable and durable materials that have a longer lifespan. This approach not only helps reduce waste but also ensures that our products are more sustainable over time. In addition to these efforts, we provide our customers with guidance on how to repair minor damages to their Aluula wings in the struts. By offering these repair instructions, we empower our users to extend the lifespan of their equipment and reduce the need for replacements, further contributing to our sustainability goals.

How will you support retailers to sell your 2025 wings?
We support retailers in selling our 2025 wings by providing a range of valuable resources. We supply comprehensive marketing materials, which can be used in both online and physical stores. In addition, we offer test gear for demo events, allowing customers to experience the wings firsthand and boosting their confidence in the products. Our extensive social media presence helps drive traffic to retailers through targeted campaigns, while endorsements from our wing team and team riders enhance the visibility and credibility of our wings. These combined efforts are aimed at helping retailers effectively market and sell our 2025 wings.

What order and delivery model are you offering your retailers?
We provide our retailers with two convenient order and delivery options. They can place orders directly through our B2B shop, where products are shipped from our warehouse in Taufkirchen, Germany. For larger orders requiring high volumes, we also offer the option to place EXW (Ex Works) orders directly from our factory. This allows retailers to manage their own shipping and logistics, providing flexibility to meet their specific needs.

Key Products:

FIREFLY / FREESTYLE / SURF / ALL-ROUND:
Introducing the NeilPryde Firefly – an all new design optimized for freestyle and surf. The Firefly combines the NP high lift concept (introduced on the original Fly to deliver both take off early AND light responsive handling) with a host of new features developed over a year of close collaboration with our Freestyle and Wave test team – significantly reduced wingspan for rotational maneuvers and wave riding, the new NP Mono Handle that functions like a boom but adds the drop grip feature, and a simplified airframe with a stiffer feel for smoother drifting and tricks that require backwind riding.

MY24_FireFly

FLY II:
This amazing allrounder is your „one does it all toy“ and represents an evolutionary leap from the first generation. Featuring new materials like Teijin LE dacron, even more advanced 3D flying shapes, and a host of enhancements aimed at improving performance and upgrading the user experience. Additional details such as the the back windows which are coming now with a dyneema X-ply for the optimum balance between visibility, light weight and structural integrity, while the front windows are clear PVC. In general the windows have been redesigned and repositioned to improve visibility.

MODEL-FLY2-50-231212_Oben-01-CC1

FLY II PRO:
The 2024 FLY II PRO is an innovative advancement of the first FLY edition from 2023. The shape has undergone revisions similar to those of the FLY II, but it has also been enhanced with premium materials to deliver exceptional performance and user experience.From the original FLY, our goal was to enhance stability and stiffness while also improving handling and control. The FLY II PRO introduces Aluula Aeris XTM, featuring a +/-45° X weave as opposed to regular Aluula, with lightweight Aluula AerisTM wingtips, resulting in significantly increased bias stiffness, precisely where it is needed. The handle weight has been reduced, the FLY II PRO now features even lighter carbon handles in black EVA without texture, for a clean and technical look.

MODEL-FLY2-50-230924_Oben-01-PRO-CC2