ARMSTRONG FOIL S/S 2025 PREVIEW

Retail Buyers Guide: Foil S/S 2025 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Armstrong
Interviewee: Brand Marketing

What are the main trends in foil construction, materials, and design that the industry is progressing towards?
Foil design is growing exponentially more sophisticated every season. We are always learning so much and that knowledge is snowballing fast across the industry. Design is trending toward foils that have a broader range of use – lower takeoff speeds, higher top speeds, better carving, more controllability – in every foil size. In short, where two foil sizes were needed, you can now achieve with just one foil that has a broader performance band. More glide, more carving, more controllability; overall more performance all while becoming easier to ride. This is a win for riders of all skill levels.

What sport is driving more foils demand the moment?
Winging continues to be the driving force in foil sports. It’s simply the most accessible. What’s fun to see is the niche discipline of downwinding gaining quite a bit of momentum as well. As downwind boards and high aspect foils have become more efficient and easier to use, downwinding is proving more accessible. And, downwind boards are excellent lightwind winging boards too – a bonus.

Which of your foils are selling well and why?
Our HA (High Aspect) foils are proving very popular at the moment. The range in size from 580 to 1180cm2. As I mentioned in your first question, this latest generation of HA foils has become exponentially easier to ride than HA foils of prior years. This is largely thanks to some sophisticated work that went into the foil section, outline, rondure, and other facets of the design. The effect is a foil with a wide range of performance from low to high speeds, excellent carving feel, and importantly a great degree of controllability for intermediate riders. Now, many more riders can experience a high aspect foil than before, so we are seeing many riders jumping on our HA foils for these reasons.

What the highlights of your foil offering?
Alongside the HA, the MA (Mid Aspect), S1 (Step 1), APF (Armstrong Pump Foil), and DWP (Downwind Performance) foils form the Armstrong stable. The MA is an excellent choice for powered-up riding, whether it’s winging or tow surf foiling; it’s extremely playful, fast, and recovers instantaneously from a breach. All around fun. The Step 1 foil is a remarkably easy design to ride, and therefore is the choice for beginner to intermediate riders. S1 has a truly autopilot-like feel that guides riders to the correct height in the water as they learn to ride; it’s great fun for building foiling skills in any discipline. The APF is a pumping specialist with its ultra-low stall speeds and easy natural pumping cadence to go for long endurance runs. And the DWP is a downwinding machine that has extremely efficient glide and high top speeds to keep up with ocean swell. An excellent choice for more experienced downwinders doing local runs or competing in the M2O world championships.

How will you segment the range, and which segment do you expect to grow the most?
This season, our foils continue to be segmented by design (high or mid aspect) or best use (pump vs downwind foiling). We expect the HA and S1 products to grow the most this season and into next year.

What materials and construction techniques are you using for your foil range?
Our front foils and stabilizers are always made from Carbon, either intermediate or intermediate and high modulus depending on the specific family. We very tightly control our manufacturing to maintain the highest quality layups and finishes on all our foil components. The new Alloy System mast and fuselage introduce aluminium alloy to our product offering for the first time. The mast is made of a mix of extruded and machined 7075 and 6061 aluminium alloys that are beautifully finished with tight tolerances. Armstrong’s foil hardware is (and has always been) 316L Stainless Steel and Titanium to minimize corrosion and reduce weight. These pieces also fit together beautifully within the whole foil system.

How will you support retailers to sell your 2024 foils?
We will continue to strongly support our vital retail partners into the future. We recognize that foiling is an inherently complex and rapidly evolving space, so our marketing team are focused intently on building more educational resources to support retailer and customer education around foil design, product selection, and overall sport education. We look forward to partnering with our retailers to make the Armstrong user experience the best it can be. Exciting times!

What your current situation regarding stock and deliveries? What’s your forecast for your foils?
Our production is strong and healthy, and we are ready to fulfill orders as they come.

Key Products:

HA:
580, 680, 780, 880, 980, 1080, 1180cm2